Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Pennsylvania

According to the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. � 407, Social Security Benefits are exempt from execution in a cicil case. This means that civil creditor to whom you money may not touch your benefits.

Social Security benefits generally cannot be garnished - there are exeptions for things such as child support or money owed to Social Security or another federal agency, like the IRS. But for credit card debts, Social Security cannot be garnished provided that: (1) you do not mingle the exempt Social Security funds with non-exempt funds; and (2) you do not commingle the exempt Social Security funds with the funds of another person that are non-exempt. Once you commingle the funds, they are no longer exempt.

My advice would be to go to your bank and set up a "special purpose" account and put tthe bank on notice that Social Security funds are deposited into the account and the account cannot be garnished or frozen. Paying bills from the account is fine or use an ATM machine to withdraw the funds. If a creditor gets a judgment against you, tell them that your income is exempt (or if you get other non-exempt income, tell them the Social Security is exempt).