New Bank Account and Chapter 7

[Bankruptcy20]

It seems the general advice is to:

1. close your old checking account
2. move your money to a new checking account that is not related to any of your credit cards
3. generally, not make any minimum payments in the months before filing (check with your attorney).

OK, I did the above, and I'm thinking of making some minimum payments from my NEW checking account. I think I'm safe, but just because I'm paranoid, did anyone run into any problems with having your CCs "see" your new checking information? Again, the new checking account is not related to any of my CC's.

I've read people recommending using cashier checks from your new checking account, so your credit cards do not see your checking info, and I'm wondering why? Unless you have an automatic payment plan authorized from your NEW checking info, I can't see this being a problem. Even if you had an old automatic payment plan into your OLD checking account, they still should not be able to turn that on, into your NEW account even if you send in manual checks from your new account, right?

Just checking, thanks folks.

[willbfree]

Bankruptcy20 you are falsely assuming that the cc companies and banks play fair. They do NOT and it's unsafe to make that assumption. Do not provide any creditor you will be filing a bk against with your new account numbers. Otherwise you risk finding that one of those creditors has emptied your new bank account. It's best to play it safe and send money orders/cashier checks to all creditors until you file BK. It's a PITA but it's safer.

Let me provide you with an example by Wells Fargo. DH always makes our WF payment at the local WF bank branch. Not thinking about this he dropped all the bills in his hand into the USPS postal mail box and drove off. On arrival to the bank he realized his mistake when he couldn't find that envelope. Since the envelope didn't have a stamp nor was our return address filled in we played it safe and paid our bank to have a stop payment on that check. We then wrote out a new check and took it down to the nearest Wells Fargo's bank branch. About two weeks later our bank account had a huge discrepancy. Somehow that first check had been delivered to Wells Fargo and they had successfully cashed it. Contacting our bank for an explanation we were told WF tried twice to send the payment thru and the bank declined it both times due to our stop payment order. The third time Wells Fargo altered the check number and sent it back thru. Our bank then accepted it since it was not the same check number for the stop payment order. Wells Fargo would NOT return that second payment. The only concession WF made was canceling the ISF charges on the first two attempts and they agreed to apply the overpayment to the next month's payment when it was due. Dirty? You bet! You will never convince me that Wells Fargo didn't alter that check number specifically to go around the stop payment order. Never, EVER underestimate the extent to which these banks and/or companies will go to get their money.

[DownNotOut]

WOW!

Isn't that criminal?! Can you prove that they did that? I would think you could go after them. Maybe some consumer advocacy attorney would love to take that on!

Unbelievable!

[Bankruptcy20]

Thanks for the reply, willbfree. But, I do think while we should all be careful... your story is a bit different. In yours, you have a case of duplicate deposits, not respecting your stop payment.

In my question, I am trying to ask whether anyone had a CC try to take money out of a NEW checking account, that was not linked in any way to that CC (whether by automatic payment, or by corporate affiliation). We've heard the horror stories of Bank of America taking your checking account if you owed to Bank of America CC.

I guess a CC could try to "freeze" your checking account, but that seems way out of any reasonable expectation.

Just trying to separate the issues/fears. But I do agree to be very careful and not trust anyone, which is why I was originally asking. Thanks.

[LuciluS]

It is my understanding CC companies have to obtain a Court Order to take funds out of a Debtors' bank account.

We haven't changed banks, but we never had our CCs' set up as auto pay either. I did pay Bank of America from the website in Sept. 08 (last payment made) using my bank's routing number and bank account. Owed about $14,000 on BOA at the time.

I check my bank account each day on the Web and there hasn't been any monies taken except for a few auto pays (not CCs) I have set up.

I've received 3 letters saying we have 30 days to dispute or pay. Our Attorney has copies of them and he said ignore them until we get a letter or summons we have to sign for. If we do, he will file something in Court.

Just waiting until income drops off from Feb. and will file using Jan.-Aug. income which will be way, way below AR State Median as hubby has been off work 1 mth due to illness.

Our Attorney is only a Bankruptcy Atty. and he files them the last day of the month (small town). So it will be 9/30/09 when we file.

I'm not changing bank accounts as I know everyone at our Bank.

Luci

[sguerra923]

Out of curiousity, but if you already got discharged with ch. 7.. what if a CC company tries to take money out of your account what happens?

[time2restart]

3. generally, not make any minimum payments in the months before filing (check with your attorney).

The paralegal for my attorney told me to wait 90 days before filing from the last time I made payments to credit cards. I was wondering why this would be required? I always made my minimum payments to all my CCs.. but stopped about 3 weeks ago since I'll be filing for Ch 7 soon. However, I don't think I want to wait a full 90 days.

[Bankruptcy20]

There's a lot of posts on this... heck, I even have a new one, if you see. But there's this 70 day cash advance/ 90 day purchase rule of thumb that people refer to.

[StartingOver08]

Its not that you can't make payments within the 90 days - its that you can't make charges within the 90 days. Many people pay right up to filing. Some people don't pay because the funds simply aren't there any more - or they need to save up to pay the attorney.

There is nothing wrong with paying your debt up to filing unless it is preferencial or insider and those are different issues.