Can my PayPal account be garnished?

[CPerryM]

New York

I am being sued by a credit-card issuer and they want THREE TIMES the original debt. If I can't settle with them, can they garnish my PayPal account? My understanding is that PayPal is not a bank, although I don't know if that makes a difference. All my income is currently coming in via PayPal these days.

Also, if I answer the suit and go to trial, will the credit-card issuer have the right to demand financial information from me? They currently don't know the name of my bank or the fact that I have a PayPal account. If they can demand this information from me in a trial, perhaps I shouldn't answer the suit.

Thanks!

Perry

[Lordgreystoke]

Perry,
ALWAYS answer the suit. Not answering means they WIN, automatically. In fact, you might owe $1000 dollars to them but they are suiing for $3000 and if you dont respond I think they get their full suit amount without ANY burden of proof. You not answering does not help anything. There are ways that your bank accounts and other financial accounts can be located with or without you.
Your best bet is to go to trial and plead your case if you have one.
May I ask, WHY are they going after 3 times the original debt? Could this credit card company be Capitol One?
In any event, I assume you had a credit card and stopped paying on it. The credit card company started tacking on late fees and possibly over the limit fees before they finally closed it and charged it off. Then the interest rate was probably around 20% and a few years have passed and they are probably adding on collection charges.
A lot of this depends on your credit card agreement which you need to check. You also need to check on when the account was closed and check on your states statute of limitations. There comes a point of time usually somewhere from 3-5 years depending on the state at which point they can no longer SUE you for the money but can still make collections efforts. Many credit card companies agreements have arbitration clauses in them now. If you have lost all this stuff, write the credit card company, send a certified letter requesting that they prove you owe that amount(request a detailed accounting of all the charges and fees). They are required by law to provide you with that in a certain time period.
It boils down to this, if you made the charges on the card and they charged you fees as per their agreement, and they have not exceeded the statute of limitations to sue you your best bet is to pay them because they will win.
Now if they are going for more than they are entitled too you need to show up in court and make them produce evidence of your charges and fees as per your agreements and show what the true value is..of coure then..you will be found liable for this plus the court costs..but it may be better than what they are going for now.
Basically if you owe them the money pay up.
AND to finally answer your question.. YES, they can garnish your paypal account.
Now for the sleezy advice.
Empty and close your paypal account prior to going to trial.
Put all your cash in an offshore bank in one of those islands where they have very strict privacy for their banking clients and get a visa debit card and whamo.. you can still bank to a degree and they cant touch it.
The downside to this is..once they have a judgement..they have a judgement and that is good indefinitely if I am not mistaken and theoretically can come after your assets ANYTIME in the future....including liens on your home,etc.
SO assuming they are suiing you within the statute of limitations...your best bet is to figure what you truly owe them including any fees they tacked on as per their agreement and be prepared to pay them that...in fact compile all that and send it to them in writing and offer to pay all of that or be prepared to live a marginal financial existence for the next 10-30 years. Just be careful!!! Anything you agree to with them get it in writing and read it VERY carefully and be extra cautious if you are dealing with a collection agency.
Once again back to the question.. YES.. I am not sure if paypal is considered a bank but they are certainly a regulated financial institution and your account can be garnished without a doubt if and when it is tracked down.
Remember, I am not an attorney..just a guy that has been in various "pickles" of one variety of another.. so this aint legal advice.. just suggestions based on my experiences and opinions.. if things get sticky, get a lawyer.

[Veronica1228]

New York

I am being sued by a credit-card issuer and they want THREE TIMES the original debt. If I can't settle with them, can they garnish my PayPal account? My understanding is that PayPal is not a bank, although I don't know if that makes a difference. All my income is currently coming in via PayPal these days.

Also, if I answer the suit and go to trial, will the credit-card issuer have the right to demand financial information from me? They currently don't know the name of my bank or the fact that I have a PayPal account. If they can demand this information from me in a trial, perhaps I shouldn't answer the suit.

Thanks!

Perry

Now for a real anwser to your question. The amount that they are suing you for is probably late fees, interest, and legal fees which they do have to right to collect on. They are taking you to court and will be able to back up their claim.

Yes, they should be able to garnish you paypal account if they are awarded a judgment and yes the court can compel you to give them your account information. If you don't answer the suit, you may be held in contempt of court. You don't have a choice.

Just out of curiosity, when is the date of last activity on this debt? In NY the SOL for credit cards (open accounts) is 6 years for the DOLA. If your debt is older than 6 years you can use this defense in court.

[CPerryM]

I appreciate the answers, but advice to "pay everything they are asking for" just isn't helpful.

The original debt was $500 and now they want almost $1700. And yes, Cap1tal 0ne is the credit-card issuer. I am well under the statute of limitations, as the debt is only about 3 years old.

Telling me that they can automatically find out everything about me just isn't accurate, even in this age of the internet. My roommate has a judgement against her for a sizable amount, and she has been fully employed since then and no one has come after her salary.

As a matter of principle, I won't pay three times what I owe. What I need is tactical advice. Now that it has gone to a lawyer, should I try to make a deal with CO or with the lawyer? Would they be receptive to making a deal?

Emptying out my PayPal account isn't an option because I now make a meager living selling stuff on the internet, and all my sales come in via PayPal.

Perry

[Veronica1228]

I appreciate the answers, but advice to "pay everything they are asking for" just isn't helpful.

The original debt was $500 and now they want almost $1700. And yes, Cap1tal 0ne is the credit-card issuer. I am well under the statute of limitations, as the debt is only about 3 years old.

Telling me that they can automatically find out everything about me just isn't accurate, even in this age of the internet. My roommate has a judgement against her for a sizable amount, and she has been fully employed since then and no one has come after her salary.

As a matter of principle, I won't pay three times what I owe. What I need is tactical advice. Now that it has gone to a lawyer, should I try to make a deal with CO or with the lawyer? Would they be receptive to making a deal?

Emptying out my PayPal account isn't an option because I now make a meager living selling stuff on the internet, and all my sales come in via PayPal.

Perry

Where did I say that they can "automatically" find out everything about you? I said that the judge/court can COMPEL you to give them your account information. This is absolutely true. We haven't discussed anything about garnishing wages so I don't know what your roommate's scenario has to do with your own.

You can try to contact Cap1 and see if they will make a deal with you. The lawyer probably won't because they want to be paid their legal fees, but you can try that too if you want. At this point it may be futile though since you've let it go so long.

[Lordgreystoke]

Perry,
I too have an ongoing Saga with Capitol One. Mine is past the statute of limitations(which I think was only 3 years here in Louisiana) and my date of last activity was May of 1999. I must say that attempting to negotiate with Capitol One is a lost cause. You can try, but I have never run into a worse pack of idiots in my day. I reinitiated contact with them after 5 years to clear things up. They asked me for an offer and I made one which was close to double(1 2/3 times) my initial debt and they said No..and hung up on me...and it got worse from there. Currently they have gone from reporting info on my account to just simply reporting it as derogatory EVERY month and as having occurred in that month. I actually got to a point were I was going to do a settlement with them..for an amount less than I offered to pay them if they marked the account paid as agreed. The guy gave me 10 days to have it in to them after I said I needed a letter in writing of the offer. I got his offer letter the DAY before his offer was to expire. I felt a lack of good faith on their part and decided to take the advice of someone from the La. Attorney General's Office and just not pay them(I was shocked she said that...but she said bill collectors are so out of control with collections, I couldn't count on my debt being taken care of if I paid it.)
In any event I bet your friend does not have a judgement against her by Capitol One. They are utterly aggressive... I think that 3 times I talked to them to try and settle they pulled my credit(WHILE I was talking to them) to see if I was trying to get a new loan...these HARD inquiries showed up on my credit report. They play Hardball to the point of being stupid. Just about any other company would have taken more than one of my offers to them but they actually turned down MORE money than they agreed to settle with me for and all they had to do was mark it paid as agreed(I was trying to go $800 on an originally $300 debt or higher if they gave a reasonable counteroffer.) I can almost promise you they will go after your accounts.