Stop Bill Collectors!

Avoiding debt collectors is hard enough.  Avoiding unannounced bank withdrawals from creditors after your cash (yes, it is legal for them to dip into your bank account) is a whole other issue.  So, what do you do about it?  Simple: bank at home! Banking at home will keep your cash safe from creditors.

Banking at home is commonly called bedroom banking.  The best part is that the only things you’ll need to start the First Local Bank of you is a safe or lock-box and an active checking account with a balance of $10.00.

Here’s how the process works for your paycheck:

1. Take your paycheck to the bank. Withdraw the $10 already in your account. The reason for this step is that if a creditor has put a hold on your account, you won’t be able to withdraw the $10. If you don’t do this step and deposit your paycheck into your account, the bank is legally required to send your entire paycheck to your creditors. If you can withdraw the $10, you know your checking account is safe. Why not “cash” the check at the bank? Because what actually happens is that the check is deposited into your account and the bank loans you the amount of the check until the funds come in. They are taking a small risk that they may not get paid, but they do it to keep customers appeased.
2. Deposit the $10 back into your bank account and cash your paycheck.  Of course, you could cash the paycheck at Wal Mart or your local grocery store for about $3-$5, but why not buy yourself lunch with that money?
3. Place that money inside your cash vault or lock-box.  Remember to keep a log sheet of all of the money that you place in along with the money that you take out in order to keep a balanced cash vault.

The reason that your paycheck can become available immediately is because the bank understands that there is a very high chance that the funds will be in your employer’s payroll account to cover the “loan” that the bank gives you.  When you deposit a paycheck that is drawn on a different bank, your bank gives you a loan as they are unable to immediately withdrawal the funds from your employer’s payroll account.  Once the check clears, the bank keeps the money and thus the “loan” that was given to you is paid off.

If you are given a personal check that is drawn on a different bank, take your check to the bank and deposit it.  Ask the teller if he or she could give you an estimate on when the check will clear.  Credit unions usually make funds available immediately under a certain amount (up to about $1,000). Usually, it only takes a few days at the most for most banks. Check your account status a few times per day. As soon as the check clears, withdrawal it immediately and follow the same procedures above for depositing it into your cash vault.

This is the easiest way to keep people out of your bank account, especially if you have a civil judgement against you.  They won’t be able to withdrawal funds that aren’t there, keeping your finances secure for the time being.

I wrote in a previous article how dismayed I was that debtor’s prisons are actually alive and kicking in the USA in 2010. They don’t call them debtor’s prisons any more–they call them federal prisons or state prisons. There are four ways you can be sent to a debtor’s prison in the United States, for a federal debt, for child support,  for contempt of court regarding a judgment, for not paying state fines, and if a judge decides that you have the means to pay any debt (including credit cards and bank loans) but just aren’t paying up. That means a judge might decide that paying your debts is more important than paying your mortgage.
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In the last few months, I have been battling a lawyer’s attempts to get me sent to prison for not paying an unjust civil judgment. I thought that debtor’s prison was for eighteenth century debtors. Prison for twenty-first century debtors exists today in the United States, and if you aren’t careful, you can end up being victim to a sneaky trick that debt collection lawyer’s pull to make you pay up–or else.
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Bank Account Writ of Garnishment—a Legal Way to Empty Your Checking Account

One of the most alarming things that can happen is a creditor garnishing a bank account. If you have a county court judgment against you, you may be in for a nasty surprise: creditors can legally take every penny in your bank account at no notice to you (up to the amount you owe). This could mean that you get paid, you write a ton of checks to pay bills, and the next day the bank depletes your account. You might only find out about it when the checks start bouncing.
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A creditor is an individual or a company that allows other individuals to borrow money based on an agreement between the creditor and the debtor. Or, as in my situation, a judgment creditor is a crook who uses their knowledge of the law to wheedle money out of innocent people.

It wasn’t long before my creditor began calling me at my home as well as my workplace. They even called as late as ten o’clock at night, reminding me that I need to pay the judgment. The constant reminder that I needed to pay them, and the threats of wage garnishment, bank account garnishment, and arrest for contempt of court (the judge ordered me to reveal my bank account details, and I refused). I lied to the lawyers on the phone and said I had no money, but it made no difference–they just kept on calling, sometimes two or three times a day. I needed to find a way to stop the harassing calls.

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I found out there are ways that I could mislead my creditors. I decided to beat them at their own game and give creditors personal information that is different from my own so that they wouldn’t be able to locate me and communicate with me. The first step was to change the creditor’s access to my personal information, starting with my mailing address. No, I don’t have to move, I just had to make them think I moved.
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My creditors would do anything to track me down. They have their own resources and means of finding me physically in order to force me to pay my debt. Here are some of the things that my creditor and their crooked lawyers did to find me (before I figured out how to hide!):
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If you’ve stumbled across this blog because you want to hide from the disgraceful and unfair credit collection practices that are considered “fair practice” in the United States, you are in the right place.

I have successfully hidden my assets from my creditors, and I have not paid them a single dime (and I never will).

You may be wondering what kind of deadbeat creates a blog to tell people how to successfully hide from creditors. The truth is, I always pay my bills on time, but unjust collections practices put me in debt by tens of thousands of dollars because of one reason that may surprise you.

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