Bank account

[hankhill]

I went through and canceled all of our automatic payments on the credit card accounts. Will that be good enough to prevent them from taking money from our account? Don't they have to have our permission to get money? Or should I assume worse-case scenario and open a new checking account somewhere else? My wife and I have a checking/savings at a local credit union and a savings at another credit union, so it would be easy to open another checking (at least, at this point since we haven't filed). We don't have any loans through any of the credit unions and none of our cards are through them either. What do you think?

[AngelinaCatHub]

I went through and canceled all of our automatic payments on the credit card accounts. Will that be good enough to prevent them from taking money from our account? Don't they have to have our permission to get money? Or should I assume worse-case scenario and open a new checking account somewhere else? My wife and I have a checking/savings at a local credit union and a savings at another credit union, so it would be easy to open another checking (at least, at this point since we haven't filed). We don't have any loans through any of the credit unions and none of our cards are through them either. What do you think?

Friend: Your gut feeling is talking to you. What would make you feel better? You know. Do it and be free of that worry. Anyone who has your account number and ABA (routing) number can hit your account. Then you have additional trouble. Get it moved. 'Hub

[epiphany]

Friend: Your gut feeling is talking to you. What would make you feel better? You know. Do it and be free of that worry. Anyone who has your account number and ABA (routing) number can hit your account. Then you have additional trouble. Get it moved. 'Hub

Ditto. It's a small hassle but well worth the peace of mind. Get a checking account now, before you file, with a bank which you have no affilation to, no 7 degrees of Kevin Bacon to worry about.


You could very well be fine keeping the current account, but you are going to wonder for a while so why put yourself through that?

ep

[kartoons19]

Totally agree with the above comments. I had also cancelled my autopay, but still had problems with Citibank and Cap 1. Citibank said I needed to cancel the autopay at least 7 days in advance of the payment, I did it 4 days in advance. So with Cap 1, I cancelled autopay online almost 30 days prior to the due date, but they still took out a payment! They said they had to mail me a form for me to sign in order to cancel autopay, even though it allows you to cancel it online. I fought them on it and they reversed the charge, but it could have been a major problem had I not had the $$$ to cover the payments.

Peace of mind = a new checking account!

[ryan]

Had an autopay with BofA. For two months after being instructed NOT to pay an account they continued to pay it!...because it was a BoFA subsidiary. I would personally close any acct I also owed money to their parent company/bank.

[ohantonio]

I opened my new checking account today on my lunch hour. Goodbye Chase!! Now I just need to change my direct deposit info.

[Universal]

Good. With each step you take you are easing your mind with one less thing to worry about, and being proactive towards the end goal.

[sidhesadie]

If you close an account with autopays set up on it, make sure you get some confirmation in writing that the account is closed and no further charges will be cleared on it.
I had an account that I closed, and an autopay came in a few days later, and they 'force opened' the account and ran the charge. I had no idea until I found out the account was in collections for the overdraft of the charge and 2 months of continuous overdraft fees. (that account had an old address on it so I never got any info after it was closed)
It was a nightmare to get this fixed.

Most banks don't tell you, but they have the ability to 'force open' a closed account for an autopay to go through. Make sure you ASK!!!!!!

[youngnbroke]

Is an autopay the same thing as actually paying the bill every month?! I pay (paid) all of my cc's online...they didn't automatically come out, i had to set up the payments each month. I deleted the bank acct info on each website, that's enough right?!!!

[ssmdem]

Is an autopay the same thing as actually paying the bill every month?! I pay (paid) all of my cc's online...they didn't automatically come out, i had to set up the payments each month. I deleted the bank acct info on each website, that's enough right?!!!

I did the same thing -- but I'm still nervous about it. I've opened a new account at a credit union and keeping only the bare minimum in my old account ($100). The credit union isn't as convenient for me, but until I'm through with this process, I'm just not taking any chances. Once the bankruptcy is discharged, I may go back to using the old account again.

[sidhesadie]

If you actually had to go into the website and set up the payment every month, you should be fine.

Mine was actually a credit card payment (discover) but it was one where I had set it up to automatically make the minimum payment before the due date on that account.
I just forgot I had done that, but I didn't really think it mattered because I (wrongly) assumed that if I CLOSED the checking account, when Discover went to withdraw that payment, it would be rejected or reversed, cause you can't take a debit on a closed account, right? Well...wrong.
But as I said, it was pre set up to take the minimum payment every month, so that is different than if you physically go in and do the payment each month.