Can a major credit card company in Virginia garnish social security wages for unpaid debt?

[winwood]

My father in law collects $1437 per month social security. He has no other income. He has acrrued credit card debt of close to $18000 during the past 4 years for his living expenses. We are just now finding out about this. He has no money left over at the end of the month to pay on these debts. Do the creditors have the ability in the state of Virginia to garnish his social security. Any other thoughts? Bankruptcy is not an option. He has no assets. Does not own a home, has no cash in bank and his car was purchaed for $800. Thanks.

[hagaleah]

My father in law collects $1437 per month social security. He has no other income. He has acrrued credit card debt of close to $18000 during the past 4 years for his living expenses. We are just now finding out about this. He has no money left over at the end of the month to pay on these debts. Do the creditors have the ability in the state of Virginia to garnish his social security. Any other thoughts? Bankruptcy is not an option. He has no assets. Does not own a home, has no cash in bank and his car was purchaed for $800. Thanks.

Well, people in debt often seem to find some help here :
http://credit-cards.ebookorama.com
and here http://finance.ebookorama.com
also plenty more to read here
http://credit.ebookorama.com
http://credit-repair.ebookorama.com
good luck!

[ashly]

Thank you for the resources! Appreciate it.

[salvadore94]

You bet the credit Card Companies can garnish not only the social security checks but also bank accounts unless you file for bacruptcy. But bancruptcies are now not so easy. You have to go to a credit counselor and get him to certify the ways you can pay back or there is absolutely no way for you to pay. But of course you need an attorney to get oiut of paying any thing but you have to pay the attorneys. You just can't borrow money if you can't pay back.ome attorneys say that you've no legal obligation to pay back any thing. But you need an attorney to argue your case. Usually it is easy if you owe $100,000 because an attorney would charge, say, $10,000. But if you owe only $18,000 thdere is not that much to work with because an attorney has to spend just as much time to argue an $18,000 case as an $100,000 case.

But look for attornies and find out how much he'd charge.

[arvad]

They only have the power to garnish his income if they take him to court and obtain a judgment against him for the debt. I think the most that they can take is 25%.

[pannoowau]

Cali Girl identified the key issue-- they need a judgement to be able to seize anything. In a situation like this, you should know the status of any legal filings against your father-in-law.

When you say "we are all just finding out about this", it makes me think that there may well be more that you don't know. Sounds like a situation where you should talk to a local attorney . . . they will also be able to find out the status of any pending legal action by the creditors.

[ailwyn]

No they cannot legally Garnish any type of Federal Social Security Payment. The only exception are taxes, student loans or you owe a over payment from Social Security.

If the money is direct deposited. You need to go to the bank and tell them they can not garnish his benefits. You also need to remove any overdraft coverage. They will put a notation on the account-can not legally garnish or freeze the account. He won't be able to deposit anymore except for his benefit check(S).