The debt collector vs. the widow

[babylonsister]

This IS criminal, but everyone turns the other cheek. How many more people are in this position?:mad:

http://vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfMAY07/nf050707-4.htm

The debt collector vs. the widow

BY ELLEN E. SCHULTZ
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL


Fyffe, Ala. - Heart surgery halted Viola Sue Kell's work sewing carpets in a rug mill in 2001. It was the end of 40 years of cleaning motel rooms, restaurant jobs, "just hard stuff," says Mrs. Kell, a 64-year-old widow. She applied for Social Security disability, and her monthly $827 benefit now is her only income.

But when Mrs. Kell tried to pay her mortgage and electric bills in 2004, her checks bounced. Every cent of the Social Security check, which went straight to her bank each month, had been taken by a debt collector that had garnished her bank account.

Federal law says creditors can't take Social Security and Veteran's benefits to pay debts. Yet the practice is widespread. There is no established process for enforcing the federal prohibition.

When banks receive a garnishment order, their standard response is to freeze the customer's account. Banks say it's not their job to check whether accounts contain cash from exempt sources. Collectors also don't treat it as their job. So the burden falls on Social Security recipients, typically elderly or disabled, who have suddenly lost access to their bank accounts and have no idea what to do.

In 2003, a debt collector decided Mrs. Kell in Alabama owed $125 on a three-year-old hospital bill. It obtained a court judgment and sent a garnishment order to her bank. The bank froze her account, which contained $679, all from Social Security. "I was scared to death," Mrs. Kell says. "I didn't have any way of getting any money."

more...

[Monkeyman]

1. K&R

:mad: :grr: Vets this could happen to you Larry Scott thinks so. So do I

[Coexist]

2. how can people prevent this from happening to them?

that is scary.

(on edit: never mind, I read the rest of the story, which explains how to protect yourself.)

[Heywood J]

5. Use a safe to keep your retirement funds.

That seems like about the only way - they've been documented here to break every law in the book in hopes of getting even one more dime from you.

[nam78_two]

3. K&R.nt

[WePurrsevere]

4. Excellent info for Vets & those on SS! From what I've found, there are only 2 creditors

allowed by law to go after disability benefits... child support and the IRS.

After reading through the whole article this is absolutely outrageous! It looks like the only real way to protect one's Soc Security/Disability completely is by getting your benefit as a check although the problem with that is that if your bank account is frozen your bank probably won't cash the check so you'd have to find somewhere else. For seniors, vets and the disabled who live hand to mouth this type of crap is frightening as all heck.

I was flabbergasted when I read that this one man, "sent an exemption claim, attaching a letter from the Social Security Administration. Messerli & Kramer rejected the claim, saying he had "failed to provide sufficient proof that the funds withheld are exempt." A letter from SS is sufficient proof of benefits for proving income for getting social services, etc so it should be more then sufficient proof for this BS company. :grr:

[Heywood J]

6. It sounds like more than a few companies

need fines in the hundred-million dollar range, and a few corporate charters need to be torn up. This is outright fraud and larceny upon the elderly, the same as people who call up and peddle them scams. It's apparently just as legal, when they ignore federal law and court orders.

I'm betting that the seizure and liquidation of assets pending corporate charter revocation, as well as criminal convictions for the employees ordering seizures, would put a swift end to this.

[Giant Robot]

7. My apologies if any Duers work as debt collectors

But my experience has been they are amoral scum. I have been harassed by so many that I am almost immune to the threats, repeated ways they try to belittle, and use the law as a club against me. They definitely need fines in the hundred million dollar range and people need to go to jail. I think corporate personhood has done much to aid in illegal behavior because a corporation cannot spend time behind bars. Sorry about the rant, but I am also being sued by a scummy debt collector trying to get money for a bill I don't owe. I had an attorney file a response, because the agency I work at has a legal aid clinic, and the attorney agreed to do it for free. Since the response was filed with proof that I do not owe anything, that has been dropped but the calls have not. Ok, rant over. Sorry for taking up space with my negativity.