How do creditors FIND a bank account

[marcumw]

What is the name of your state? IL

Newbie question:

Before a creditor can freeze your bank account they have to FIND it. How do they do this?

Thanks

 

[Debt Guy]

The most obvious is that they ask you. If done under order of the court, you are required to be truthful.

Otherwise, the most common is if you ever paid by check before they know where you bank.

They do not need to know the exact account. They only need to know the bank. They deliver the garnishment to the bank for any account with so-and-so's name.

Finally -- and this does not happen very often -- they can find another creditor or a merchant who has accepted a check from you in the past. Today, everything goes into a database and much of that data is "public".

What they cannot do is ask the bank if they have an account for you. It would be a major no-no and violation of all sorts of privacy rules for the bank to give that info without a court order.

The amount of effort they put into the search depends on how much you owe. I have had private investigators tell me they can find anyone's bank account for $300. I only used it once and they find the guy I was looking for. Don't know how they got the info. Go through your trash, perhaps?