Expert: Creditwrench - 8/4/2009

Question
QUESTION: I live in Mo. I've got a summons to go to court in a week for credit card debt.I'm living on social security and have no other income. I rent and drive a 13 year old car. What can they do to me?

ANSWER: That depends on what you know about the law and how to use it to your advantage. If you are like so many retirees you know nothing about the law or how such things as a lawsuit can effect your income so you just give in and start paying on the judgment. If you know a bit about the law and how to use it without lawyers you will prepare and file a proper response to the summons and complaint, maybe a validation demand if circumstances permit, and all the rest of the documents you need to respond correctly. If you know enough about the law you will probably find that they violate the law one or more times and you will file a federal lawsuit against them and make them pay you to go away and leave them alone. You see, they can't take your pension income by garnishment or by any other means except getting you to give them money voluntarily. They aren't going to take your 13 year old car because it isn't worth enough at an auction to make it worthwhile and in many states they can't take your only means of transportation. So what they can do to you is pretty much up to you and what you do to prevent their grabbing your pension.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thankyou so much for your fast reply. I do know that chapter 207 of the social security act says they cannot garnish ss except for child support,taxes,and schoolloans.Can I tell the judge this or will this make him mad? I agree that I owe this debt, but am unable to pay. I have notified my bank that the checks in my account are mine and my husbands ss checks and I will sue if they honor the garnishment. Thankyou again for helping me!

Answer
Get those accounts separated immediately. Only allow your SSI in one account and do not allow any other funds to be deposited or mixed in with your SSI checks. Keep that as a separate account from anything else because if other funds are mixed in with the SSI money all of it can be garnished.

Even if both of you are on SSI you should each have your own separate accounts and not mix other funds in with them. I can't tell you what will or will not make the judge mad but I would not bother to tell the judge anything about your income except at an assets hearing. All the judge wants to know is whether or not you owe the money. You should never agree that you owe the money. That makes no difference. It is only a matter of whether or not you can be forced to pay and unless you know and understand the law and how to use it you can be forced to pay one way or another. For instance, the law says SSI cannot be garnished but what provision is made for punishment of those who disobey that law and garnish anyway? None that I know of in that law. As far as I know there is no penalty provision for violation of that law. Other laws such as FDCPA do provide a mechanism for penalizing violators of the SSI law but you have to enforce it through legal action if they seize your bank accounts. Some lawyers are willing to risk that chance because they believe that you probably don't know how to prosecute their violation and they are usually correct. Most won't knowingly violate but some do routinely. Most banks are not known for their excellence in protecting their depositors either. Not only will they often go along with it but will charge the depositor a huge fee for compliance with the court order on top of that.
If you think your SSI is safe from garnishment based on the SSI law then think again because that isn't necessarily true. If you doubt me then you may well find out the hard way that I know what i am talking about. I've seen it happen many times.