Should I use a bank that is also a creditor (i.e., after filing?)

[JackBondLove]

Here's my situation. I have a checking account that is registered to me and a relative (i.e., we are on both accounts.) My relative would like to give me cash, and having her deposit cash into this account, and then me taking it from the account would be a nice easy way to do it.

The only problem is that this account is with a creditor. (The amount that was on the books on the date of filing was trivial.) I am wondering if there could be any issues with this - e.g., the creditor can confiscate the total amount at the date of discharge (or perhaps forever in the future?) I suppose that I could set up an account with another bank, but it would be a bit of a pain to do so, and I would rather just have the account as is, even if it would be with a creditor.

[car67]

Yes its an issue
Close account and open new checking at new bank with no loans issued to you.
It covers any possibilities!

[blessed]

If you've already filed they can't take money because of the automatic stay. But most banks will conveniently not have it noted in their system when they take the money and it will be a pain to get the money back.

It's up to you. Is it a bigger pain to set up a new account or have your current account frozen and money taken away? I was in the same boat and the decision was an easy one.

[iv65536]

I kept one checking account that was with a creditor, but from the time of filing through discharge, the balance in the checking account did not exceed $5.

[keepmine]

I'd agree with the others. Start fresh elsewhere.

[MarieT]

I was told by our attorney that Wells Fargo freezes your accounts when you file BK even if you do not owe WF money. They told me that if you owe money to any bank, do not have your checking or savings account with the bank you owe money to as they can pull it out of that account to pay your debt to them. (I think it may be called cross-collateralization...not sure.)

We opened an account at a new bank a couple weeks ago. I was freaking out when the lady said they had to pull our credit to set up a new account as we have several credit cards that hav ealready been written off but she did set up the checking account for us so hopefully it was good enough. Just got the new checks in the mail!

We have already ordered our payroll auto deposit to start at the new bank and I think when our old bank does not get the auto-deposit they will probably know something is up and I need to be sure to clear our accounts out there as we owe them about $25K on our line of credit. (We are current with them so I am guessing that as soon as we close our checking account there we can quit paying the automatic LOC payments that amount to about $400-500 a month.

I feel sad about leaving this bank but they also raised our interest a huge amount last year at a time when we were really down and out and I recently discovered that on one of our LOC accounts, they had been charging me a $39 late fee every month for the last 10 months because I had set it up wrong on auto pay by ONE day! My fault of course for not reviewing the account online sooner but when I called them it was just "tough luck lady" after being with this bank for 20 years. (I know...I feel crappy about the whole BK thing so now I"m justifying!)

We are hoping to file BK in July, still planning everything and learning as much as we possibly can. I really appreciate everyone who has reached out to help me and I hope I can be helpful in return.

[liz417]

I have/had a checking and a savings account with WaMu which was later "Chase". I was worried that Chase would freeze and/or take out my $$$ from the account since I defaulted with them (this was before I filed for BK) for $26k. I changed primary banks and left under $100 in the WaMu/Chase accounts throughout the BK process. Now that I am discharged, I used the Chase account and haven't had any problems