Bank accounts and online payments

[Gabriel_S]

Hi all,

My lawyer advised me to withdraw all my moneys from my credit union that I also have a credit card with that's maxed and an overdraft protection line of credit. I took out all moneys except for 2.00 last week. I opened up a new bank account yesterday since I did all my mortgage, car and insurance payments on line. I've been reading here in various posts that it's best to pay all bills with a money order or cashiers check. My main objective was to just deposit enough money to cover my mortgage, car payments, utilities and a few extra dollars in that account and continue doing those as on line payments, keeping my spending money in my wallet. Of course I would be keeping all receipts for living expenses and necessity's for whenever my 341 is scheduled. I just sent my lawyer my final payment along the Debt sheet and most documents except for my counseling class which I will do just before we file. Obviously the filing is still weeks away (or sooner I hope !!).

Any thoughts on this? Is my money safe in a different bank? I'm slowly trying to understand this procedure but man...so many questions arise every day !!!!

Gabriel

[CountryGirl]

Gabriel,

We also ended up having to close out our account and switch banks to one that we did not carry a CC with. (but not until the old account was wiped out to pay down the CC bill. ) The new bank account was not bothered. I paid our monthly bills, mortgage, and taxes with checks from that new account. I paid for groceries, and misc stuff with cash on hand to help keep my balance low.........truly, it's not like the cash we spent would have impacted the overall balance much, LOL! I know it is recomended to pay bills with MO but I also know it is ok to show x% of your monthly income as a bank balance, I am just not sure what x is.

Definitly changing banks was a good call.

[PaKettle]

Changing your bank to one you have no debt with should be fine. Unless someone gets a judgment against you, you will be fine. And you would know when someone was trying to do that. So you should be okay. It generally takes many months, maybe 6 or more before anything gets to judgment status.

I kept paying my car payment online as long as I could but then they cut me off from that during the bankruptcy period. So then I had to make a photo copy of my last bill from them, and use that to send them the payment via mail. That will happen if you have a car loan - they will usually stop billing you and stop allowing you access to the site. So be prepared for that eventuality. After the bankruptcy they reinstated the web site payment process even though they did quit billing me altogether - because technically the car is included in Ch. 7 discharge and I don't really "owe" on it but they could also repossess if I don't make a payment.

[lrprn]

Is my money safe in a different bank?

Yes, your money is safe in a different bank. Cross-collaterization where the credit union takes money from your main account to pay for the overdraft and/or credit card balance owed them when you file isn't possible any longer.

Your lawyer was very smart to recommend this to you and you were smart to listen. Tell your lawyer thanks when you see him/her again.

[Gabriel_S]

Thankyou so much for all the answers

[Gabriel_S]

Sorry for the double post.