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About Accounts and Prior Debts
If a couple opens a bank account and both names are on it, can someone put a lien on it if only one owes? Does the second name help this from happening? Can we have our son as beneficiary, even if we are not married?
We were told that if it was a large check, that a bank checks our credit to see if we may owe somewhere. Could that result in the deposit's being taken to satisfy that other debt?
We have not had an account for a while and had some credit problems in the past. We want a bank account, but don't know how to look out for things like this.
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 About the matter of a jointly-owned account and a debt owed by one of the account owners. State property laws could affect the answer to that question. However, in most cases, a creditor could reach the funds in the joint account, assuming that the creditor follows appropriate state laws in obtaining the attachment, sometimes called garnishment. The addition of the joint account owner does not usually affect the creditor's right to reach the account through attachment. In some states, when the joint account owners are married, the balance may be protected. Whether or not you are married should not affect your ability to name your son as beneficiary on a deposit account. There are generally no restrictions on who can be so designated.
As for your hypothetical deposit of a large check, it is true that banks often do at least a minimal credit check when opening deposit accounts. If a bank were to discover an unpaid debt owed to a third party, the bank might refuse to open the account. If it does open the account, it would not grab money from the account to pay the third party, though, unless the third party separately learned of the account's opening and took legal action to attach the funds.
Your questions strongly suggest that you have some outstanding past-due debts. Before trying to reestablish a banking relationship, work with a debt counseling service to determine your best course of action.
Published on BankingQuestions.com 8/18/08
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