If a garnishment has hit your Bank of America account, call the bank’s main line at 800-432-1000 and ask to be transferred to the Bank of America garnishment department, formally called Legal Order Processing.1Bank of America. Helpful Phone Numbers and Links That team handles the compliance side of court orders and can tell you the amount being held, the creditor behind the order, and what documentation they need from you. What they cannot do is challenge the judgment for you, negotiate with the creditor, or waive the freeze. The bank is a neutral party responding to a court order.
One number to skip: 213-580-0702 shows up frequently in online searches, but it connects to the bank’s third-party subpoena portal for attorneys, courts, and creditors serving legal orders. Bank of America’s own site says that portal “is not intended for customer account servicing.”2Bank of America. Bank of America Legal Order Processing Calling it as an account holder means being redirected.
What Happens the Moment the Order Arrives
Bank of America freezes funds in your account up to the amount stated in the court order as soon as it processes the garnishment, usually the same day or the next business day. There is no advance warning. Checks may bounce, automatic payments may fail, and debit card and ATM access stop until the hold resolves.
The bank is required to mail a written notice to the last address on file. That notice tells you the amount frozen, who the creditor is, and how to claim an exemption. Frozen funds sit for a waiting period set by your state’s law before the bank releases anything to the creditor. That window, typically a few weeks, is your time to file an exemption claim or go back to court.
The $125 Legal Processing Fee
Bank of America charges a $125 legal processing fee each time it receives a garnishment, levy, or attachment order. The fee schedule applies it to “each legal order or process that directs us to freeze, attach or withhold funds or other property,” and the bank deducts it from your account rather than billing the creditor.3Bank of America. Personal Schedule of Fees
Two exceptions worth checking. The fee is waived if you hold an Advantage Relationship Banking, Advantage with Tiered Interest Checking, or Advantage Regular Checking account and are enrolled in Preferred Rewards.3Bank of America. Personal Schedule of Fees Some states also cap what banks can charge for garnishment processing, so the actual amount may be lower depending on where your account is held. The fee schedule itself references this with the phrase “or such other rate as may be set by law.”
Federal Benefits Are Protected Automatically
If you receive Social Security, SSI, veterans benefits, or other federal payments by direct deposit, the bank must protect those funds without you filing anything. Federal regulation 31 CFR Part 212 requires the bank, on receiving a garnishment, to look back at two months of deposits and calculate a “protected amount” from federal benefit payments received during that window.4eCFR. 31 CFR Part 212 – Garnishment of Accounts Containing Federal Benefit Payments
The protected amount is the lesser of two figures: total federal benefit deposits during the two-month lookback, or your account balance when the bank reviews the order. That amount must remain available to you with “full and customary access,” regardless of what the garnishment order tells the bank to freeze. The regulation is explicit: “an account holder shall have no requirement to assert any right of garnishment exemption prior to accessing the protected amount.”4eCFR. 31 CFR Part 212 – Garnishment of Accounts Containing Federal Benefit Payments
The bank runs this review once per garnishment order. It does not matter whether non-exempt funds are mixed into the account, whether there is a co-owner, or whether the order says freeze everything. The federal benefit amount comes off the top.
The automatic protection only reaches electronically deposited federal benefits the bank can identify from its records. If you receive exempt income by paper check, or your protected income comes from a source outside this rule, you have to claim the exemption through the court.
Claiming Other Exempt Funds
Several categories of income are protected from garnishment under federal law even when a creditor holds a valid judgment. Social Security retirement, disability, and survivor benefits “shall not be subject to execution, levy, attachment, garnishment, or other legal process.”5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 407 – Assignment of Benefits Veterans benefits are “exempt from the claim of creditors” and “shall not be liable to attachment, levy, or seizure by or under any legal or equitable process.”6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 38 USC 5301 – Nonassignability and Exempt Status of Benefits SSI, certain federal employee retirement benefits, and some unemployment compensation carry their own protections.
To claim these for funds outside the automatic two-month lookback, you file an exemption claim or affidavit with the court that issued the garnishment. Procedures vary by state, but the shape of the task is consistent:
- Get the right form. Your garnishment notice should include or reference an exemption claim form, sometimes called a Claim of Exemption or an Affidavit of Exemption. If it did not, contact the clerk of the issuing court.
- Gather proof of source. Bank statements showing direct deposits, Social Security award letters, VA benefit letters, or similar records that tie the frozen funds to a protected source.
- File fast. Deadlines are often 10 to 14 days from the date on the notice. Miss the window and you can lose funds you were entitled to keep.
Bank of America applies the exemption laws of the state where the account is held. If the court grants your exemption, the protected funds go back into your account, and the bank may reverse the $125 fee.
Joint Accounts
A joint account can be frozen even when only one holder is the named debtor. Because joint owners generally have equal rights to the full balance, creditors in many states can reach the whole account, though some states limit seizure to the debtor’s proportional share. Married couples in states that recognize tenancy by the entirety for bank accounts may have additional protection when only one spouse is the debtor; whether it applies depends on your state and how the account is titled.
The automatic federal benefit protection still runs regardless of joint ownership. The regulation requires the bank to perform its two-month lookback without regard to “the existence of a co-owner on the account.”4eCFR. 31 CFR Part 212 – Garnishment of Accounts Containing Federal Benefit Payments Social Security deposited into a joint account stays protected.
After the Freeze Lifts
Once the holding period expires and any exemption claims are resolved, Bank of America releases non-exempt funds to the creditor and lifts the freeze. You regain access to what remains, including protected amounts. Your account normally stays open unless you or the bank closes it. Check the statement to confirm the exact amounts deducted for the debt and for the fee, and if something looks wrong, call Legal Order Processing through 800-432-1000.
One garnishment does not necessarily end the matter. If the judgment is not fully satisfied, the creditor can go back to court for a new order against the same account. Each new order requires separate court approval, and the bank must run a fresh account review and a new two-month lookback for federal benefits.4eCFR. 31 CFR Part 212 – Garnishment of Accounts Containing Federal Benefit Payments The cycle continues until the judgment is paid or otherwise resolved.
How to Stop Further Garnishments
By the time a bank account is garnished, the creditor already holds a court judgment. Options are narrower than they were before the lawsuit, but real:
- Negotiate directly with the creditor. Many will accept a payment plan or a lump-sum settlement for less than the full judgment, especially when repeated garnishments are producing little. Get any agreement in writing before paying.
- File for bankruptcy. A petition triggers an automatic stay that immediately halts most collection activity, including garnishments, by stopping “any act to collect, assess, or recover a claim against the debtor that arose before the commencement of the case.” The long-term consequences are serious, but for someone facing repeated garnishments the stay may be the most effective break in the cycle.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 362 – Automatic Stay
- Challenge the underlying judgment. If you were never properly served with the original lawsuit, you may be able to ask the court to vacate a default judgment. It is a narrow remedy but comes up more often than people expect.
- Separate exempt from non-exempt funds. If you receive federal benefits plus other income, keeping them in separate accounts makes it easier for the bank to identify and protect the exempt portion during its automatic review.
If the Bank Gets It Wrong
Bank of America has been sanctioned for mishandling garnishments. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered the bank to pay a $10 million civil penalty and refund at least $592,000 in unlawful garnishment fees to affected customers.8Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. CFPB Orders Bank of America to Pay $10 Million Penalty for Illegal Garnishments The CFPB found that the bank froze out-of-state accounts and sent funds to creditors even when state law prohibited it, applied the wrong state’s exemption laws in some cases, and used deposit-agreement language requiring customers to waive garnishment-related protections.9Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Bank of America, N.A. – Enforcement Action The CFPB also found the bank had told customers they could not go to court to challenge wrongful garnishments. Bank of America was required to reform its garnishment processing and stop using contract language that limited customers’ legal rights.
If you believe the bank applied the wrong state’s exemption laws or failed to protect funds that should have been shielded, you can file a complaint with the CFPB at consumerfinance.gov to escalate the issue.