checking account at Wells Fargo with current Mortgage

[tdawg]

I have my mortgage and checking account both at Wells Fargo. I don't have any other accounts with Wells Fargo. The mortgage is current (actually, I have already paid December's mortgage payment as well). I am filing ch 7 tomorrow and intend on keeping my house. Do I have to worry about Wells taking the money out of my checking account?

[StartingOver08]

If you check the threads you will see that Wells Fargo freezes the accounts until the Trustee releases the funds. It has nothing to do with having credit accounts with WF, it seems that they "appoint" themselves as a custodian over your funds when you file. Read this good explanation from an attorney: http://bklaw.com/bankruptcy-blog/200...counts-freeze/

Then take a moment to look up Planetary's threads on the same issue.

However, it seems WF is not consistent in this freezing as some members have not had their accounts frozen. But, why would you take the chance?

[WeIzBankrupt]

I too have my mortgage and HELOC with Wells Fargo along with checking and savings. Just too be safe (from what I have read) I went ahead and opened an account at another bank and took out all the money in my WF accounts before I filed. I didnt want any money being frozen as I needed all I could get. I ended up closing the WF accounts after I filed. After my discharge i will open up another free checking at WF and close that accounts at my "temp" bank...

[whipster1]

Open another account now. Somewhere that is not going to be a creditor, like a local CU if possible. You MUST do this or you will have problems. WF, They suck, mkay? They WILL freeze your checking account for 30 or more days.

[tdawg]

Thanks everyone very much for your responses. I called my attorney, and he said, "Your account is at Wells Fargo? You definitely need to get your cash out of there. I'm sorry we missed that."

So, I withdrew pretty much everything from the account in cash at a Wells Fargo Branch tonight. Now, when I look online, it shows the withdraw as a pending transaction with a date of 11/20/09. Is that a problem if we file tomorrow and that withdraw transaction shows a date of 11/20/09? Or is it ok and since the money is out of there, I'm ok? I'd rather have my attorney file tomorrow as planned than wait until Monday if there isn't a problem.

[StartingOver08]

Discuss this with your attorney. Some Trustee's require the bank balance as of the filing date and a bank statement to prove it. You may want to be prudent and file on Monday. BTW, go into the branch and close the account, don't just remove the funds.

[tdawg]

Discuss this with your attorney. Some Trustee's require the bank balance as of the filing date and a bank statement to prove it. You may want to be prudent and file on Monday. BTW, go into the branch and close the account, don't just remove the funds.

I do have the receipt they gave me for the withdrawal that shows a date of 11/19/09. It's kind of weird. I don't understand why they'd consider it a pending transaction when they gave me the cash yesterday. Online, it shows:

Ending Balance as of 11/19/09 $X,XXX.XX

And it has a pending transaction for the withdrawal I made last night, which leaves less than $50 in the account. I'm going to get ahold of my attorney as soon as he gets in. He was going to file me today along with a couple other people so we'd have our 341's on the same day.

By the way, why do I need to close the account entirely? I was hoping to be able to use it after I got discharged.

[jribe]

did you go in after 4pm? if so, the transaction will post the next business day. they usually post this on the counters...BTW- my accounts at WF were not frozen.

I do have the receipt they gave me for the withdrawal that shows a date of 11/19/09. It's kind of weird. I don't understand why they'd consider it a pending transaction when they gave me the cash yesterday. Online, it shows:

Ending Balance as of 11/19/09 $X,XXX.XX

And it has a pending transaction for the withdrawal I made last night, which leaves less than $50 in the account. I'm going to get ahold of my attorney as soon as he gets in. He was going to file me today along with a couple other people so we'd have our 341's on the same day.

By the way, why do I need to close the account entirely? I was hoping to be able to use it after I got discharged.

[Lajazz947]

They took my money on a right of offset. Not the same thing but the bottom line is why take any chances?

Close the accounts and go to another bank/CU.

[tdawg]

When does Wells Fargo seize your checking account if they are going to

My lawyer filed my ch 7 last Saturday (11/21). I took out everything except like $50 in my checking account. My online access is still working and it still shows my available balance for my checking account. For the folks that have had their funds seized/held by Wells Fargo, when did they do this? Like within a week? I'm not planning on using that account until at least after my 341 if I use it at all. I have an account at another bank that I haven't been keeping any significant balance in because I've made payments from it to a lot of my creditors in the past and so they have that account number. But I guess it's probably ok to use that account now (the non-Wells one) since the automatic stay is in place. I'll probably end up opening an account at a credit union when I'm allowed to anyways.

[DeadManCrawling]

Tdawg, you handled it exactly right.

I wouldn't deposit money or start using the account again before talking to the attorney.

It seems WF does not ALWAYS freeze funds, but it happens often enough to merit being safe. It is starting to look like they use a dollar amount to trigger this decision. In any case, it is a shock and very inconvenient to many people.

Good luck,

-dmc