I need to stop automatic payments with creditor. How?

[JasonK94Z]

I am on a repayment plan with AT&T Universal (citi) and MBNA (BofA now) and they take their payment every month from my checking account.
I need to stop this from happening. So do I just cal them and say "hey, i'm filing BK, stop taking payments"?

[lrprn]

I am on a repayment plan with AT&T Universal (citi) and MBNA (BofA now) and they take their payment every month from my checking account. I need to stop this from happening. So do I just cal them and say "hey, i'm filing BK, stop taking payments"?

Call them AND follow up with certified, return receipt letters telling them they no longer have permission to withdraw from your account. You don't have to mention filing bankruptcy. Then head to your bank and give them copies of the same letters. Tell your bank these creditors no longer have your permission to automatically withdraw payments from your account. Do this well in advance of the next due payments. Then watch your account like a hawk to be certain there are no withdrawals.

There's one sure way to make absolutely certain that no withdrawals happen - open a new checking account at the same bank and leave $5 in the old. These creditors can't take automatic payments from where there is no money

[twuoo]

Make sure when you open a new bank account that it is a different bank entirely or else they can withdraw from one account to pay another. That happened to me.

[JasonK94Z]

I'm having to join a credit union in town since my overdraft protection balance at my current bank will likely be included in my bk. I guess when I go home at lunch I'll give these two places a call and cancel withdrawls.

[magyar123]

Not a good advice to just leave $5 in an account, and open another account at the same bank. Banks conspire with each other in order to screw customers. Somewhere along the line the customer"s bank will run comparisons of names and addresses, and adavise the creditors deducting the automatic payments of his/her new account number. Just dump your old bank and go to a different one.

[guzzie]

do it today...good luck...guzzie

[lrprn]

Just dump your old bank and go to a different one.

Sorry, magyar, but this is NOT a good idea. Trustees look suspiciously at recently closed accounts and often will request paperwork to prove what was in the account before it was closed. I still stand by the advice to leave $5 in the account to avoid this. This is what our bk lawyer recommended to us and I trust that sound legal advice.

[magyar123]

Sorry, magyar, but this is NOT a good idea. Trustees look suspiciously at recently closed accounts and often will request paperwork to prove what was in the account before it was closed. I still stand by the advice to leave $5 in the account to avoid this. This is what our bk lawyer recommended to us and I trust that sound legal advice.

You're basically doing the same thing, closing one account and opening a different one - even if you leave $5 in the old account. Don't you think that the trustee will be suspiciou when you show a bank account with only $5.

[lrprn]

You're basically doing the same thing, closing one account and opening a different one - even if you leave $5 in the old account. Don't you think that the trustee will be suspiciou when you show a bank account with only $5.

Perhaps this is one of those times where local bankruptcy court practices vary.

The trustees in our district treat closing savings or checking accounts right before filing as very suspicious. It could be that other trustees in different districts don't care if you close an account or not.

It's easy enough to leave $5 in an account to keep it open and avoid the issue altogether, especially when filing pro se and the filer doesn't know what the local trustees think about recently closed accounts.

[SinkingFast]

We closed a bank acct in Oct, 2005 and declared it when we filed BK in Sept, 2006.

We moved from one State to another. The bank in the old State did not do business in the new State. Reasonable explanation, right??!!

We still had to explain it and show our last bank statement on the old acct.

It's not because you're planning to do anything wrong. It's because of all those who went before us that closed accts to hide assets.

The closer you are to filing BK, the better it would be to leave the old acct open with a bare minimum of funds and not have to explain anything.