Can anyone garnish a checking account?

Answer

I don't know if this helps anyone or not but I know that I have a friend who had went to court several months ago over a dr bill. The judgment was set for her to pay so much a month. She missed a payment and then all of a sudden she started getting bounced check notifications in the mail. when she called to find out what was going on because she and her husband had just been paid, the bank told her that there was a levy put on her account.
No. A collections agency can garnish wages. A court can order you to pay up, but no one can go into your checking account and take money away. A checking account can be seized by the IRS or by court order.
a collection agency did seize and close my checking account, by court order, without knowing where or even if I had an account. so yes it is possible. this happened 2-20-2006
A creditor must follow due process meaning a winning a lawsuit and having a judgment entered against the debtor defendant and then executing the judgment as a bank account levy. In some cases the creditor will ask the court to "freeze" the funds in the account until the case is heard, this is generally done when there is a reason to believe the debtor will attempt to transfer or remove the money. It's a fairly simple matter for a judgment creditor to find a bank account, especially if they have kept a record of payments made from the account. Joint accounts are also subject to judgment levy except with the exception of marital counts held as TBE. The IRS and/or state tax agents cannot arbitrarily remove money from an account they must have a court order and the debtor must be informed before the account is seized. With the exception of the state of Massachusetts the IRS may only levy a bank account once.