Bank Account Lien?

[Floridagail]

I was wondering if any outcome yet. Please keep up posted.

[fyi2]

!

This is standard practice for Wells Fargo.

Even if you don't include them in BK?

I just opened a new account in April that I have no BK relationship with and now I am thinking I should stop direct deposit for a while "just in case"
YIKES!

[SocalBroke]

Even if you don't include them in BK?

I just opened a new account in April that I have no BK relationship with and now I am thinking I should stop direct deposit for a while "just in case"
YIKES!

Yep, I did the same thing and opened an account with them before filing and was told by my lawyer they are the only bank he is aware of that freezes accounts even if you don't owe them. He called them a 'tattletale' bank because they go out of their way to freeze the account and report it to the trustee. He said it's usually not hard to get them to release. He said he has called a trustee several times and they notified the bank to release it.

I did read somewhere on this site there does appear to be a magic number. If you have $5000.00 or more, they will freeze it. Otherwise they don't. Not taking any chances, I opened up a third account at a credit union and started using that. My Wells Fargo now has less than $100.00 and it hasn't been frozen (I filed 2 weeks ago).

[Floridagail]

When is your 341 , Have you got all your funds back yet?

[junker]

when this is all over and you are discharged, ask your attorney how many times he had to take the bar exam before he passed.... i bet he didnt do it on the first try..

[Planetary]

Today was our 341 hearing.

The trustee was running well over an hour late on cases so we had a lot of time to sit and watch other people's Chapter 7 cases get heard. Almost predictably, our attorney *did not* show. Instead, he had a "legal representative" handle our case on his behalf which amounted to a paralegal who has an office near the courthouse who basically moves clients through the hearing like cattle - the person is really nearly useless. She had zero info about our case, and was actually argumentative when we wanted to ask the Trustee about the remainder of our money that had recently been pulled from our Wells Fargo bank account. Her stance at first was attorney's don't screw up, it has to be client error (or lying). Well, once we reviewed our paperwork, she realized how bad our original filing and advice had been screwed up. Amusingly, she knew right away that our bank was Wells Fargo.

Of course, we got no warning someone else would be doing this although weeks ago, our lawyer did say there was a "small chance" he may have someone else appear for us. A simple phone call or e-mail a couple days in advance would have been nice. Frankly, considering how badly he's bungled our case so far, I would have been shocked if he *did* show up.

Anyway, the hearing itself did go predictably smooth even though we brought up the issue with the remaining money that the Trustee had pulled from our account. He actually was confused why we didn't originally ask for the full amount from our bank account in our first amended filing and seemed pretty floored that our attorney dropped the amount down thinking there was a better chance we'd get *any* money back. He said he seized the remaining money and had a check made out to the Trustee's office because he didn't know what he should do with it. Basically, we have to file yet another amendment listing the remaining money as falling in the wild card deduction and the Trustee will send us a check for the full remaining amount he seized.

My next step is going to be doing whatever I can to file a complaint on our attorney with the California Bar.

BTW, it appears our attorney isn't the only idiot practicing in Southern CA. Two other attorneys really pissed off the Trustee. On did not have his clients bring Social Security cards, and another apparently made major rookie errors on his clients paperwork.

[walkthaplank]

wow.....wow

[Trixie007]

Glad that the Trustee at least, sees the light! Good luck to you, I hope that's the end of snags for you in your filing!

[JRScott]

Well I'm glad the nightmare is coming to an end.

To file a complaint against your attorney you would contact the California Bar Association.

[denisejohn65]

Is that because you owe a Wells Fargo money that they froze it? I have an acct with them but I owe them no money and I already filed...so I'm safe right???

[Floridagail]

He did not owe them any money, Wells fargo takes it upon theirselves to freeze the account . If you are discharged and they did not freeze your account you are lucky.

[eddiep]

denise
There is another member here who had money in his account at WF. He did not owe any money to them but filed bk. There was a large amount of money in the account that he was able to exempt but WF took it upon themselves to freeze the account in case the trustee wanted the money. The member did finally get the money back because he had it exempted but did not get it all back until the 341 meeting. It was a nightmare.

Sorry floridagail, we must have been typing at the same time!

[denisejohn65]

Well, I filed on June 12th 09. There is about 2.00 in ck and 30.00 in savings. I have deposits going into these acct for alimony and sm retirement.600.00 every other week and 447.00 once a month. Please tell me they are not going to freeze my acct!

[denisejohn65]

First thing my lawyer said is to empty acct out. Bring bal as low as you can for a few month before filing. He told me to get in there and get the dep out as quick as I can. Date of filing I had 2.00 in ck and 30.00 in save. Since April I have been withdrawing everything and just keeping it.Still doing it. Though I don't make much money anyhow. Wells has not froze it and I already filed...I must be good to go ,huh??

[SocalBroke]

I don't think they would bother for that low an amount. I have kept about $100 in my Wells Fargo. There was another thread on here which linked to an article which seemed to indicate they only do it if you have $5000.00 or more in your accounts. Also, from what I understood, they would normally do it within a week of your filing, though I could be wrong on that.