Switching Banks

[BKinVirginia]

I am filling out Paperwork for Ch7, should have it turned into Lawyer early this week.

Question is: I have a bank account with BoA with 2 CC I am including. I also have a Wells Fargo loan, with only 250 left to pay..which I might payoff???

Anyway, what is a good bank to switch to so they do not freeze account? Wachovia? A local bank? I hear rumors of banks freezing accounts during BK even if you have no business other than an account with them. Please let me know your opinions or experiences. Thanks.

[catleg]

Remember Wachovia was acquired by Wells Fargo, if that matters to you.

[jribe]

Remember Wachovia was acquired by Wells Fargo, if that matters to you.

wachovia isn't intergrated yet; and it will be about two years before they are actually "wells fargo".

btw- i would like to know are there people that have actually had THEIR accounts frozen, or is this just "what was heard"? Because i haven't met anyone that had... just curious

[BKinVirginia]

I actually saw where WF acquired Wachovia. Has anyone had just a bank acct with them and filed with no hitch? Soliciting actual experiences here so we can help out our fellow BKers. Thanks.

[kenshirley]

I had B of A and a loan there. My attorney said to get away just in case I had agreed to cross collateralization so they could not take my money for the loan when I filed.
I went with Wells Fargo and like it better by far anyway.
However, there have been some posts here that Wells Fargo has a "policy" that when you file they freeze your accounts to protect the assets for the trustee.
Personally I think that's a bunch of bunk. I don't think the people that posted that know why there money was taken or how in the first place.
First of all it did not happen to me.
Secondly they would need a court order to take your money, period, unless you had a loan with them and had signed a cross collateralization agreement with them.
And last a bank policy does not make a law.

[BKinVirginia]

I had B of A and a loan there. My attorney said to get away just in case I had agreed to cross collateralization so they could not take my money for the loan when I filed.
I went with Wells Fargo and like it better by far anyway.
However, there have been some posts here that Wells Fargo has a "policy" that when you file they freeze your accounts to protect the assets for the trustee.
Personally I think that's a bunch of bunk. I don't think the people that posted that know why there money was taken or how in the first place.
First of all it did not happen to me.
Secondly they would need a court order to take your money, period, unless you had a loan with them and had signed a cross collateralization agreement with them.
And last a bank policy does not make a law.

Thats what we are looking for. Thanks for the post.

[kenshirley]

You are welcome.
We were not sure if we had cross collateralization or not on our RV loan.
It is better to err on the side of caution and protect your money.
If you no longer have an account their where the loan is you just don't have to worry about it anymore.

[dingdong]

Not bunk.

Planetary lived the WF nightmare.

http://www.bkforum.com/showthread.php?t=38571

DD

[kenshirley]

Read my post again about what I said about people not understanding what happened to them.
Our attorney told us that many times these banks have you sign a cross collateralization agreement on and credit cards or loans that they issue and you may not even be aware of it.
Therefore it's best to move your account unless you are absolutely sure.
That poster had loans with the same bank and said so. OK, they were unsecured. All that means is that you won't have to pay them back.
But when you have an account there with an agreement, or not, your funds could be at risk.
The bottom line is that that poster got bad advice from a poorly informed attorney!
And I would bet from reading that post again that's what happened.
I will again offer the advice that my attorney told us about.
Unless you absolutely know for certain there was no agreement of any kind within any documents you have ever signed with your bank (and that includes the paperwork you signed when you got your accounts, and who has those?) and you have loans with a bank that will be involved in a BK move your funds!
A policy can be reversed by the courts when it's illegal, but why risk your monies?

[LuciluS]

Planetary used the Exemptions in Bankruptcy for the $$ he had in Wells Fargo.
Granted, he finally (after 10-12 days) got all but $2,000 released from WF and immediately took the monies out, but it was very time consuming.

I agree, If you have CCs' or any kind of a loan where your checking/savings accounts are located, open up an account with another bank. Thankfully, we live in a small town and use a Small Bank that is not associated with any Large Banks.

I know sometimes it's a hassle to change banks especially if you have auto-pays or direct deposits as I've switched banks 3 times in the last 4 years due to moving.

If you are in the process or getting into the process of filing bankruptcy, then your checking account should be balanced and you should be able to 'control' the acct. until you get the auto-pays and/or direct deposits converted to the new Account. Date of direct deposit, be at the Bank first thing that morning and remove the monies. Date of auto-pay, put monies into Account. Get the picture?

Again, if filing Bankruptcy and have any kind of debt with your Bank, Close The Account. Why take the Risk? unless you are concerned with Chex Systems, then that's another whole new ball game

Luci

[kenshirley]

Exactly, err on the side of caution.
Like I said, I think they got bad advice.
I have used many attorneys in my life for various things.
I have also fired many on the spot for incompetence.
I have had many dealings with civil law in my life and learned a great deal.
One is to trust no company that you don't own and control.

[dingdong]

Sorry, Ken, not trying to be argumentative, but the OP you are referring to did not have any loans/CC with WF. The reacted to his filing by freezing the account, basically stating they had a duty to protect creditors and would not unfreeze until they had word from the TT, it had nothing to do with Cross Collaterization or right to setoff as is the case in many banks.
Read below:

One thing I didn't mention, Wells Fargo is not a debtor in our BK. We never had any credit cards or any loans of any sort with them. In fact, we've only had an account with them for under 6 months after leaving Bank of American after nearly 20 years due to several *major* screwups by BoA on our joint account in 2008.