Can this happen????

[sinister]

My mom is 72 years old and has breast cancer, she is going through chemo and is very sick. She has started the process of chapter 7 and has a lawyer but isnt done with all of her paperwork. She received a letter from her bank, HSBC that GE Money bank has frozen her account and she owes them $1300.00. The only money that is deposited in her bank account is her social security check and a small pension of 300.00 a month. I called the attorney that froze the account and spoke with them and they told me to fax the last 3 months bank statements so they could determine if they could unfreeze the account. I am waiting to hear back from them. I asked them if they would like the attorneys name that she is filing BK with and they said "no" "we need to get paid somehow and we can see she is making her mortgage payments on time so our clients want there money too".

Can they do this? I thought Social Security was safe??

[Danielle1981]

They are.....however, she needs to prove the money in there is ONLY from Social Security and they are going to take you through loop hole after loop hole to get it unfrozen. Although from the sounds of it, she may be too poor for them to collect from her. Why isn't the attorney looking into this?

[edwards2]

danielle - that was going to be my question too...why isnt the attorney looking into helping your mom with this? I will pray for her speedy recovery; my mother had breast cancer and survived it for many, many years....

[lrprn]

danielle - that was going to be my question too...why isnt the attorney looking into helping your mom with this? I will pray for her speedy recovery; my mother had breast cancer and survived it for many, many years....

Sinister, stop talking to the banks and the bank's lawyer and start talking to your mom's bk lawyer. Sounds like she needs to file Ch 7 as soon as possible to get the protection of bk's automatic stop against this lender. Did she not pay some bills for a long time? Are the bills in question secured or unsecured?

Without some legal clout on her side, the banks can keep her account frozen for many months by continuing to ask for more 'proof' no matter what they might promise you. Is it your mom's poor health that's delaying filing her bk?

Our thoughts and prayers go out to her and to you during this most difficult and stressful time for your family. I hope your mom is feeling better very soon.

[tictacsir]

they absolutely cannot take her social security. if they try to drag it out call your attorney and let him deal with it. as a matter of fact, do that anyway. don't give those jerks for the otherside the satisfaction of thinking they're going to get away with it. they may try to take her money but not if you know your rights and fight back.

[SinkingFast]

Watch out for the "Mixed Funds" legal arguement.

The same thing happened to my Brother. He's on SSDI, draws a small pension, and had an interest bearing checking acct that drew a whopping $0.07 last month.

The Lender that repo'd his car while his wife was in the hospital, got a Banking Institution Garnishment. Wiped out his checking and even over drafted the acct. Bro hired an attny because it's illegal to garnish SSI or SSDI or any type of disability income. They thought it was a slam dunk to get Bro's money back.

The Lender's attny argued mixed funds and the Judge sided with the Lender's attny. This has been going on for several months now, and so far, Bro hasn't gotten his money back yet.

[GoingDown]

This is another example of why you need to do at least some judgment proofing, even if you plan on filing bankruptcy, if a creditor is threatening a lawsuit against you. The moment you hear of the possibility of a lawsuit, get all of your cash out of your checking account. It's actually safer in your home under a mattress than it is in the bank at that point. And stop depositing anything into your checking account. Get paper checks from Social Security and start cashing them instead of depositing them. Social Security is exempt from creditors, but you have to prove it and that takes time, effort and sometimes legal fees to accomplish. So, it is better to have nothing for them to take until the time you can file BK. But make sure you keep receipts of everything you buy with cash, in case you need them later during BK or for some tax purposes.

[GoingDown]

Exactly how does a bank freeze one's bank account? Don't they have to have a judgement first?

Sometimes they can even freeze a bank account even without a judgment, if they feel that the funds might disappear in the time that it takes the case to work its way through the court system on the way to getting a judgment. It has to be held until a judge can decide the matter.

But if there is nothing in there for them to take, you don't have to worry about it.

[GoingDown]

[QUOTE=SinkingFast]

The Lender that repo'd his car while his wife was in the hospital, got a Banking Institution Garnishment. Wiped out his checking and even over drafted the acct. QUOTE]

If you have overdraft protection or a line or credit for your checking account and you are facing this possibility, close the entire account, and open up a new account elsewhere. Or at the very least, cancel the overdraft protection.