Family's bank accounts frozen over unpaid Portland water bill | The Story | June 18, 2024
Vložit
- čas přidán 17. 06. 2024
- June 18 on The Story: When they moved out of their Portland rental home in 2022, records show that the DeWitt family owed the Portland Water Bureau about $1,100. At the time, they said they didn't have the money to pay - and they knew it would go to collections. What they didn't expect was that this year, a third-party debt collector could suddenly put all of their accounts on hold, leaving them unable to access any money for food and other bills. The freeze continued for weeks, while the DeWitts picked up odd jobs for cash to scrape by. Meanwhile, the punitive nature of debt collection may be undermining the city of Portland’s own effort to keep residents housed, employed and able to meet essential needs.
Watch more The Story videos: bit.ly/watchTheStory
Follow The Story on Twitter: / thestorykgw
Follow The Story on Instagram: / thestorykgw
Should not be possible without service and a court hearing.
Oregon government’s motto is, ‘it’s not my problem..’
So, I suppose a debters jail is next…
This is horrible because not only does the collection agency charge fees but the bank may charge $50-100 per account for each lien placed. They could instead place a lien on future state tax refunds like they do with child support. Then the family can keep going as they are but get less on the tax refund.
we had the money they wanted on day 1 it was saved to make a house payment. Our issue why we called the news was that they were saying it would take 6 to 8 weeks of our bank account being frozen to take it and we didnt think that was right. Also that they had frozen accounts belonging to disability for his mother for which he is overseer and for our adult daughter who is a student who pays us a small amount of rent to be here montly. That is her account to get her pell grant and what little money she makes. If they just took the money or garnished wages we wouldnt be complaining on the news. That would be fair enough even if hard. Most people cant survive 4-8 weeks with their accounts shut off. It makes you feel extra bad when you know the whole time the money they want is in there. It was an end water bill our old landlord didnt switch for a month and by the time we got it we were having a hard time handling the new house payment with our income and the economy. We also want to warn people they can do this some people may be worse off than us even and have this happen. We didnt think a total freeze would be a result of garnishment and we still dont understand why it takes so long if the funds are there or why the city would allow it if it does take that long.
@@jenniferdewitt7511 I am so sorry this happened to you. I work for a bank but in customer service and not garnishments. On my outside looking in, the bank needs to verify the order so it takes a lot of time, way too much time as my personal opinion. Sadly any other account you are linked to will also be affected and be subjected to any related bank fees. This is why I say they should instead of selling the debt look to garnish any tax refunds. This will stop directly affecting folks like you from paying bills, putting gas in your car or buying food. We all count on tax refunds as "bonus" money in the spring. It would be less harmful to have a smaller bonus than to be prevented from paying our bills and going to work. I am so thankful you did reach out so that all of us know what is going on in the water burough. Not to sound like Trump but they have always appeared to be crooked, but not as much as PGE and their rate hikes.
World war 3 in America we talk about bullshit
A whole lot of questions. Their income, their communication trail, their attempts at any good faith if the balance was not disputed. IGNORE GOVERNMENT DEBTS AT YOUR PERIL.😢
we have a pretty low income and had even been on unemployment a while. We did communicate this was an end water bill where the past landlord did not turn it over to his name and we didnt have time to fight about it in small claims before it went to collections. We have jobs now and there was plenty of good faith. We dont even mind that the took the money what our complaint is that the froze all of our money above and beyond what we owed them and the accounts our money goes into for 4+ weeks and froze a disabled mother in law and my daughters accounts the same amount of time for just being connected to us. If they just took the money and went on it wouldnt be all this.
Just pay your bills, these people have granite countertops, brand new dish towels, at least 2 nice cars, I live in a 1970 house with original countertops, 25 year old rigs, my water bill is paid.
We do not have 2 nice cars at all thats not true you dont know us. We have one broken down car and one cheap elantra that we all use to get back and forth to work and door dash. Our home we got with my husbands VA loan and we still live paycheck to paycheck. My husband was military 16 years we are in our 40s and this is our first home we ever owned and we are barely hanging on to it. None of us have a lot.
also our home was built in the 1970s as well its not that fancy. The counters arent granite its crushed quartz in cement its not nearly the cost of granite at all.
also those are not new dish towels thats just the normal care instruction tag on a dollar tree dish towel lol. They just are washed lol.
why dont you talk about how my paint is peeling off my cabinets or drawers are broken that I cant afford to replace or my stovetop is missing a cast iorn grate because i cant afford to replace it. You have such a keen eye. You cant see any of that or?
The fact of the story is that Portland, yes Portland owns the water burough turned it over to collections who then froze any account they are associated with via a garnishment order. The bank then had to verify the order while leaving them and their affected relatives without funds. The whole collection process is a harmful situation that can leave folks on the edges homeless when they do have funds to pay their bills. @jenniferdewitt7511 personally explained there was more than enough to pay the bill but the garnishment order froze way more than the bill. The story also said this bill was years old. Circumstances can change over time too with past bills being forgotten. This is why I say the water burough needs to keep this internal and instead go after tax refunds so as not to cause more homelessness due to temporary holds.
Disgusting that a family financially struggl8ng gets treated this way over WATER. Something we must have to be alive.
They don't know what struggling financially IS and neither do you.
@@thefix2573 That just isnt true. We only just got this home and it is the nicest place we ever lived and its barely middle class worthy. We have always been poor and we are just now getting anywhere close to the middle. You dont even know us at all.
@@thefix2573 before this home our kid had to sleep on the couch for over a year because we didnt have enough bedrooms. Thats rough on a teenager.
@@jenniferdewitt7511 Oh, well I was referring to the kind of poor that is powdered milk, duct taped shoes, backyard haircuts, dumpster diving, 1 meal a day, no cell phones, saltines and margarine snack, no pets because they're too expensive to feed, no Christmas tree and no presents, no Birthday Parties, kids ride in the back of the truck, wearing girls/boys clothes because who cares, riding a girls bike because it still gets ya there, kicked out of the house and dropped out of school when you're 16 and sleep in cars at the junkyard type of poor.
@@jenniferdewitt7511 Better than the dusty old back seat of a 78 Ford Granada, bet they got a tv to watch, heat, and Internet, food, etc. Poor baby.
Seriously? Long live Palestine!