Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Pennsylvania

I don't know since I have not seen the paperwork. Nor has any other lawyer here.

However, there are some facts here which you have to consider:

(1) a judgment was entered against you. That means that you were probably served with a summons and complaint and possibly other legal process, all of which you completely ignored and you never tried to wok things out before it reached the garnishment stage. That being the case, the judgment will be very hard to challenge now unless you were served at the wrong place or can show this was not your debt.

(2) Assuming the judgment was properly entered and cannot be challenged at this time, then the creditor is entitled to collect on the judgment. Since there is no wage garnishment in PA for most debts, the easiest place to go is to a debtor's bank account. PA has a very limited exemption for people who do not get SS or similar exempt income - they can keep up to $300 in any one bank account. Since you have more than one bank account, either can be garnished or both, up to the limits of the judgment. While you do not indicate what the judgment was for or how much, you obviously kept more than $300 in the bank, which was a BAD idea especially if you knew that you had been sued. I'm sorry but allowing a creditor to garnish your account when you had notice of the suit is just inexcusable.

(3) Your options, at this juncture are very limited. You can file bankruptcy, if you have legal grounds, you can try to challenge the judgment and get it opened and get an emergency order to get the funds released (all of this involves legal work which can be expensive) or you can let the creditor take the money. This assumes that you do not get exempt income like Social Security, VA benefits, unemployment or worker's compensation.

(4) If you do get exempt income it cannot be garnished. In that case, I would see a lawyer who can try and assist you in getting the money back. However, this exemption only exists for exempt income.

I have never heard of anyone having to sign anything when funds have been seized from a bank account. Usually what happens is that a garnishment order is served on the bank. Depending on where you bank, if you have an account there, the bank may charge you a fee for the privilege of answering the garnishment. If you have funds (more than the exemption) then the bank will hold those funds. Its up to you to claim your exemption by requesting a hearing. If you do not claim any exemptions the bank turns the funds over to the sheriff at the end of 30 days. So I don't know who "they" is and why "they" want you to sign or what "they" want you to sign.

I suggest that you do what you should have done a long long time ago and take all of your papers to an attorney who handles this type of thing (there are some attorneys here who do FDCPA/credit card defense; bankruptcy attorneys can also assist). If you do not have a copy of the summons and complaint, then you need to go to the court in the county where the judgment was rendered and make a copy of the complete court file. The complete file will contain the summons and complaint, as well as the return of service and any attachments to the complaint. There should be a default or summary judgment motion in the file (if this is in the court of common pleas) as well as a 10-day notice. There should be an order entering judgment and a copy of any execution too.. If the judgment was in magistrate's court then the judgment should have been transferred to the court of common pleas for enforcement. However, the magistrate should still have a copy of the summons, complaint and judgment.