Law Office of Rick Morin, PC

A bank levy is when a creditor takes money directly from your bank account. How many times can a bank levy occur? The answer will very likely surprise you.

Bank Levies Only Happen After a Judgement

A creditor can only take money directly from your bank account if you give the creditor permission or they go through the levy process.

A creditor can only levy your bank account if the creditor has already obtained a court-ordered judgement. This means that the creditor sued you and won in a court of law. Only then will the court authorize a creditor to directly take money from a bank account.

Do not ignore lawsuits. Ignoring a lawsuit will almost certainly ensure that the creditor will obtain a judgement.

Creditors Don’t Have to Warn Before Levying

Many people mistakenly believe that a creditor is required to provide a warning before levying a bank account. This is not true for one very obvious reason. If a creditor had to warn a debtor prior to the bank levy, debtors would always drain their accounts before the levy hit.

A creditor does not need to provide advance notice before a bank levy. Therefore, if you know that a creditor has a judgement against you, you must not keep money in bank accounts until you resolve the debt.

A Creditor May Levy Your Bank Account More Than Once

A creditor can levy your bank account multiple times until the judgement is paid in full. In other words, you aren’t safe from future levies just because a creditor already levied your account.

Don’t Ignore a Bank Levy!

A bank levy can make it impossible to pay rent, buy groceries, or make a car payment on time. Obviously, bank levies are very serious. You can fight back against creditors that are involuntarily taking your money.

Please call Sacramento Bankruptcy Attorney Rick Morin at (916) 333-2222 to discuss strategies to stop bank levies dead in their tracks.