Legal Hold on Bank Account

[What Happened]

New York

I went to withdraw some money from my checking account yesterday and found that all of my money was taken out & that I actually had a $2K deficit. After calling my bank they informed me that my accounts had a legal hold on them. It being the weekend, I have to wait until Monday to get the info of who, what when, etc.

My question is, shouldn't I have received some type of noitification (registered letter..) before this could have happened?

I have no idea what this could be for as I have never been contacted to let me know that they were trying to collect money, and as far as I know (I last checked my credit report a couple of months ago) I am not past due on any debts.


Thanks.

[Ladynred]

shouldn't I have received some type of noitification (registered letter..) before this could have happened?

No. If they notified people they were going to sieze their accounts people would move their money -- who wouldn't ??

You apparently have a judgment against you. You have to call the courthouse in your area first thing to find out if there really is one and then get a copy of the case file. Then you can get the details about what's going on.

[What Happened]

Thanks for the response Ladynred: I thought about that afterwards also.

I spoke with the CA (Mel S Harris & Assoc) today. They claim they notified me, but it turns out they had the incorrect address. Anyway, it happens to be from a credit card that they stated my last payment was in 1998!!!

I could swear that this originally was charged off to a different CA back then and I settled with them. The comment from the Mel S Harris employee was something to the effect of "Oh really, well we cannot take the hold off until you prove it". So now I have to check all of my bank statements possibly all the way back to 1998 to prove I paid this off. I have moved at least twice since then so who knows if I still have them beyond a few years. Since I printed out my credit reports a couple of months ago, when I get home from work tonight I will check them to see if the last CA was gracious enough to report it settled.

I also checked with my bank and they could get me copies of checks up to 7 years old if I knew the ck #'s and the timeframe. Also at a cost of $7.50 per check plus $20/hr labor (about 15min per check). To me it would be worth the cost to clear this debt, but do they actually think I will remember that info???

What also ticks me is that the bank holds double the amount "owed". In my case they are holding over $7k of my money!!!!

I would rather prove to them that I did settle this but does anyone know if there is a SOL for New York?


Thanks

[Ladynred]

I would rather prove to them that I did settle this but does anyone know if there is a SOL for New York?

Yes, SOL is 6 years, but since it's been reduced to judgment aleady it's a moot point.

[What Happened]

New York

I keep hearing about "the court". What court do I go to get all of the info?

[Ladynred]

The civil court that rendered the judgment, where the lawsuit was filed. Generally it would be small claims court, but if you're in NYC its called something else.

[burninauthor]

i live in brooklyn and went today to kings county 141 livingston st you can start there i think, i have. "court st " exit on r or n? trains

[What Happened]

Please correct me if I'm wrong but I would think the CA would be able to tell me where they filed. I am trying to get that info from them but since our first conversation yesterday morning, they have yet to return my calls.

I live in Yonkers in Westchester County (north of NYC), they had an incorrect address for me in the Bronx (in NYC) and their office is in Manhattan. I'm not sure if Manhattan vs the Bronx makes a difference, but I would think the city vs. Westchester might.

Do they have to file where I am or where they are, or does that even matter?

If it does matter which court they filed with, does anyone know or had any experience in being able to call the different courts beforehand to find out if they have the info on my judgement instead of having to actually go to the different courts to find out?


I know these questions may seem a little naive, but when it comes to this....I am. It's my first (and hopefully last) experience with anything like this.

[Ladynred]

If they had a wrong address in the Bronx, for whoever it is they sued, then call the NYC Small Claims Court:

Bronx County Civil Court
851 Grand Concourse
Bronx, New York 10451
(718) 590-2693

IF by some chance they sued in Westchester, then call the small claims court nearest you, not sure, that might be White Plains.

There is no problem calling the courts and asking the court clerk if there's anything filed against you there, they can and will tell you. From there you can get a copy of the case file.

[What Happened]

I called the Bronx court today and they had the info on file. Unfortunately the judgment was apparently rendered back in 2003 (they waited 3 yrs to act on the judgement!!!) so they have to retrieve it from the archives. It will not be ready until 2/6.

I was wondering if I should do this but the court clerk also suggested I do, so in the meantime I am going to the court tomorrow to file an "Order to Show Cause". It is my understanding that if accepted by the judge, it will vacate the judgement and release my bank account until the time of the new court date. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Hopefully this will allow me to reach a settlement with the law firm at the new trial.

The rep from the law firm finally called me back today. I asked if they would be willing to accept payments. He said that as long as there is enough money in my account they don't do that.

Once I mentioned the order to show cause, after trying to talk me out of it of course, he would see what he could do......IF I send them a copy of my bank statement showing the balance. Yeah right!!!!

Also, apparently the judgement was for $3,700 but they want $4,700 from me.

Could $1k be for court fees???

Any advice and/or opinions as I try to hack my way through this would be appreciated.

Is doing this a waste of time?

I'm at the point where I'm not arguing the debt. Just some relief in the timeframe it is paid. It would cause other bills (including my rent) to be in arrears if I have to pay $4,700 in one lump sum. I am willing to pay it off over the course of 4-5 months (or sooner depending on my tax returns).

I know paying and keeping track of the debt is my responsibility.If they only would have actually contacted me before they sued me this would have been paid off a long time ago.

Thanks

[What Happened]

The judge signed off on the order to show cause. I have to pick up my paperwork tomorrow. I believe the next step is to have it served to the plaintiff and then go to court.

Not that I would do it, but it would sure be nice if I could not serve them so they miss the new court date like they did to me. Not that they would miss it. I viewed the court calendar online and this law firm is involved in what seemed to be every other case.


Does anyone know if this will release my bank accounts?



Hopefully now I can at least work out a settlement to pay it off.


Thanks

[xylene]

Hopefully now I can at least work out a settlement to pay it off.

Why would that be needed if-

I could swear that this originally was charged off to a different CA back then and I settled with them.

[What Happened]

I could swear that I did settle this a long time ago. Unfortunately it was so long ago, when I was young and put myself into some financial trouble that I had to make a few settlements with CC's. I responded to every CA that contacted me. Forgive me if I do not recall the exact details from 8 yrs ago. My immediate thought was that I previously settled. The longer you sit and think about something from that long ago, the more you start to question yourself. I am starting to face the fact that I will have no way of proving it.

I could be mistaken......so could the CA.

Since then I have run my credit reports a few times and this debt was never on there so I (mistakenly) thought that trouble was long behind me. For some reason not even the judgement showed up.

Call me a conspiracy theorist but the timing of this seems all too coincidental.

Keep in mind the SOL in NY is 6yrs (thanks for the help LNR) and banks hold old account records for 7yrs.

My last payment per the OC was in '98. The CA went after and obviously received (after not serving me) a judgement in '03. Just before the 6yr SOL was up. They waited an add'l 2 1/2 yrs after the judgment to act on it. Between 7 & 8yrs total. Why wait if they have the judgement?

And the whole time no effort to contact me. They had the wrong address??? Like I stated earlier their name is all over the court calendar. They know what they're doing. If they really wanted to get a hold of me all they had to do was actually read the address on any of the 3 CRA's reports. They have my correct address. The CA obviously knew enough to find my bank account but didn't know how to find my address???

I also may be reading too much into this but the court clerk, immediately upon reading the plaintiff's name (I know because he kept his finger on where he was reading) asked me when was the first I knew of the debt, I responded "when they froze my account" shook his head like he already knew that answer and seemed a little annoyed by it. Before that moment he was pretty short with me. Afterwards he was very helpful with me in filling out the order to show cause.

I know the only one who originally got me into this mess was me but I think the CA was at least a little deceptive in their tactics. Like I stated earlier, I paid up all of my other past due debts from that time and would have done so with this one.

[woffloors6]

go to fair-debt-collection.com and you can get any sol in hte us
has many answers to questions as well you can look at it this way at least you didnt get arrested first and then your accuont frozen i got both

[Ladynred]

You cannot be arrested for not paying a debt, judgment or not. What you were probably arrested for is ignoring a court order to appear in court for a debtor's exam. You were arrested for contempt of court, not for failing to pay a debt.