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I just got granted disability benefits. My creditors and debt collectors are threatening to garnish my benefits. Is this legal?
I was recently awarded SSDI benefits, but I have a lot of medical and credit card bills from the time when I was working. My creditors are harassing me and threatening to garnish my benefits. Can they do that?
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Answers (1)
Social Security law protects your benefits from attachment, garnishment, and levy with the following exceptions: child support, alimony, and taxes owed to the federal government. The IRS can garnish up to 15% of your benefits. Social Security can only protect your benefits while they have them. They cannot protect them once they have been paid unless you can prove that the funds that were taken were only funds from Social Security. This means that if a creditor attaches funds in your bank account and you have funds from other sources that can be attached, the creditor can get whatever is in the account. Your best protection in this instance is to keep your Social Security funds in a separate account from income you get from another source.
You should consider obtaining legal representation to assist you with this matter. A lawyer can assist you in dealing with creditors and any potential garnishments.
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Posted by Edith Hull on 21 Jan 2010
2people found this useful
(6 Votes)