Many people begin to consider filing for bankruptcy when they have no ability to repay debt, and no other way to stop the incessant telephone calls and collection efforts of creditors.
Some people, however, consider hiding from their creditors, shutting off the telephone ringer, and pretending there is no problem.
Avoiding creditors not only doesn’t make them go away, it doesn’t solve the problem and could hurt your finances severely.
Without a court-ordered repayment plan or some other alternative, there is nothing stopping creditors from garnishing your wages, or issuing a summons to your financial institution, such as your bank.
If you owe a debt to a creditor and have funds deposited at a bank, the creditor may serve a Garnishment Summons and Disclosure Form to the financial institution along with other notices.
The financial institution must retain as much of the amount you owe that you have on deposit, but not more than 110% of the creditor’s claim.
The creditor will mail you a copy of the Garnishment Summons and anything else that the creditor served on the debtor’s bank, including notices.
You will then have 14 days to notify the financial institution and the creditor of any claim for exempt property you wish to assert. If the financial institution does not receive any such notification within 14 days, the debtor’s funds at the financial institution remain subject to garnishment.
Hiding from creditors is not the best option to address financial problems.
Even if you do not qualify for a discharge of debt in a bankruptcy proceeding, a reasonable repayment plan, generally over three to five years, may be obtained.
This is a much better resolution than garnishment.
As you can see, it is not difficult for a creditor to obtain a garnishment of your bank account. Garnishment may arise quickly and completely destroy the plans you have for your money.
Be sure to explore all available options – but do not ignore creditors and hope they will go away. Hiding from creditors is a dangerous and unsuccessful tactic.
If creditors are chasing you, contact us at mail@WayPointsFinancialServices.com for guidance.
Frequent dialogue with the creditor or the collection agency is so important. However even in this situation you still have rights if you are being harassed by collectors. Learn more about what collectors can and cannot do by reading the Federal Debt Collections Practices Act.