Garnishment is that moment when your bank account is blocked and, as usual, you don’t immediately realise what the reason might be. And you think to yourself, I haven’t had a day like this in a long time.

In practice, the amounts you owe are garnished — not to the bank, as is often believed — but, for example, to ANAF (National Agency for Fiscal Administration). It may be a tax payment you forgot — whether you’re an individual or a company. Because, let’s face it, we all owe taxes 😊 at some point. And yes, we sometimes fall behind on payments for various reasons, even though taxes and duties can be paid very easily online by card.

About garnishments, to keep you in the know:

1. Garnishments happen for one reason: not bad luck 😊, but debts to certain institutions, such as ANAF.
   
   
2. Who can issue a garnishment? ANAF, the local tax office, the courts/prosecutors’ offices, or court bailiffs.
   
   
3. The bank blocks the account only on the basis of an official notice received from an institution like those mentioned — never on its own initiative.
   
   
4. The bank is legally required to enforce the garnishment and, unfortunately, freezing funds in your accounts means you can no longer withdraw cash in branches or at ATMs, nor make transfers or payments.
   
   
5. There are exceptions: child benefits and other child allowances, maternity benefits, study scholarships, per diems, and death benefits are exempt from garnishment.
   
   
6. If you’re a BT client, you’ll receive an SMS from us when a garnishment is imposed, to keep you informed.
   
   
7. If you have a single garnishment and your salary is paid into a bank — whichever bank it is — the bank is required to withhold 1/3 of your net monthly salary. If there are multiple garnishments, the bank must withhold 1/2 of the net monthly salary. The remainder can be used once the due amount is released; in other words, you’ll have access to it via apps, cards or by coming into the bank, and you can do whatever you need — payments, cash withdrawals, etc. If your employer already withholds the 1/3 or 1/2 share from your salary, you can request the full release of your salary, but you need to bring us a document attesting to the employer’s withholding, namely Anexa 5.
   
   
8. To release an amount from garnishment, the bank needs a legal justification or the issuing institution’s consent.
   
   
9. The bank transfers the debt (the amounts frozen under the garnishment) in 3 – 5 days to the institution that issued it.

What to do if your account is garnished, to help us unblock it:

1. Ask BT and/or the institution that issued the garnishment for information. You can access BT Visual Help at any time to see details about your garnishments.
   
   
2. You can request the release of the legally allowed portion of your monthly salary (1/3 or 1/2) via:
   
   BT Visual Help

🔸 call 0264 308 000;

🔸 follow the link received by SMS and, from the main menu, select the "Garnishments" section;

🔸 select the garnishment and request the release of the amount.

         Livia de la BT, by calling 0264 30 80 28/press 0.

Even if your account is garnished:

You can still make payments to your BT credit card if it’s been blocked due to the garnishment. In practice, you can deposit funds, but you cannot withdraw or make transactions until the garnishment is paid in full;

You can take out a business loan if you have a company, even if its account is garnished. However, the loan must first be used to pay the debts that generated the garnishment;

Garnishments are not pleasant for anyone, not even for the bank. We want people to have access to their money and to have the best possible experience with BT 🤝.

Editor: Laura Petrehus, Deputy Director, Communications & PR, Banca Transilvania