Bank of America attempting to set a trap?

[Diesel73L]

Long story short I had cancelled automatic payment with BoA and they debited my account anyway causing my account to be overdrawn. I called and complained and told them that a check was in the mail and that I had chosen not to pay automatically anymore (not true, but its not like I was going to tell them that I was planning on defaulting)-they refused to refund the money, and then magically it appeared in my account overnight. I have already defaulted on two cards, so I'm sure BoA knows what I'm up to in terms of defaulting-did they send the money back deliberately because they're trying to cook up a fraud charge to thwart a BK filing? Should I consult a lawyer about this? I need the money to pay for groceries, gas, and other household expenses, but now I'm afraid to touch it because I feel like this is some kind of trap. What do I do? Let's say it is a trap-could it end up getting a CH7 case dismissed (we are probably not going to file for many months)? Or could the judge/trustee simply rule that I owe them the $500 (the amount of payment refunded)?

*EDIT*

I just spoke with Wells Fargo (my bank) and they stated that they initiated the process to get the money back from BoA even though I didn't file a claim. I deliberately didn't file one because the customer service rep started in on "do you assert under penalty of perjury, etc...that you did not receive any beneficial services, blah blah blah..." At that point I told her it was too much hassle and not to bother, but she went ahead and did it anyway? Now I'm worried that both of them will try to come after me for fraud. Part of me wants to return the money, but without it we're going to be short on the mortgage this month. We fully intend on filing, but the house is completely exempt (no equity) and we want to keep it so I don't want to be late/deficient on the mortgage-what do I do?

[kornellred]

If you acquired unsecured funds from a creditor with no intention of paying it back, then that is fraud. If you stop paying back unsecured debt for whatever reason (it does not matter why - it is not a crime to break a promise), then it is up to the creditor to prove that you had no intention of paying your debt back. That is virtually impossible to do unless it is starkly obvious due to a paper trail of clues that a debtor might leave when making bad decisions during bankruptcy planning.

Cancellation of automatic payments is a gigantic flag that a debtor inadvertently raises - that much should be obvious. The best way to stop automatic payments is to have no money in the account that the funds are withdrawn from. And, you should have previously canceled overdraft privileges with the bank that holds your account, or be prepared to accept that bank as a creditor in a bankruptcy filing. The latter is what I did when I stopped paying a certain creditor - when they went to my checking account for the automatic payment, there was no money in the account, and the bank simply allowed an overdraft, which I never paid back. Their problem, not mine.

Stop worrying about BofA - they can only do what they are permitted to do by law. They can never prove that you had no intention of ever paying them back unless you used credit to acquire goods or services while being in default with respect to other creditors. Most bankruptcy attorneys will not submit a bankruptcy petition until credit purchases by a debtor have ceased for a minimum of three months.

[Diesel73L]

Stop worrying about BofA - they can only do what they are permitted to do by law. They can never prove that you had no intention of ever paying them back unless you used credit to acquire goods or services while being in default with respect to other creditors. Most bankruptcy attorneys will not submit a bankruptcy petition until credit purchases by a debtor have ceased for a minimum of three months.

That makes me feel better. I stopped paying/using Chase and Citibank in January and had intended on stopping BoA as well. I went online and cancelled the payment the day before it was due (I had been on the fence and fretting about defaulting on the cards up to the last minute) and two days later the payment was debited. I reasoned that the payment must have already gone through before the cancellation hit, so I just sucked it up and hunkered down for default. By the beginning of this month, Chase and Citi had been calling my GV nonstop but BoA was not because they had gotten their minimum. Most importantly, I have not put anything on any credit card since December, just as a side note. Fast forward to yesterday, BoA once again debited their minimum, so I initiated the process I posted about above.