This is part two of two in the article series about collection of judgment. You know that locating a Bank Account is a good for collection of judgment that is owed you.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 With a judgment you can apply for a Writ at the court and have the Sheriff, Marshall, or a Process Server \"hit\" the bank.<\/p>\n
There are websites that will charge you money for the information I am going to give you here.\u00a0\u00a0 But I believe it should be available to everyone free.\u00a0\u00a0 That includes the \"how to it\" and the \"what not to do\".\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The \"what not to do\" is important so that you won't run afoul of the law.<\/p>\n
What I'm going to say here is not legal advice.\u00a0 I am not an attorney, and only attorneys can give legal advice.\u00a0 But I can make some observations, and share some of my experiences.\u00a0\u00a0 If you benefit from them, that's all the better.<\/p>\n
Okay, there are many ways to find a bank account\u00a0\u00a0 Some are legal, and some are illegal.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For example, it is illegal to call a bank and pretend to be the \u2018fianc\u00e9' of the person who owes you money, wanting to make sure he is giving you correct information about his financial worth.\u00a0 Worse yet, you might pretend to be the debtor himself or herself.<\/p>\n
This is illegal because in 1999 Congress enacted the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB), which specifically prohibits obtaining, or even attempting to obtain, another person's financial information by making false, fictitious or fraudulent statements to a financial institution.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If you want to read it right from the GLB itself, go to http:\/\/banking.senate.gov\/conf\/fintl5.pdf.\u00a0\u00a0 You will then be fully informed, though probably quite bored.<\/p>\n
I have been told by some that the GLB was concerned with identity theft.\u00a0 It has even been suggested to me that those who want financial information simply to collect money owned them, are not involved in identity theft, and therefore the GLB does not apply to them.\u00a0\u00a0 Others would say that this is creative thinking.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I'm not an attorney, but to my mind it's still too early to see how that might play out in the courts.\u00a0\u00a0 Violation of the\u00a0 GLB is not something I would be involved in.<\/p>\n
So what are the legal ways to locate bank accounts?\u00a0\u00a0 Some I'll share here are obvious.\u00a0 Some others are creative.\u00a0\u00a0 Some others are daring.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Here goes:<\/p>\n
9)\u00a0 Subpoena Vehicle Records<\/p>\n
Does your debtor own, rent, or lease a vehicle?\u00a0\u00a0 The license plate will often tell you where he or she got it.\u00a0 Then subpoena the applications from the dealer.\u00a0 To get the best auto deal, the debtor was probably quite liberal in stating his assets and income.\u00a0 You may also find out where the debtor works.\u00a0 Bank accounts will also be listed.\u00a0\u00a0 Applications are terrific sources of information.\u00a0\u00a0 Go for it!<\/p>\n
10)\u00a0 Subpoena Rental or Mortgage Applications<\/p>\n
Whether your debtor rents or owns a home, there is a paper trail available to you.\u00a0\u00a0 If the debtor rents, send the manager or owner a subpoena for \"full application and all other records relating to the rental of properties, as well as any copies of debtor's checks maintained by the manager\/owner.\"<\/p>\n
If the debtor owns a home, you can probably go on line a get a copy of the \"deed of trust.\"\u00a0\u00a0 Then you'll know who the mortgage holder is, and you can immediately subpoena the mortgage application.\u00a0\u00a0 Again, the debtor will have made a very positive assessment of his assets.\u00a0\u00a0 And it's yours for the asking.\u00a0 (See the above note on \"Notice to Consumer, if your state requires it\")<\/p>\n
11)\u00a0 Subpoena Information from Employer<\/p>\n
Some employee information is confidential.\u00a0 However, which bank the debtor's wages are sent for direct deposit is fair game to request.\u00a0\u00a0 Subpoena\u00a0 those with a Notice to Consumer.<\/p>\n
12)\u00a0\u00a0 3rd Party Judgment Debtor Examination:<\/p>\n
I'm not familiar with the laws of every state, but in many states you can require that someone who owes the debtor money or who even \"knows\" about debtor's assets can be required to appear in court and answers questions.\u00a0\u00a0 Check with your court, and check the codes of your state online.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If it's doable, do it.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Bring the person in and ask the questions you want.\u00a0\u00a0 In California it is possible to bring in the landlord of the debtor, and even his employer!\u00a0 Talk about getting the debtor's attention!<\/p>\n
13) Shotgun Levy<\/p>\n
Most people bank within a 2 mile radius of where they live or work.\u00a0\u00a0 So go to Yahoo Maps or Map Quest, put in the debtor's address, and check to see what banks are in the immediate area.\u00a0\u00a0 Choose the five main ones, get a writ and have the Sheriff or Marshall levy on all five of them.\u00a0\u00a0 You may get a\u00a0 \u2018hit' on more than one!<\/p>\n
A writ is usually less than $10, and a levy is probably around $35 dollars for each.\u00a0\u00a0 That's not much for what you may gain.\u00a0\u00a0 It will also freeze the debtor's account, and his checks may bounce.\u00a0\u00a0 But you wouldn't want that. Ha!<\/p>\n
14)\u00a0 Property Records at the County:<\/p>\n
If your debtor owns real property he or she will pay property taxes.\u00a0 In some states and in some counties the check you write is part of the public record at the Assessor's Office.\u00a0 More and more these records are user friendly. What used to be on microfiche and microfilm is in many cases on the county computer, and even on line. Check the records at the county. See if it applies to you.<\/p>\n
15)\u00a0\u00a0 Find Out What Other Creditors and Debtors Know:<\/p>\n
The Court House computer is another treasure of facts.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Much of it is even on line now, and more to come in the future.<\/p>\n
If you put your debtor's name in the court computer you'll discover old judgments, cases that were dropped, people who are HIS debtors, old landlords, and likely a general cross section of the debtor's personal and work associates. You never know what you will find. Take notes. Pull the files. Take more notes. Call all the people you can, and find out everything you can. Debtors are creatures of habit, like most people. They likely will have been banking at the same bank for years.\u00a0 Send your subpoena, or sent out a levy.<\/p>\n
16) Call the Banks and ask about the Debtor.<\/p>\n
I know, I know.\u00a0\u00a0 I said don't call the bank and tell them you want to know whether the check you have is good.\u00a0 And I said that any misrepresentation is against GLB.\u00a0\u00a0 But I'm not suggesting any misrepresentation.<\/p>\n
What if you just called a bank and said, \"Hi, my name is (your real name), and I have a Court Judgment against (debtor's real name).\u00a0 The case number is (case number) , and I need to know if he\/she has any accounts with you.\"<\/p>\n
A friend of mine actually tried this, and found that if he called 8-12 branches from a particular bank, someone who answers would\u00a0 give up the information.\u00a0 Someone will be impressed that it's a court judgment, and say, \"Oh, let me check.\u00a0 Yes, he has an account with us, but I can't give you any other information.\u00a0 I'm sorry.\"\u00a0 Or, they will say, \"I'm sorry, no accounts here.\"<\/p>\n
The point is that it may take you an hour to call 10 branches of a bank until someone cooperates.\u00a0\u00a0 You are not misrepresenting yourself.\u00a0 You are exactly who you say you are.<\/p>\n
FINAL COMMENTS:<\/p>\n
The debtor owes you money, and you want it.\u00a0 It may take some effort, but I encourage you to do it.\u00a0\u00a0 80% of judgments are not collected at all!\u00a0\u00a0 The courts don't help, and the Sheriff's for the most part just deliver papers.<\/p>\n
So we have to do it ourselves, or get someone to do it for us. I suggest doing it ourselves.\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, there may be some initial frustration.\u00a0 But when you get to know the \"system\" pretty well, you'll be a better and more informed citizen. You will probably also get some of the debtor's money in your pocket, and there is more than monetary satisfaction to doing that.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is part two of two in the article series about collection of judgment. You know that locating a Bank Account is a good for collection of judgment that is owed you.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 With a judgment you can apply for a Writ at the court and have the Sheriff, Marshall, or a Process Server \"hit\" the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[48],"class_list":["post-3356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-judgement-liens","tag-collection-of-judgment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/misuniversity.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/misuniversity.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/misuniversity.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/misuniversity.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/misuniversity.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/misuniversity.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3356\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/misuniversity.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/misuniversity.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/misuniversity.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}