What is a garnishment and what can I do about it?

A garnishment is an order coming from a Court or from Public Entities, directed to seize the funds from a customer's account to satisfy a debt owed by a debtor (customer) to a creditor. As a consequence, N26 has the legal obligation to retain the funds in your account to be later transferred to the creditor (public entity or to the account specified by the court).

*Creditors can be the Tax Office, public debt collectors or any private institutions/person who, with the assistance of a public officer, serves the garnishment deed on the basis of a deed that permits the enforcement of a claim

When we block the balance in your account as a result of the garnishment, you will receive a message in your secure inbox with the following information:

• Date of acceptance
• Creditor name
• Total amount of the garnishment

We recommend that you contact a lawyer to understand how to proceed. N26, as a third party, cannot take any action in this regard, as we are legally obligated to apply the funds’ seizure till the repealing of the garnishment or to transfer them, according to the court decision or the public entity request. Any clarification needed about the garnishment or communication must be done with the creditor directly.

If you receive your salary in your N26 account, a part of this amount is protected. However, you will have to report this situation to the creditor/court who will notify N26 about the lifting of the corresponding balances. Without any official confirmation from the court we cannot proceed to release any funds.

The transfer of the funds is executed at different times depending on the type of creditor who has requested the garnishment. Normally it is within 60 days (Public Debt Collector or Tax Office) and within 20 days after receival of payment order from the court. The amount will be transferred directly to the creditor specified by the judge in the payment order. 

These funds cannot be transferred to third parties or the debtor in any case, unless the garnishment is extinguished before the payment order.