Should I really close my checking account?

[willbfree]

Like you I liked BofA and had an account with them for years. On advice from our atty we closed it and moved everything to a new bank. It's a smart move and one you need to listen to your atty. Don't confuse your loyalty with BofA. They won't hesitate to take your money to pay off your debts.

I plan to reopen an account with BofA when we are discharged. Hopefully BofA will allow it as the local branch has good people and they have some great programs. If not I see it as their loss but I did what I needed to do to protect my assets.

[Floridagail]

You do not have to close it, if you have no auto withdrawals. Just move all money to another bank where you owe them nothing. I kept very little in my account, keep cash at home , open new acct just in case. Glad I did. My CU pulled my debit card. So I just left if open until after discharge , then I will close.

[queenfluff]

I got conficting advice on here about this recently. Some people told me to get it out of there ASAP and some told me since I was filed and my lawyer advised me so that it would be safe. I think whether or not you do this depends on whether or not you have or have not filed and maybe a few other factors.

I have a Chase checking account and 2 cc's with Chase. My case was just filed and my bills were overdue the same week I filed for the first time. I had never been late on my bills before.

My lawyer told me that they can't touch the money in my checking account so I didn't move it.
So far it is fine. They have closed the cc account but haven't touched my checking account. I have been to use my ATM and my debit card.

But eventually I will have to get out of there so I am taking my money out in chunks and opening up an account at a credit union.

So, if you know you are not going to be able to pay and won't be filing for a while than yes, do it. But if you are not going to be late and your case is filing than you have that stay. But always listen to your lawyer and err on the side of caution. If you still have any reason to think they might touch your money, move it.

But yes, regardless you will have to move it out eventually. So it is more of a timing issue.

[diebroccoli]

If you are going to take the money out, but not close the account, then be sure there is no minimum balance requirement. Otherwise, they'll try to hit the account with a fee, which in turn will give you an overdrawn fee, which i'm sure leads to a fee fee, etc...

[foolishpast]

Thank you all for the wonderful advice. I just opened an account with a credit union. I am fine with moving from BofA after hearing all of this. I'm still trying to figure out what to do about my kids accounts. One is an adult and one is a minor. I wouldn't imagine I could take my name off the account without them knowing could I? I would imagine the whole account would have to be closed and new accounts opened. I have no idea how to explain a reason for doing this. I just can't bring myself to tell them what I'm going through..... Crap!

[drowningintn]

Honesty is always the best policy. This could be a good lesson for your kids. Teach them to save and not use credit unless it's an emergency!

[dingdong]

Tell the kids that BofA had a bad rating in the govts recent "stress tests" ( Don't know if they did, but Wells Farto did, (HAH! WF, further proof that you s**K!) and you want to move it to a local CU because they are better for the local economy, blah, blah ( Just make up a random reason, or they have better rates, less fees, whatever, kids don't care) they will forget about it in a couple days anyway.

Or find a bank that is giving a bonus for opening a new account and sell it to them that way.

[StartingOver08]

Actually BOA did have issues in the stress test and Ken Lewis has been on all morning discussing how he thinks the stress test was not an accurate measure of how much $$ the banks are making.

BOA is having to increase their reserves another 34.9 BILLION, Wells Fargo $13.7 Billion and Citigroup 5.5 Billion.

Hopefully that will make it seem a more natural move to close the BOA accounts.

[Floridagail]

At least take your money out. I left 5.00 in my CU account. They pulled my debit card. then tried to trick me into paying Credit line. When I filed I opened new acct with SUn and left my CU open. I had that account for 30 yrs. My paralegal recommended I have very little in my bank accounts and have cash on hand at home at least 30 days after filing. I was glad I did open the new account.

[foolishpast]

My daughter was telling me recently that CHASE sent her an offer of $100.00 to open a new account. I'll try to get her to switch using that. If the offer is still valid.... It's just a hassle because she has 2 part time jobs and they both have direct deposit. Also, we love how BofA ATM's are everywhere! I'm going to go by the bank today and ask them if it's possible to just pull my name off the account. I'm only a couple days late on my payment to them right now so I don't think my name is crap there YET.

I did open a new account at a credit union.

[willbfree]

I plan to reopen a BOA account once the bk discharge goes thru. I miss having that account and since BOA needs to increase their own cash reserves I assume they will allow me to open a new account. At least I hope so.