Question-- What can judment creditors seize in a checking account?

[GoingDown]

I've heard that if you keep less than $150 in your checking account, creditors with a judgment against you cannot take the money in your account as long as you only have one checking account. Is that true? Or does it vary from state to state? I'm in Arizona right now.

[newstart]

I am not sure about the state of Arizona. I am in Michigan and I had a creditor seize everything that was in my checking account and I only had one account. They took $1,800.00 and there was nothing I could do to get it back. If you have a joint account with someone else different rules may apply. I don't know if it matters about the amount in the account. Hope this was somewhat helpful.

[GoingDown]

I am not sure about the state of Arizona. I am in Michigan and I had a creditor seize everything that was in my checking account and I only had one account. They took $1,800.00 and there was nothing I could do to get it back. If you have a joint account with someone else different rules may apply. I don't know if it matters about the amount in the account. Hope this was somewhat helpful.

I was afraid of that. I have one checking account with $25 in it, and I only use it to cash checks. I never deposit them into the account. I think I'd better just keep on using cash and money orders. Thanks for the info.

[lostsoul23]

I don't think it matters with joint accounts either. For example, my dad & brother have the same name. My dad has the account with mom. She went to the bank one morning and found the account emptied out by a lawyer who was looking for my brother. To make a long story short, the money, plus the fees he caused in checks from doing it, was put back in mom & dad's account.

I agree 120% with the cash & money order thing. I refuse to do checks or deal with banks anymore, it keeps me in good shape and out of trouble.

[JimH]

Thats my plan for a while. It sucks that I will be able to save some money now but won't have anywhere safe and secure to keep it and let it earn a little interest. I'm pretty creative though and have been looking at some small fire safes. I'm trying to find one super small to make it easier to hide. Theres some very good places to hide money in your home in case it gets broken into, but unless it's in a fire safe its gone if your place catches fire.

If anyone has ideas, let me know

I have purchased $100 traveler's checks for storing cash in odd places. You purchase them with cash and sign them on the first signature line. Then you sign them a second time to cash them - most places require the second signature at the time of use and with a photo ID. Just make sure you put the stubs somewhere else so if they are stolen or burned up, you can get them replaced.

[JimH]

Another thing that popped into my mind is when I was a kid, my mom used to have savings accounts for each of our names / ss#. I am not sure if she was the secondary acct holder or not. As a kid, it didn't make sense to me why I had a savings acct that wasn't really mine - now that I'm older I get it. That was 30 years ago so I'm not sure if that would work now - tracking money had to be harder back then.

[JimH]

Very good idea. The only thing is I checked on some prices and its 3% per $100 for the check. I'm already going to lose out on earning a small interest rate and would hate to lose anymore. If it was 1% I would probably do it. I think I found a nice little fire proof safe just big enough to hold dollar bills but small enough to hide very well.

I used to get them for free at triple A (AAA). If you are a member, they are free - at least they were 10 years ago.