Garnishment and levy processing where agents read every order and protect federal benefits, and two specialists sign before anything freezes
Every order decided in minutes, with protected benefits never frozen.
See one case, screen by screen ↓Garnishment and levy processing is the bank's work on legal orders against deposit accounts: creditor writs, IRS levies and state child support levies. The bank examines each order, reviews the accounts for federal benefits within two business days, applies the state's exemptions, places the hold, notifies the account holder, answers the court and remits. Garnishment & Levy Processing gives the legal order team six agents for the reading, the math and the drafting; a specialist approves and a second specialist checks before anything freezes or remits.
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Garnishment and levy processing starts two clocks with every order. A creditor's writ, an IRS Notice of Levy on Form 668-A or a state child support levy gives the bank two business days to examine the order and look back two months for federal benefit deposits, and then the court, the IRS or the agency has its own date. Specialists still key the order into the case system, search the core banking system by name and SSN, scroll two months of statements for Social Security, VA, RRB and OPM deposits, and add them up on a calculator.
The rule is exact. The protected amount is the lesser of the benefit deposits in the lookback and the balance at review, and a benefit counts only when its ACH batch header carries "XX" in positions 54 and 55 and Originator Status Code 2: a Treasury check deposited at a branch does not. State exemptions stack on top and change every year. A protected amount frozen in error must be restored and becomes a complaint; funds released that the bank was ordered to hold make the bank liable for the debt.
Estimated split of a specialist's minutes on one creditor garnishment, by hand and with the agents; our estimate, kept modest. The working solution's September report shows a median of 7.6 minutes.
Six agents read the order, run the benefits lookback, stack state exemptions and recheck blind; two specialists sign.
On Wednesday, September 30, 2026, a deputy sheriff serves Corvane National Bank at its Halvern Square branch with a writ of execution: Kestrel Ridge Recovery LLC v. Walter J. Pruitt, for $8,412.55. Walter receives Social Security by direct deposit. Here is order LO-26-118204, screen by screen, in the working solution.
Renata's desk opens on the four clocks: the two-day review, the three-day notice, the IRS 21-day hold and the court answer dates. Below them are her 14 orders, each as one sentence the agents wrote: an IRS levy on day 21 of 21, a California writ with $388.15 to freeze, and Walter J. Pruitt's writ with $3,686.00 protected and $1,434.40 to freeze. Overnight the agents read the 204 orders received Wednesday and ran 204 lookbacks; 63 accounts had federal benefits.
“Nothing freezes, releases or remits until you approve and a second specialist checks.”
The Intake agent read the order type, the court and number (Halvern County Court of Common Pleas, No. 2026-CV-04418), the creditor, the debtor with SSN ending 6612, the amount of $8,412.55 and the service time, Wed Sep 30 at 10:42 a.m. It found no Notice of Right to Garnish Federal Benefits, so 31 CFR 212.5 applies. It found every account Walter owns by SSN and date of birth, never by name alone: Everyday Checking ••4471 and a savings account closed in 2025 with $0.00.
“Below 0.95 confidence on the amount, the debtor or the service date, the agent stops and asks a person.”
One legal order per screen: the scanned writ on the left, and on the right the lookback for checking ••4471 from Thu Jul 30 to Wed Sep 30. Two Social Security deposits of $1,843.00, on Aug 3 and Sep 3, are lit as tiles, and the floor sits at the protected $3,686.00. At review the balance is $5,120.40, so only the $1,434.40 above the floor is shaded as reachable.
Clicking the Aug 3 tile opens the ACH batch header from the payments hub: SSA TREAS 310, "XX" in positions 54 and 55 of the Company Entry Description, Originator Status Code 2, a credit of $1,843.00 to ••4471. The four payroll credits of $486.20 from Halvern Hardware carry status code 1, so they are not benefits and sit above the floor.
The Exemption agent applies Pennsylvania table v2026.2, approved by Legal on Aug 14, 2026: no automatic state exemption at the bank for this order, and the notice explains how Walter can claim one through the court. The Recheck agent recomputes from the core's raw posting journal without seeing the first result: $3,686.00 protected, $5,120.40 at review, a difference of $0.00. Renata asks the order why the Aug 3 deposit is protected and gets the batch header and 31 CFR 212.3, cited.
Renata approves the plan as maker at 9:14 a.m.: freeze $1,434.40 with hold code LGL-WRIT, leave $3,686.00 available, and charge no fee, since the $125.00 legal process fee is waived under policy LP-4 and 31 CFR 212.6(h). Dmitri sees her proposal beside the evidence and both computations, and signs at 9:21 a.m. The hold posts to the core banking system, confirmation H-77120394.
“The maker of an order can never check it; an administrator can never work an order. Both rules are enforced, not trusted.”
The Drafting agent wrote the notice from the Appendix A model: the order served September 30, $3,686.00 in checking ending 4471 protected, $1,434.40 frozen, no garnishment fee, the covered benefits, the right to claim an exemption, legal aid and the creditor. Each of the eleven items of 31 CFR 212.7(b) is ticked; the notice is due Tue Oct 6 and mails Fri Oct 2. The answers to interrogatories are filed as a draft for the court, due Tue Oct 20.
Walter sees $3,686.00 available, a current balance of $5,120.40, a legal order hold of $1,434.40 from the Halvern County Court of Common Pleas, and the notice in his message center. The view is built from the posted record only, so a draft can never reach him. He never sees agent confidence, internal notes, a full SSN or whether a suspicious activity report exists.
On order LO-26-118222, Harlan Voss's checking ••1184 in Ohio, the Lookback agent counted $3,129.00 of VA deposits. The Recheck agent, reading the raw posting journal blind, found the $1,312.00 credit of Aug 31 returned on Sep 2 and computed $1,817.00. Nothing moves: Marisol sees both results side by side, reachable $1,591.12 against $2,903.12, with options and reason codes.
“Whether the returned credit counts is a reading of 31 CFR 212.3 the agents may not make on their own.”
The audit trail shows who, what, when, why and the evidence opened, for people and agents alike: the Recheck agent agreeing to the cent, Renata approving as maker at 9:14 a.m. and Dmitri signing at 9:21 a.m. The record is kept five years from receipt, and an examiner pack for LO-26-118204 holds the order image, the lookback with both batch headers and the posting journal, both signatures, the notice and the answers, with SSNs masked.
The same order, seen by the five people who carry it: what their day looked like, and what it looks like now.
Six agents read the order, run the benefits lookback, stack state exemptions and recheck blind; two specialists sign.
Reads each order from document imaging, classifies it as a creditor garnishment, an IRS Form 668-A levy or a child support levy, reads the debtor, amount, court, case number and service date with a confidence, checks for a Notice of Right to Garnish Federal Benefits and finds every account the debtor owns.
Runs the 31 CFR 212 review on each account within two business days: sets the lookback period, finds the benefit deposits by the flag in their ACH batch headers, and sets the protected amount as a floor under the balance.
Applies the state's rule table on top of the federal floor, per debtor across accounts where the state says so, and notes the account holder's claim rights for the notice.
Recomputes the protected amount from the core's raw posting journal, blind to the first result, on a different model family on purpose, and compares the two.
Drafts the hold instruction, the account-holder notice from the Appendix A model with the eleven items of 31 CFR 212.7(b), and the garnishee's answers to interrogatories.
Watches IRS 21-day holds and court orders, drafts surrenders and turnovers with the general ledger entry, and matches each release to its hold.
Approves; a second specialist checks. The agents propose; a named person decides.
Ask the agents about any order in plain words. Every answer points to its source: the batch header, the posting journal, the state table or the rule.
Why is the Aug 3 deposit protected?
Its ACH batch header carries "XX" in positions 54 and 55 of the Company Entry Description and Originator Status Code 2, which is how 31 CFR 212.3 identifies a federal benefit payment. It posted on Mon Aug 3, inside the lookback of Thu Jul 30 to Wed Sep 30, so it counts toward the protected $3,686.00.
Why are the payroll deposits not protected?
The four Halvern Hardware credits of $486.20 carry status code 1 and the description PAYROLL, with no "XX". Wages are not a federal benefit payment under 31 CFR 212, so they sit above the floor and are part of the $1,434.40 that can be frozen. Pennsylvania adds no automatic exemption for them.
Can we charge the legal process fee?
No. 31 CFR 212.6(h) bars a garnishment fee against a protected amount, and Corvane policy LP-4 waives the $125.00 fee on any order with a protected amount. The plan charges $0.00.
Which clocks are at risk today?
None is late. Four reviews due Fri Oct 2 are not yet with a maker, and the at-risk warning fires at 3 p.m. The IRS levy LO-26-118190 reaches day 21 today, and LO-26-118211 must be reviewed by 5 p.m.
13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
The clocks the rules set are fixed. The bank's own choices are settings: every change is a new version with who, when and why, and state rule tables also need Legal's approval.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| Account review · notice · IRS levy hold | 2 business days · 3 business days · 21 days | Set by 31 CFR 212.5, 212.7 and IRC 6332(c) |
| At-risk warning | 2 hours before | 2 hours before · 4 hours before · 1 business day before |
| Remittance approval by the Deposit Operations Manager | Over $25,000 | $10,000 · $25,000 · $50,000 |
| Legal process fee of $125.00 | Waived whenever a protected amount is set (LP-4) · locked | Never charged against protected funds |
| State rule tables | 14 states, each versioned and approved by Legal | A new version applies to orders received after Legal approves it; earlier orders keep theirs |
| Intake agent confidence threshold | 0.95 on the amount, the debtor and the service date | A new prompt or model version runs on last month's orders first; Compliance signs the comparison |
| Retention | 5 years from receipt | 5 years · 7 years |
| SSN display and export redaction | Last four only · on, locked | Other customers, full SSN and date of birth removed from exports |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate · “typical” = published figures: the two business days of 31 CFR 212.4 and 212.5 and the 21-day hold of IRC 6332(c). Rules named on this page: 31 CFR Part 212 (212.3 definitions, 212.4 initial action, 212.5 account review, 212.6 no freeze and no fee on the protected amount, 212.7 notice, 212.11 records), IRC 6332(c), 42 USC 666(a)(17) (Financial Institution Data Match) and California CCP 704.220. Corvane National Bank and the people, courts, creditors, accounts and orders named on this page are fictional: characters and sample data in the working solution.
Garnishment and levy processing is the bank's work on legal orders against deposit accounts: creditor writs, IRS levies and state child support levies. The bank examines each order, reviews the accounts for federal benefits within two business days, applies the state's exemptions, places the hold, notifies the account holder, answers the court and remits. Garnishment & Levy Processing gives the legal order team six agents for the reading, the math and the drafting; a specialist approves and a second specialist checks before anything freezes or remits.
Before freezing anything on an order without a Notice of Right to Garnish Federal Benefits, the bank looks back two months for federal benefit deposits and leaves the protected amount available: the lesser of those deposits and the balance at review. A deposit counts only when its ACH batch header carries "XX" in positions 54 and 55 and Originator Status Code 2, so a Treasury check deposited by mobile does not. The Lookback agent draws the lookback day by day with the protected floor, and every tile opens its batch header.
Not against a protected amount: 31 CFR 212.6(h) bars it. In the working solution the bank's $125.00 legal process fee is waived on any order with a protected amount, a locked setting, and the plan on the hero order charges $0.00.
Under IRC 6332(c), a bank holds deposits under an IRS levy for 21 days after service before surrendering them, and honors a release received during the hold. The Remittance and release agent watches each 21-day hold and drafts the surrender with its general ledger entry; a specialist approves and a checker signs before the payments hub issues the check.
The Exemption agent applies the state's own rule on top of the federal floor, from a versioned table approved by Legal, and the table version is on the order. In the working solution, California's automatic deposit-account exemption of $2,325.00 from July 1, 2026 stacks on $1,104.00 of VA deposits, leaving $388.15 reachable. A state with no table escalates to a specialist.
When a state child support agency attaches a Notice of Right to Garnish Federal Benefits, the bank follows its customary procedures under 31 CFR 212.4(b), and the agents check for that notice on every order. The quarterly Financial Institution Data Match runs from the same screen: in the working solution, 18,412 obligor records and 37 matches, with the response file waiting for a checker.
Yes. The agents never place or release a hold, send a notice, pay or change a customer record. A specialist approves as maker, a second specialist checks the same evidence, and the maker can never check her own order. When the blind recheck differs by a cent, the order goes to a person.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents: your legal order procedures, state rule tables, notice templates, hold codes and a sample of closed orders. It goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own orders first.
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