if my mother owes a collection agent 9000 dollars and social security is her only income can they make her pay ?
2007-11-28 04:09:50 · 3 answers · asked by tia88fire 2 in Business & Finance ➔ Credit
The other posters are correct, they legally cannot garnish her social security.
Florida has excellent homestead exemption laws where it would be hard for them to collect on a judgment for regular (non government) money debts, but she would need to file for the homestead exemption to be protected.
There are two types of homestead exemption that people file for in Florida. One is for taxes and the other is for consumer debt. So if she has said she has already filed be sure it is for both and not only for taxes.
The following link is to the Florida Legislature and explains how to file homestead exemption
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=Ch0222/titl0222.htm&StatuteYear=2004&Title=%2D%3E2004%2D%3EChapter%20222
The collecting SOL in Fl. is 4 years for open accounts (credit cards etc), 4 years for UCC (utilities, vehicle repo's, etc.), and 5 years for written contracts (non government types of loans, etc)
You might click on my profile and do some reading in the FTC links I've provided and also in the last link listed to a free credit discussion forum
2007-11-28 09:36:15 · answer #1 · answered by echo 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Probably not. Social Security cannot be garnished. They could sue her and put a lien on her property if she owns any, so be careful of that. However if the debt is out of the statute of limitations for your state they can't even sue her. If the debt is out of the SOL then send the letter asking for Validation of the Debt and include a cease and desist they should leave her alone.
2007-11-28 04:41:17 · answer #2 · answered by Delaina77 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No they can't. They can file suit, get a judgement, and demand any propery listed as colateral but they cannot touch her check.
2007-11-28 05:06:24 · answer #3 · answered by jsuggs000 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋