A bank that receives a court order to garnish an account is supposed to look back over the previous two months before it holds anything, and Social Security that arrived by direct deposit in that window is protected automatically. The protection is not a flat two months of benefits, though. Federal rules set it at the lesser of two numbers, and the bank works it out separately for each account.
Bank froze an account holding Social Security? The Bank Account & Debt Protection Kit contains the 2-month bank protection rule and the frozen-account response.
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Two business days: what 31 CFR Part 212 tells a bank to do when an order arrives
Treasury’s garnishment rule for federal benefits sits in 31 CFR Part 212, which the electronic CFR showed on September 30, 2026 as last amended on May 29, 2013 (78 FR 32109). It is triggered by a garnishment order, a term the rule defines broadly: a writ, order, notice, summons, judgment, levy or similar written instruction issued by a court, a state or state agency, a municipality, or a state child support enforcement agency. A collector holding a judgment reaches a bank account through exactly that kind of paper.
On receipt, the bank has two business days to check whether a Notice of Right to Garnish Federal Benefits is attached to the order. When none is attached, the rule calls for an account review, which must also be done no later than two business days after the order arrives. The review looks for federal benefit deposits in the lookback window described below. The sequence matters because the protection is the bank’s job to apply, not a favor the account holder has to request first.
How the lesser-of formula sets the protected amount
The rule’s definition of “protected amount,” printed in the 2025 annual CFR edition on govinfo, is “the lesser of the sum of all benefit payments posted to an account between the close of business on the beginning date of the lookback period and the open of business on the ending date of the lookback period, or the balance in an account when the account review is performed.” The lookback period is two months. It begins on the date before the review and ends on the corresponding date two months earlier.
In plain terms, the bank adds up the federal benefit deposits that posted inside that window, compares the total with the balance on the day of the review, and shields whichever figure is smaller. Two months of benefits cannot be shielded in an account that holds less than that, so a low balance caps the protection at the balance. A deposit that posted before the window opened is not in the sum, however recent it feels to the account holder. The headline figure of “two months” is therefore a ceiling set by the lookback, not a guarantee of any particular dollar amount.
Four benefit agencies, one deposit method: which payments count
Part 212 covers benefit payments from the Social Security Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Office of Personnel Management and the Railroad Retirement Board. Under the rule’s definition, a “benefit payment” is one paid by direct deposit to an account. The Social Security Administration’s direct deposit page states that federal law mandates all federal benefit payments, including Social Security benefits and Supplemental Security Income, be made electronically, so for most beneficiaries the direct-deposit condition describes the ordinary case rather than an exception.
The bank-side procedure rests on an older statute. Section 407(a) of Title 42 provides that none of the moneys paid or payable under the Social Security subchapter shall be subject to execution, levy, attachment, garnishment, or other legal process. Part 212 supplies the machinery a bank follows when a garnishment order lands on an account that receives such payments.
No garnishment fee on the protected amount, and a notice that follows the freeze
The bank must give the account holder full and customary access to the protected amount, and it may not charge or collect a garnishment fee against it. A notice follows. Under Part 212 it sets out the protected amount, the funds that remain frozen, and the account holder’s right to assert a further exemption against the creditor that started the order.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s page on garnishment of federal benefits, last reviewed January 29, 2024, says the notice explains the court procedures for claiming exemptions and getting money released. It advises notifying the court, the bank and the party doing the garnishing immediately and in writing. The same page acknowledges that the bank may charge a processing fee for the garnishment, which is why the rule’s bar on fees against the protected amount carries weight. It also points to local legal aid programs for free legal help. Neither Part 212 nor the CFPB page puts a price on sending those written notices, and legal aid is free, so disputing a freeze does not require paying anyone.
The lesser-of math runs account by account, and the dispute is a separate step
Part 212 directs that the review be performed separately for each account, without tracing funds from one account to another. Its definition of “account” reaches master accounts and sub accounts at a financial institution to which an electronic payment may be directly routed. An account that never received a direct-deposited benefit payment during the lookback window has no benefit deposits to add up, so the lesser-of formula has nothing to shield there, even when the money in it came from an account that did receive benefits.
Because the protected amount is the lesser of two figures, the number that applies turns on when deposits posted and on what the balance was on the day the bank performed the review. Anything above that figure stays subject to the order. Claiming a further exemption for the remainder is the step Part 212 describes as the account holder’s right against the creditor, and the bank’s review does not do it on the account holder’s behalf. The shield is automatic; the dispute is not.
The official route stays free. The court procedures described in the bank’s notice, a written notice to the court, the bank and the creditor as the CFPB advises, and local legal aid all cost nothing to use, and no paid product is needed to start any of them. Part 212 as printed on govinfo makes the two-month protection automatic and leaves the written dispute to the account holder.
Where the lookback arithmetic meets an actual bank statement
A garnishment order, a two-month lookback and a lesser-of formula leave one practical job unfinished: lining up which benefit deposits posted inside the window, what each account held on the day of review, and what the bank’s notice says is still frozen. A slip in that arithmetic can leave protected benefits tied up or leave a dispute without the figures it needs.
The Bank Account & Debt Protection Kit includes the 2-month bank protection rule and the frozen-account response, along with a protected-funds and dispute log for recording the deposits and balances behind each account’s figure.
Keep The Bank Account & Debt Protection Kit beside the bank’s notice →
This piece was drafted with AI assistance; the rule text was checked against 31 CFR Part 212 as published on eCFR and govinfo, and the guidance against the CFPB and SSA pages cited.
