Creditors take Social Security money?

Generally the answer to this question is no - even if a creditor has sued and gotten a judgement against you they can not garnish your Social Security benefits, except for certain specific kinds of debts owed to the government.

You may want to check with a free legal service where you live to see if they can advise you on this.

http://www.indianajustice.org/Data/DocumentLibrary/Documents/1064318196.79/view_article_publicweb?topic_id=1020100&library=PublicWeb

While legally banks are not supposed to, banks are required to dip into the account when they are requested to garnish on behalf of certain creditors. Unfortunately, your Social Security money is probably deposited directly into your checking account and therein lies the problem, i.e., banks don't know which funds are Social Security deposits and which funds are regular deposits. If you have deposits from funds other than Social Security, it would be best to open up an account just for the Social Security.

If in fact a bank does take the funds in your account (not knowing they were Social Security) you will be able to get them back but it will take some time as there will be a freeze on the account.

Please know that your Social Security will not be protected if you owe back taxes, or are delinquent on child support (which doesn't seem to have a statute of limitations).

I hope this helps; I know the answer seems to be yes and no but there are caveats.

Yes they can. Social Security money once it is in your bank account
is income like any other money. However, they can only take
15% of your total monthly income. each month until the debt is paid
off. You can pay more on the debt if you want to; but 15% is all
the creditor can take out each month. So if your total monthly
incom is $2000, the total amount that your creditor could take
out would be $300, This is just an example. It would probably
help your credit report to pay more if you can.