the bank went right in and took money today!!!!

[LeslieF]

i am in the process of raising cash for a chapter 7. in the meantime, i have been working almost daily with my business banker and the wells fargo collections dept on my past due business line of credit. i have been in constant contact and was told two days ago by their collections dept that i had until may 14 until it went to pre charge off status. today they went right into my ex husbands checking account and took $1500 which was all the savings he had saved up for a graduation present trip for my 18 year old next month. of course it is saturday and my local branch could not do anything about it. if i hadnt been working with them i would understand but the collections dept just two days ago, did not inform me that this could happen. do i have any recourse? i was going to start having garage sales this week just to save up for the attorney fees and i really dont want to use the garage sale money for my daughters trip but i will do it if there is no other recourse. i am hoping the bank pres at my local wells fargo can reverse this. anyone had anything similar happen?

[keepinitreal]

That's so sad about your ex's account. Sounds like you should start making plans for the garage sale immediately. Could grandparents chip in for the graduation trip?

[dscurlock]

When you open up bank accounts, you sign papers saying the
bank has to honor any levies that come through...You can
Thank your government for these banking rules. If there is
a dispute process, then you need to ask your bank how
to proceed; however, it looks like it is their money now...
best you can do as others have stated is close your
accounts and attempt to stay off the grid of the
creditors reach...if you know you owe debts then
do not keep your account fully funded...

You can also look into hiring a consumer atty, maybe
he can help get the money back...maybe he can get
them on a violation or something, who knows, but that
wont get the money back right away...

at some level banks do not really care..I would be surprised if
you ever heard anything back from the president...I was at a
bank today, and this lady said she has always done this, if
I do not get my way then close my account..the bank said
ok...we will get a certified check ready for you, have a nice day...

[bkinparadise]

The account was a joint account between you and your ex?

[Mensa1]

Probably nothing that you can do now. WF is the creditor and x-hub acct was at WF?
The fine print of these loans state that they cross colaterolize deposit accts, which means the deposit is subject to being seized by them if you acct is delinquent. Since X is a guarantor on the acct that is why it happened.

You mentioned in another thread about x's credit being affected? Since he is a guarantor on this acct his credit has already been affected due to lates.

A lesson to all.... if you have a delinquent acct of any kind and a deposit acct at the same bank, make a max withdrawl of ALL funds before the acct goes more than 30 days late. Fundamental but painful lesson to learn, after the fact.

[AngelinaCatHub]

The good part of all this is, you can kiss off that account with "prejudice". What AH's but I would not attempt added stress attempting anything as they know they can out spend you. Just chalk it up. 'Hub

[keptdigging]

(deleted-misread story)

[BobMango]

I an very sympathetic to the OPs situation.

The point for others here to take away is "Do not leave money at a bank or credit union where you have accounts in default!"

[StartingOver08]

It is called the right of setoff if it is a bank (and cross collateralization if a CU).

If you owe on a debt to a bank and have a deposit or checking account of any kind, the bank will setoff the debt with the amount in your account. This includes any CD's or any type of account with the same lender/bank.

The bank will not give you notice before taking the funds. When you sign the opening documents, that is considered your notification. To expect the bank to hold off is not realistic or reasonable.

That is the precise reason we say to open new accounts with a "neutral" bank/CU before you default on your payments or file BK. This is for your benefit only.

[LeslieF]

thanks everyone. we are battling it out today as the bank pres was not in on saturday. my attorney said yes they can take the money but usually is done when there is a judgement. there is no judgement. believe it or not, my credit and ex husbands credit has NOT been affected so far because i have been in constant contact with wells fargo internal collections dept. constant contact. i also have sat down several times with my business banker regarding this issue AND have made payments up until 3+ months ago. bank pres left me a message that he is now fully informed about the situation and is going to call me back. wish me luck.