Dear Dr. Don,
Can credit card companies garnish my disability check if I stop paying my bills? I have gotten in way over my head and can't make my credit card payments due to illness and the cost of my medical bills and medicine. I have been paying only the amount due but have fallen way behind and now owe late fees and over-the-limit fees.

I can't get a break to catch up, so I have stopped paying and am worried they will try to take my disability check. Thank you for any advice you can give me.
-- Rose Refrain

Dear Rose,
Yours is a common question concerning supplemental security income disability payments. The Social Security Administration's Web site has information about garnishment on a frequently asked questions page.

According to the Web site, Social Security benefits are protected from assignment, levy or garnishment in all but five cases.

5 exceptions to Social Security protection:

• Child support and/or alimony. Section 459 of the act (42 U.S.C. 659) allows benefits to be garnished to enforce child support and/or alimony obligations. • Unpaid federal taxes. Section 6334 (c) of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. 6334 (c)) allows benefits to be levied to collect unpaid federal taxes. • Income tax liability for the current year. Section 3402 (P) of the Internal Revenue Code allows beneficiaries to elect to have a percentage of their benefits withheld and paid to the Internal Revenue Service to satisfy their federal income tax liability for the current year. • Nontax debt the beneficiary owes to an agency. The Debt Collection Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-134) allows benefits to be withheld and paid to another federal agency to pay a nontax debt the beneficiary owes to that agency. • Overdue federal tax debts of beneficiaries. The Tax Payer Relief Act of 1997 (Public Law 105-34) authorizes the Internal Revenue Service to collect overdue federal tax debts of beneficiaries by levying up to 15 percent of each monthly payment until the debt is paid.

However, the Web site also goes on to note that supplemental security income, or SSI, payments "cannot be levied or garnished."

A key to avoiding garnishment is to not commingle your benefits with other monies in the account. Maintain a separate account for benefit payments.

You need to look beyond your fear of garnishment to how you are going to get your finances back on track. Talking with a credit counselor about your debt is a good first step. By doing so, you may be able to end the late fees, and over-the-limit fees you're racking up in these accounts.

The FTC Facts for Consumers publication, "Fiscal Fitness: Choosing a Credit Counselor," is required reading before you start interviewing credit counselors.

Bankruptcy may be your best solution. Part of the new bankruptcy law is a requirement to get credit counseling, so that step won't be wasted. The FTC has some required reading there as well with its publication, "Before You File for Personal Bankruptcy: Information About Credit Counseling and Debtor Education."

To ask a question of Dr. Don, go to the "Ask the Experts" page, and select one of these topics: "financing a home," "saving & investing" or "money."