How to PLAN personal bank accts before filing?

[AfraidOfBK]

HELP! I am planning to file July 1 and my 90 day mark places me under great scrutiny now....I need to know what to do about bank accounts for future planning purposes (Im in Nevada):

1) I have almost 16k on a BofA Visa card, where I also have 2 checkings, savings, and a CD with 2k in it that I closed and transferred money into checking (for the purpose of getting it spent) the other day. Do i need to wait 90 days from the CD transfer...it appears as closing an acct and then looks like a big deposit into checking acct (even though I have all paperwork to trail the funds)

2) My husbands paycheck direct deposits into this account (bofA checking)....how soon should I stop this? Am I too late? It keeps our account looking full cuz were missing our mortgage pmt so theres always at least 1600 leftover after paying bills. If I need to use cashiers checks to pay bills, do I have his paycheck cashed and then do this? For how long before I file should I start this process?

3) We recently opened new accounts (checking and savings) at US BANK because we have no debt with thema nd were afraid that BK would take all funds or freeze accts at our other banks....SHould I have my husbands direct deposit put into that account? Will US BANK try to close acct after hearing of my BK? especially since I have no banking history with them...
....
4) I also have Wells Fargo accts for my three children (in their name and ours) with maybe $3 in each acct. I also have a cc there with a blance of about $2100. Should I close those accounts just to save the possibility of a future banking relationship with WElls Fargo? we may be moving and wells fargo is closer, so I wouldnt want to demolish relationship (or will the BK do that anyway?)

5) Does closing an account look worse than leaving $5 in it? I was thinking that if I take care of paying bills in some way other than online billpay (what I do now with B of A) then I would see exactly the amt I have left in the account that needs to be spent down (on necessities) before filing....we only have money cuz of a tax return and saving by not paying a 1940 a month mortgage on a house we are surrendering.......

SORRY for the details and length, but I am in great need of answers here...I want to make sure that in case I am filing 90 days from now, i do everything right, and have everything planned so that i can just enjoy my baby when she comes (MAY) and not stress about the particulars. Please help! THANKS

[keepmine]

It's not illegal to open a new bank account. Just disclose the prior account and the new one. It's perfectly acceptable to open an account at a bank where you have no debts that you are planning on defaulting.
I'd get all my money into another bank that won't have debt in your bk and I'd do it sooner rather than later.

[BK2008]

HELP! I am planning to file July 1 and my 90 day mark places me under great scrutiny now....I need to know what to do about bank accounts for future planning purposes (Im in Nevada):

1) I have almost 16k on a BofA Visa card, where I also have 2 checkings, savings, and a CD with 2k in it that I closed and transferred money into checking (for the purpose of getting it spent) the other day. Do i need to wait 90 days from the CD transfer...it appears as closing an acct and then looks like a big deposit into checking acct (even though I have all paperwork to trail the funds)

2) My husbands paycheck direct deposits into this account (bofA checking)....how soon should I stop this? Am I too late? It keeps our account looking full cuz were missing our mortgage pmt so theres always at least 1600 leftover after paying bills. If I need to use cashiers checks to pay bills, do I have his paycheck cashed and then do this? For how long before I file should I start this process?

3) We recently opened new accounts (checking and savings) at US BANK because we have no debt with thema nd were afraid that BK would take all funds or freeze accts at our other banks....SHould I have my husbands direct deposit put into that account? Will US BANK try to close acct after hearing of my BK? especially since I have no banking history with them...
....
4) I also have Wells Fargo accts for my three children (in their name and ours) with maybe $3 in each acct. I also have a cc there with a blance of about $2100. Should I close those accounts just to save the possibility of a future banking relationship with WElls Fargo? we may be moving and wells fargo is closer, so I wouldnt want to demolish relationship (or will the BK do that anyway?)

5) Does closing an account look worse than leaving $5 in it? I was thinking that if I take care of paying bills in some way other than online billpay (what I do now with B of A) then I would see exactly the amt I have left in the account that needs to be spent down (on necessities) before filing....we only have money cuz of a tax return and saving by not paying a 1940 a month mortgage on a house we are surrendering.......

SORRY for the details and length, but I am in great need of answers here...I want to make sure that in case I am filing 90 days from now, i do everything right, and have everything planned so that i can just enjoy my baby when she comes (MAY) and not stress about the particulars. Please help! THANKS

If BofA is one of the creditors on your BK, I'd get that shifted to another bank pronto. As for the cash in the CD, take it and use it on dental, medical, or other 'necessary' expenses. You should have no problems, as this is such a small amount and used for necessary living expenses.

Your Kids accounts: If they are set up as UGMA accounts (and not joint), I don't believe they can touh them, as it is owned by the kids, you are merely a trustee for it.

Also, if you are filing in July and have that much excess in cash at the end of the month, perhaps you might considering increasing tax withholdings from your paychecks if you think you might be owing some at the end of the year due to the fact you will not have the mortgage/prop tax writeoff any more. Just make sure you do that NOW, so it doesn't appear as you were 'hiding' funds.

I continued to pay bills online (althought not with banks I owed $$ to), my kids accounts weren 't questioned, neither was my $1400 savings account.
All remained as it was, and the trustee never questioned anything.

[EricaCallaha]

Do you have an attorney? If so, ask him what the acceptable amounts are allowed to be in your accounts on the day of filing. We are in Utah and were told to have no more that $100 in each account. You may be able to get the cash exempted if you are allowed wild card exemptions.

We also had paper checks sent to us for at least the 30 days prior to filing. He cashed the checks and we paid all bills in money orders and did nothing online. You just never know if everything will be cleared by the day that you file.

Since you have a card that you are defaulting with Wells Fargo, they may close your kids' accounts and not want to do business with you anymore. We were in the same boat with Chase. Why don't you move your kids' accounts to the bank where you are (US Bank)? It would make a banking trip much easier.

I bet spit to nails that US Bank will not close your account. You are a new customer with a fresh history with them. But, they will probably not offer you any extra products beyond checking and savings. No worries...you don't want their credit card anyway!

Good luck....You are on the right track to plan.

[AfraidOfBK]

Thanks for all the help -

I think the accounts with my kids are just plain old joint accounts, as they are minors. I do not even want them anymore...BUT will closing them look bad? I just want to retain wells fargo as a possible creditor in case I need them in the future.

My attorney told me to have no more than a couple hundred in each account...but in NV I think we each (DH and me) can have a $1000 wildcard exemption...I asked lawyer about it and he said to not ocunt on htat in case we need to use the wildcard for something else....I DONT KNOW WHAT HES TALKING ABOUT....my case is fairly simple:

Want to keep two car loans that have no equity (in fact, theyre upside down) and am surrendering the home.....also getting rid of about 26k cc debt.

What is so complicated about this? we are way under means test (Family of Six making 41k a year) so what is lawyer worried about? Any ideas?

About tax withholdings - wont that look fishy if I do it now and file in July or Aug?

THANKS AGAIN FOR HELP

[EricaCallaha]

First of all....

It won't look bad if you close your kids' accounts. You moved banks and that's it. You are trying to consolidate all in one place. We had the crappiest credit ever and were still able to open accounts at Wells Fargo. The one hurdle that we had was that we had to do it in person and not online or over the phone. We were not offered additional products beyond checking and savings. Fine by me!

It is better to get those bank accounts as low as possible. Your lawyer is preparing for something that might crop up later. Better to be safe than sorry. I would take his advice.

As far as tax withholdings go....Adjust now. We didn't plan very well and had to send $6,350 of our tax refund to the trustee. It hurt. I have since adjusted to keep us under $1K (which is what we are allowed to keep). We did this right after we filed and we have never been questioned about it. Besides....you don't need to give the government an interest free loan with your hard earned money anyway!


Good luck.....

[AfraidOfBK]

What if I adjust after i file? Wont the tax withholdings mess with our income level? Are you sure it wont look like we were doing this on purpose (the tax change)

I just dont want it to look fishy..

Another thing I am scared about is that my husband and I will often get cash back and carry cash around for unanticipated expenses - groceries, gas, food, clothes....whatever we need to spend....this mostly happens on his days off because we are out and about doing things with the kids and well need money. Will they want receipts for everything paid in cash? I do ut some expenses on the debit card, but I am not strict baout allg roceries on debit, and all gas in cash, or anything like that...

Will this look like we were trying to hide money? I ahvent saved receipts for hte past montha nd am planning on filing in July...should I save future receipts...and even then, what if the cash doesnt add up?

What about the times where our family buys pizza and we give them 20 dollars for our share? Theres 20 bucks that cant be accounted for...is this wrong?

[EricaCallaha]

Just because you are filing bankruptcy doesn't mean that you aren't allow to live. We started to carry more cash in the last 4 months prior to filing because it made us more aware of what we were spending. As long as you are going along the IRS guidelines for food and everything else...I don't see where this is going to be a problem. But on the off chance that you get an anal trustee...start saving receipts now. It just gives a general idea of where your money goes. But a missing $20 here and there isn't going to raise eyebrows. If asked...be honest...."We put in on pizza."

We adjusted after we filed and no eyebrows raised. Ask your attorney what he thinks will fly with the trustee and go from there. He is probably well aware of what the trustees allow and what they don't.

Good luck....