Loans linked to bank accounts

[cleverdonkey]

So I have made the decision to stop paying my CCs. The money is better off going to the IRS than the what seems like endless debt.
I have a few checking accounts at few different banks/credit unions.
#1 is a credit union that I have a line of credit and a CC with. This is my primary personal account.
#2 is my first business checking account (at Key Bank) that I also have a line of credit and a CC with.
#3 is at (what was Washington Mutual, now Chase) I have a Chase card that wasn't part of my WaMu account. I have 2 checking accounts here one for my business account, haven't moved it because the key account has auto-withdrawal. The second is for a direct sales business I started in February.

My question is do I stop paying those debts too? Will they seize my money to pay the past due payments if I dont pay them?

[frustrated7]

I would very strongly recommend that you open a new account with a bank you have no previous association with and then move all of your money to the new account. After that is complete, close your old accounts. Otherwise, you could be risking trouble and imho, it just isn't worth it.

[cleverdonkey]

I'm bumping this because I haven't been able to find the info I need when I search. I'm needing a few more recommendations/
So its looking like BoA is one of the very few options I have for a new bank. Are they a bad choice? Are there any better choices out there? ( I need to be able to have 2-3 checking accounts)
Should I completely close my bank accounts, and tell them that I need to have the auto-withdrawal changed to a snail mail bill? Ive seen a lot about banks withdrawing money from empty accounts which incurs more fees.
I want to move my money, but I also don't want to be hasty.

[Ifonly]

Don't you have a smaller, community bank in your area? We moved all of our money out of BOA as we had a credit line and a credit card with them. It took a bit of juggling but I evaluated all of my automatic payments, opened the new account and slowly switched whatever auto pays I wanted to keep (life insurance, etc.) over to the new account while keeping money in the old. I also cancelled those auto pays I did not want anymore (credit cards primarily). It took about a month before I had exactly $17.31 in the old account, nothing outstanding and I wrote a final check, deposited it into my new account and told BOA to close. It was not without its headaches.

[SCorpPain]

That's my basic plan. Did you have any loans or CCs with BoA? Did they give you any grief when you closed the account?

I am considering taking mine down to about $25.00 then just abandon them, since I owe the bank money that will be included in the bk.

Don't you have a smaller, community bank in your area? We moved all of our money out of BOA as we had a credit line and a credit card with them. It took a bit of juggling but I evaluated all of my automatic payments, opened the new account and slowly switched whatever auto pays I wanted to keep (life insurance, etc.) over to the new account while keeping money in the old. I also cancelled those auto pays I did not want anymore (credit cards primarily). It took about a month before I had exactly $17.31 in the old account, nothing outstanding and I wrote a final check, deposited it into my new account and told BOA to close. It was not without its headaches.

[Ifonly]

I did owe BOA a credit card and a line of credit. They didn't give me grief regarding closing the account other than to inform me that they keep it open for charges for 30 days beyond the date you ask them to close it.

I would not trust the process of "surrendering" the account. You should bring it to $0 and actually instruct them to close it. I believe it takes months for an account to be considered surrendered and in the interim if you owe them money, they can take the funds out of the still open account regardless of whether the funds are available are not. I believe other posters here have experienced that - where the bank keeps grabbing $, bringing the account to huge negative amounts and slapping on NSF fees. My father passed away in December and as he was on medicaid, we didn't probate the will. The $500 in his checking account is still sitting there, still considered active even after almost six months.

[SCorpPain]

Good to know. Thanks.

I did owe BOA a credit card and a line of credit. I would not trust the process of "surrendering" the account. You should bring it to $0 and actually instruct them to close it. I believe it takes months for an account to be considered surrendered and in the interim if you owe them money, they can take the funds out of the still open account regardless of whether the funds are available are not. I believe other posters here have experienced that - where the bank keeps grabbing $, bringing the account to huge negative amounts and slapping on NSF fees.

[cleverdonkey]

Don't you have a smaller, community bank in your area? We moved all of our money out of BOA as we had a credit line and a credit card with them. It took a bit of juggling but I evaluated all of my automatic payments, opened the new account and slowly switched whatever auto pays I wanted to keep (life insurance, etc.) over to the new account while keeping money in the old. I also cancelled those auto pays I did not want anymore (credit cards primarily). It took about a month before I had exactly $17.31 in the old account, nothing outstanding and I wrote a final check, deposited it into my new account and told BOA to close. It was not without its headaches.

There are. I have a CU account that has CC and a line of credit (both maxed or close to it). My biggest concern is that they will not allow me to have multiple checking accounts. Two CU in my area wont allow me to have 2-3 accounts unless one is designated a business account (usually they require a lot that my small sole proprietor business doesn't meet.) I will look into it again to see if anything has changed.