I had my bank account frozen this week by a court order, I mean, 2 weeks pay, savings,

[grotto3b]

Direct Deposit and all.? ...it left me with $40 in my pocket and, luckily I am a little ahead on rent. But there's $2000 in the acct. that I had scraped together to pay back property tax so I won't lose this lot, in the county where I could not find work. This savings was not earned from a crime, non-child support or alimony, drug trafficking, or anything like that, but a disputed debt, a private student loan of $1400 from a fly-by-night "tech school" . I'm in Orlando, FL and I wanted to see if anyone could tell me basically how this works, and works out. I had only been able to find part-time, "piece work" as a mechanic in later 2007 and into 2008, until on Nov.14, 2008, my face was crushed by an axle of a tractor. I was nearly killed, and spent a month in the hospital and about 6 recuperating. I had no insurance, just working for myself, trying to survive. So, I finally find an $8.50/hr. fulltime job in another city, Orlando, in July 2009, and for 5 mos. now, I'm making it, but barely, when these collectors and lawyers seize everything. Is there a history of this or some success somewhere in fighting it? I'm "negotiating" with the lawyers now, sending them copies of doctor's letters, tax returns, food stamp approval letters from prior years, but this all just doesn't seem right. I honestly could not, pay them, now I've already lost nearly $200 in fees and faxing them info.,skipping meals, bills, and we haven't reached an "agreement". I'm going to look for some Legal Aid somewhere, but maybe someone could give me news like, " a judge won't allow collectors to take money that exceeds rent, medication, and the most basic food." I could end up evicted.

 

[Cheryl G]

Sorry to tell you this, but the creditor is within his rights. The time to fight this debt was early on, before it went this far. At this point, the court has already heard the case and allowed a judgment to be placed against you. Since you don't have anything except the bank account, that was seized to pay the debt. You should have received notice of all these actions. By ignoring the notices, you allowed the court to assume you were a deadbeat. The Clerk of the Court and Magistrate or Judge had no way of knowing what was going on in your life.

I agree it doesn't seem to be fair, but you'll have some trouble proving that you are not liable for the debt. You'll have to contact your local government and see if there is some sort of Legal Aid in your area. Don't wait, though. The longer this goes the worse it will become with additional fees and interest charges.

 

[Reena]

Make an appointment with Legal Aid ASAP and with any luck you can get a judge to undo this and put you on a payment plan.

Something went horribly wrong here... you should have gotten a summons to appear in court and defend yourself. Looks like you were a "no show" and the debt collector got his full judgement request.

Had you appeared in court the outcome would have been different. A judge can rule that you need to pay back x-amount a month and your creditors have to accept that. Instead... you didn't respond to the summons and they got what they wanted in full and that means the right to raid all of your bank accounts to pay back the debt.

If you were not served by summons then go back to court and fight against the judgement.
P.S. Get a lawyer... you will need it.