States That Prohibit or Limit Bank Account Garnishment

Only one state—Delaware—prohibits bank account garnishment for consumer debts. Every other state allows a judgment creditor to garnish or levy non-exempt funds after obtaining a court judgment. The differences among the remaining 49 states lie in three areas: whether the state prohibits wage garnishment, whether deposited wages retain their exempt status, and whether a fixed-dollar exemption automatically protects part of any bank balance.

Federal law under 31 CFR Part 212 establishes a floor that applies everywhere. Banks must automatically protect up to two months of directly deposited federal benefit payments—Social Security, SSI, VA benefits, and federal retirement—from any garnishment or levy order. The state-by-state differences below apply to wages, general funds, and other non-federal deposits. These protections are one layer of a broader framework for protecting a bank account from creditors.

Wage Garnishment, Traced Wages, and Bank Account Exemptions

Texas, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and South Carolina prohibit wage garnishment for consumer debts entirely, but state garnishment and bank levy laws vary across three independent dimensions, and a state can be strong on one while offering nothing on another.

Wage garnishment restrictions determine whether a creditor can garnish wages directly from the employer. In those four states, a creditor cannot intercept wages before they reach the debtor’s bank account. This does not necessarily protect the wages once deposited.

Traced-wage protection determines whether wages retain their exempt character after deposit into a bank account. At least 13 jurisdictions explicitly extend wage protection after deposit: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Puerto Rico. The tracing burden falls on the debtor, and documentation requirements vary by state.

Fixed-dollar bank account exemptions protect a set amount in any bank account regardless of the source of funds. New York protects $3,720–$4,080 per account depending on region (self-executing, 240 times the applicable state minimum wage). California protects approximately $2,244 (self-executing, adjusted annually). Oregon protects $2,500 under the 2024 Family Financial Protection Act. These exemptions range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand, and some require the debtor to file a claim while others are automatic.

State-by-State Comparison Table

Every state except Delaware permits some form of bank account garnishment for consumer debts. The wage garnishment column below reflects the maximum percentage of disposable earnings a creditor can garnish. “Federal standard” means 25% of disposable earnings or the amount by which weekly earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage, whichever is less.

State	Wage Garnishment (Consumer Debt)	Traced Wages Protected After Deposit?	Bank Account Exemption
Alabama	Federal standard (25%)	No	None
Alaska	Federal standard	No	None
Arizona	25% of disposable earnings	No	$150 per account in bank
Arkansas	Greater of: $500/month or federal standard	No	$500 (personal property wildcard)
California	25% of disposable earnings	Yes	~$2,244 (self-executing, adjusted annually)
Colorado	20% of disposable earnings	Yes	None (but traced wages protected)
Connecticut	25% of disposable earnings	Yes	None (but traced wages protected)
Delaware	15% of wages	Not addressed	Prohibits bank garnishment entirely
D.C.	Greater of: $580.50/week or federal standard	No	$850
Florida	100% exempt if head of household ≤$750/week	Yes (6 months)	$1,000 (wildcard, personal property)
Georgia	25% of disposable earnings	No	None
Hawaii	5% of first $100, 10% of next $100, 20% of earnings over $200/month	No	None
Idaho	25% of disposable earnings	Yes	None (but traced wages protected)
Illinois	Greater of: 85% of gross wages or 45× state minimum wage	No	$4,000 (wildcard)
Indiana	Federal standard	No	None
Iowa	Greater of: $1,000/quarter or federal standard	Yes	$1,000 (personal property wildcard)
Kansas	Federal standard	No	None
Kentucky	Federal standard	No	None
Louisiana	Federal standard	No	None
Maine	Federal standard	No	None
Maryland	Greater of: $290.63/week or 75% of disposable wages	No	$6,000 (wildcard)
Massachusetts	85% of gross wages exempt	No	$2,500 (wildcard)
Michigan	Federal standard	No	None
Minnesota	Greater of: $406.25/week or federal standard	Yes	None (but traced wages protected)
Mississippi	25% of disposable earnings	No	$10,000 (personal property wildcard)
Missouri	Federal standard	No	None
Montana	Federal standard	Yes	None (but traced wages protected)
Nebraska	Greater of: federal standard or 85% of disposable earnings	Yes	None (but traced wages protected)
Nevada	18% of wages if debtor earns ≤$770/week	No	None
New Hampshire	Federal standard; no continuous garnishment	No	$1,000
New Jersey	10% of income if debtor earns ≤250% of poverty level	No	$1,000
New Mexico	Federal standard	No	$2,000 (personal property wildcard)
New York	10% of gross income or 25% of disposable earnings (lesser)	No	$3,720–$4,080 (self-executing, 240× applicable state minimum wage)
North Carolina	Prohibited for consumer debts	Yes	$500 (wildcard)
North Dakota	Federal standard	No	None
Ohio	Greater of: federal standard or $550/week	No	$525 (personal property wildcard)
Oklahoma	Greater of: 75% of disposable earnings or federal standard	Yes	None (but traced wages protected)
Oregon	Greater of: $338/week or 75% of disposable earnings	Yes	$2,500 (self-executing under 2024 Family Financial Protection Act)
Pennsylvania	Prohibited for consumer debts	N/A (wages not garnished)	None
Rhode Island	Federal standard	No	None
South Carolina	Prohibited for consumer debts	N/A (wages not garnished)	None
South Dakota	Federal standard	No	None
Tennessee	Federal standard	No	None
Texas	Prohibited for consumer debts	N/A (wages not garnished)	None
Utah	Federal standard	No	None
Vermont	Federal standard	No	None
Virginia	Federal standard	No	$5,000 (homestead exemption applicable to personal property)
Washington	Greater of: 80% of disposable earnings or 35× state minimum wage	No	None
West Virginia	20% of disposable earnings	No	None
Wisconsin	Greater of: 80% of disposable earnings or federal standard	No	None
Wyoming	Federal standard	No	None

States with the Strongest Bank Account Protections

Delaware is the only state that prohibits bank account garnishment for consumer debts. A judgment creditor in Delaware cannot serve a garnishment order on a bank to freeze a debtor’s account. Wage garnishment is permitted at 15% of wages, but once wages are deposited, the bank account itself cannot be levied. Delaware’s blanket prohibition makes it the strongest state for bank account protection by a wide margin.

Florida combines multiple protections that together make it one of the most protective states for qualifying debtors. The head of household wage exemption protects 100% of wages for debtors earning $750 per week or less who support a dependent. Deposited wages retain their exempt status for six months. Married couples holding accounts as tenants by the entirety benefit from an additional layer: joint marital accounts cannot be garnished by individual creditors of either spouse. The weakness is that single debtors with non-exempt income have limited protection beyond the $1,000 wildcard.

New York provides a self-executing bank account exemption of $3,720–$4,080 depending on region (240 times the applicable state minimum wage), meaning the bank must automatically leave that amount accessible without any action from the debtor. New York also caps wage garnishment at 10% of gross income or 25% of disposable earnings, whichever is less.

Oregon enacted the Family Financial Protection Act in 2024, which requires banks to automatically protect $2,500 in any garnished account before conducting the federal benefit lookback. Oregon also protects traced wages after deposit and limits wage garnishment to the greater of $338 per week or 75% of disposable earnings.

Illinois offers a $4,000 wildcard exemption that can apply to bank account funds. Illinois also caps wage garnishment at 85% of gross wages or 45 times the state minimum wage (whichever is greater), which effectively exempts all wages for most low- and moderate-income workers.

States with the Weakest Bank Account Protections

Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Utah follow the federal standard for wage garnishment (25% of disposable earnings) and provide no fixed-dollar bank account exemption and no traced-wage protection. Once wages are deposited in these states, they lose their exempt character entirely. The only protection for bank account funds comes from the federal automatic lookback under 31 CFR Part 212 for directly deposited government benefits.

Why Opening an Account in a Protective State Has Limited Value

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau penalized a national bank $10 million in 2022 for failing to apply state-specific garnishment restrictions to out-of-state accounts, but the penalty did not change the underlying rule. Garnishment jurisdiction generally follows the debtor’s domicile, not the bank’s location. Most courts apply the exemption laws of the debtor’s home state, not the state where the bank is located, though courts have split on this question.

The CFPB classified certain states—including Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, and Oregon—as “restriction states” that prohibit or restrict garnishment of accounts located outside the issuing state. The interaction between home-state exemptions and bank-state rules remains unsettled and varies by jurisdiction.

Creditors also use post-judgment discovery to identify out-of-state accounts. A debtor who opens an account in another state must still disclose it if asked under oath in post-judgment interrogatories or at a debtor’s examination. Failing to disclose carries contempt sanctions.