Read this important post by John Pottow at Credit Slips:
I wanted to draw Credit Slips readers’ attention to a wonderful (front-page) feature a couple weekends ago (Sat. Apr. 28) by Ellen E. Schultz in the Wall Street Journal regarding the above captioned. Yes, it’s another depressing but highly humanized account of elderly debtors having their bank accounts drained by savvy creditors with garnishment writs. But there’s an interesting twist regarding the garnishment of putatively exempt Social Security funds. The funds, while exempt of course, lose their exemption once deposited into a bank account, unless the account owner (here, the elderly debtor, presumably having independent knowledge of this arcane legal requirement) affirmatively files an exemption notice. Does the Social Security Administration help out by reminding of this legal hurdle, perhaps under its FAQ? Nope. How about the banks, out of a sense of customer service? In hand washing that would make even Pilate proud, most of them (with some commendable exceptions) say that’s not their place to get involved in the private treatment of customers, etc., etc. …
Of course “widowers” would benefit from this information as well.
Sounds like the banks and credit companies read “Catch-22” very closely! The SSA. too! At least they could send a bottle of Moet Chandon
(white star) sometimes to say thanks!
It was an excellent article–one of those long ones that Rupert Murdoch apparently finds “frustrating”!