what do you know about banks?

[VanIsland Lisa]

I was wondering if anyone knows how privite bank accounts are.
If a person owed debts, student loans, credit cards whatever. If they had a bank account would creditors &/or the Gov't be able to find out how much they had in their account & take it for their outstanding debts? This info is for a 'friend', not me of course any info anyone has would be greatly appreicated. I tried to look it up on the web with no luck.

 

[chuck1561]

Re: what do you know?

I was wondering if anyone knows how privite bank accounts are.
If a person owed debts, student loans, credit cards whatever. If they had a bank account would creditors &/or the Gov't be able to find out how much they had in their account & take it for their outstanding debts? This info is for a 'friend', not me of course any info anyone has would be greatly appreicated. I tried to look it up on the web with no luck.

not sure about them being able to "see" your account..but creditors can do what's called, "garnish at source". in other words they arrange to have money taken from your account to settle a debt when the funds are available. This has to be done by court order ofcourse. they can also take nsf cheques and send them for collections which basically means that the cheque will be held for a certain amount of days, ie 10 and if the funds for the cheque can be covered then "out" it comes..hope this helps or is what you wanted to know

 

[static]

Tell "your friend" to invest in a safety deposit box. You get it at your bank, you'll have the only key, and you can keep whatever you want in it.

 

[hitrack]

If your friend has let their debts lapse that badly I would withdrawl what money I have in the bank, or the company can and will take legal actions and garnish wages, bank accounts, even if your friend used their car as colateral for the loan I would get the car put in their moms or dads name. Make it look like you own "F" all

Sucks to be anyone in that boat.

 

[chuck1561]

What they said

Great advice by static and that hitrack guy..more than just some pretty faces...LOL..

 

[bjluver]

I'm not all that sure about private debt but any debt owed to the government (federal or provincial) via student loans or otherwise (ie. unpaid medical premiums) can be either garnished from your wages or taken from any taxes returned to you.

 

[LonelyGhost]

I was wondering if anyone knows how privite bank accounts are.
If a person owed debts, student loans, credit cards whatever. If they had a bank account would creditors &/or the Gov't be able to find out how much they had in their account & take it for their outstanding debts? This info is for a 'friend', not me of course any info anyone has would be greatly appreicated. I tried to look it up on the web with no luck.

if you have ANY debt at the same bank that you have ANY assets, the bank can seize them anytime for payment without even informing you. when you sign all those papers, the clause is in there!

so, if the debt is at a bank, move the cash to a credit union ... they do not have agreements yet in place for transferring funds so they cannot grab the assets easily.

the government can track you down through your SIN number which some places ask for in opening an account so don't use it or use the 'wrong' one.

the gov't can also track you through your taxes ... and if you are expecting a refund, they can seize that for payment as well.

the other thing to do is to contact the credit counselling society, they will act on your behalf to contact all the creditors and make payment arrangements for you ... usually one reasonable sum per month: it becomes a binding agreement on both parties but gets the creditors off your back.

 

[Lady Companion]

Silly quesion. Why don't they just start paying off their debts?

If they are paying the minimum each month, then nobody is going to try and take more. However, if there is extra cash, it is a very good idea to pay them off faster so that you get the principle down more quickly and limit the amount of interest you are paying.

Now if this person is planning on not paying off the debts at all, they really have only two options. Declare bankruptsy and lose any credit for many years, or ignore the debt and have terrible credit, with no ability to invest in their future, or make any large purchases such as a car or home.

He/she should really try to make at least the minimum payments each month, unless it really isn't possible. Debt on anything that doesn't appreciate is not a good thing, and ingnoring the problem by not paying it off or officially having it resolved (consolidation, bankruptsy etc.) will only prolong the problem, increase the debt and yield longer term reprocussions.

 

[Maury Beniowski]

When I owned a business, I got into a dispute with CCRA about an amount they claimed I owed them. Letters flowed back and forth with each side stating its case, and we eventually reached a stalemate. Shortly afterwards, I received a notice from my bank that the disputed funds had been seized from my account. No court order, no opportunity to appeal.

 

[eastcoast]

Hi Maury. Your not alone with that experience. CCRA has seemingly limitless powers in that area. Moeny owed to other government agencies and/or private sector organizations is less succeptable to that type of seizure. A court order of some sort is usually required, although even then it can happen with little or no notice.

 

[daddywarbucks]

I had a huge problem with the IRS. A problem so huge that the interest on the supposed unpaid tax was over $150. a day.

In order to have a bank account, I opened one in Canada. The bank had a Seattle Office that would accept deposits. This was in the early 80's. At that time I didn't need a Canadian tax number. Don't know if the US requires a SS number to open a non-interest bearing account.

By the way I eventualy beat them. No appology, no nothing after making my life hell for 4 years.

DWB

 

[Penhold]

Some good advice in this thread.

Your friend should first decide what she wants to do with her creditors and CCRA - pay them off or avoid them altogether.

If she ignores them, the debts won't go away and ultimately someone will simply start collection tactics and take default judgment against her. I believe judgments are good for 10 years in Canada, and interest will accumulate on the judgment but often at a lower rate than the rate charged on the credit card/loan. At any time and from time to time, they can take out an appointment to examine in aid of execution and question her under oath as to her assets and where any monies may be located. If she suddenly reveals she has lots of money, questions will arise as to the source of the money and why she hadn't declared it before. If she lies under oath, that's perjury and she can get into additional trouble.

She should go to a consumer credit counselling agency and obtain some advice. If she has money squirrelled away that no one knows about, she might want to consider (with the counsellors help) to offer compromises to some or all of the creditors - i.e. for them to accept a less than full payment in exchange for extinguishing the debt. If she has no visible job, assets or means of support, they will often accept considerably less than is owed. Debtors often say that if it means getting rid of the debt then they will borrow the money from parents/friends/whoever just to get them off their back and to preserve their credit rating.

Getting CCRA and governmental agencies to accept less is always a challenge, but it is not impossible (particularly if there is no job, no job prospects, no assets and no visible means of support, in which case sometimes they'll accept less just to close the file if they consider it hopeless).

If she is evading creditors and is suddenly found with lots of money but has no visible means of support, she runs the danger that the police at some point may get involved and consider the money proceeds of crime (e.g. from the drug trade or money laundering, unless she then admits as to her source of income).

Debt problems don't go away easily and interest on the debt can be crippling. It's hard but really the best thing if she seeks some good professional counselling services and have them help her deal with it as soon as she can.

 

[Phoenix]

westwoody is right, CCRA have limitless powers. They don't just close your bank account(s) but can take whatever money you have.

If you have a bank account with a $2,000.00 line of credit and have $0.00 dollars in your account, CCRA will take the max line of credit (2,000.00) from the bank and close your account.

Provincal goverment's can close your account but would require a court order to seize money.

 

[LonelyGhost]

btw: despite the claims, you can declare bankruptcy with a student loan, you just have to be sneaky.

one method, if you still have decent credit, is to borrow the money to pay it off and declare bankruptcy.

or, take every offer of credit from every credit card and store that has it and max them all out first by taking their cash advances which you use to pay the student loan and then the credit to purchase items which you sell to friends, family or on e-bay at a discount and use the proceeds to pay off your student loan. and then delcare bankruptcy.

you may end up owing twice as much as the student loan was worth, but you can then declare bankruptcy!

or you can float a loan on a car and sell the car (for example, GMAC will loan almost anyone money using their own cars as collateral), then use the money to pay off the student loan and declare bankruptcy.

and it is possible to start getting credit within 7 days of declaring bankruptcy ... you basically take $100 and apply for a debit-credit card. it will only have a $100 limit of your money and they will charge you interest on any purchases but you will start to re-establish your credit right away!

and while all this may seem extremely immoral, consider that the bc provincial government just forgave $4 million dollars on interest on a $14 million dollar loan for which the company has not paid one red cent yet!!!!

that money could have gone to education or helping with student loans ...

 

[bothmog]

If you have someone you can trust enough. then open a joint account. They will be unable to touch it. Any account in your own name can be taken. The Government does not even need a court order, they can just take it. I (Imeen my friend) was in the exact same situation. I (my friend) still have (has) the joint account after 5 years.

Good luck to your friend.