When you file for bankruptcy, can you keep your checking account?

Question

We have a Bank of America checking/saving account with some money in it (not a lot). We also have bank of america credit cards with thousands of dollars on them (we've used them to that point I mean). If we file for bankruptcy, can we keep the checking account we've had for 17 years?

Answer 1

NO! Get all your money out of savings and all your checking.... before you file. We claimed bankruptcy and our lawyer told us to do that... I left about 100 in checking in case we needed it in there and I went in the day after we filed and our accounts were frozen. They took that money to go toward any debt we owed them, like credit cards and our auto loan. Depending on which chapter you are going to claim, go in and draw off of any cards also... this is going to ruin your credit for 7 -10 yrs. So, why not take out all you can. Draw all the money you can off your cards and rat hole it until the bankruptcy is settled. After you file wait about a week to a month and go open an account with another bank. You won't get any overdraft protection or any credit with them, but you will have your checking and savings again. Wells Fargo was willing to give us an account and I think US Bank will too. But don't put your money back with the bank that you owe...
As a side note... Bankruptcy was the best thing we could have ever done. We owed on two cars, our house and about 43K in misc loans. We claimed chapter 13, so we kept one car and our house. We could pick and choose who we included in the bankruptcy. Then we paid a Trustee for 3 years. In the end we paid about 16K over three years. We would have never been able to pay off all our debt in that amount of time.. so for us the bankruptcy was very beneficial to us. Once the bankruptcy discharges... don't run out and grab up loans again. Start with one thing and pay on time every time... pay it off in a yr and then try another one. One at a time get small loans and pay on time and then get them paid off before getting another loan. This will build your credit back up. A word of warning.. if you claim 13.. never ever be late on that payment or it can over turn your bankruptcy and you will not be able to claim again for 7 yrs. That almost happened to us.. we were late by 2 days.
But definatley get all your money out and in your possession before you file. Good Luck! I hope this helps! And Congrats on your soon to be financial freedom! It really is great to get out from under it all. Just learn from it, lol. Some people don't and have to claim again in 7 yrs.
Good Luck
-- Angie

**And FYI - yes you can have checking accts again.. but I will guarantee you that your current bank will seize your money and inform you that your accts will be closed. You will not be able to continue banking with your current bank. That is no matter who you bank with.. you filed bnkrptcy on them.. they will refuse to do any further business with you after that. But, you can take your business elsewhere after you file.

Answer 2

Yes you can I filed chapter 7 bankruptcy 4years ago and I kept my checking account. Now if you have alot of money in your checking & savings thats different. Not sure on that because I don't know what saving is all about. But that was also before the new law on filing bankruptcy.

Answer 3

If you're filing ch. 7, you can potentially discharge the credit card and have not effect on the checking account, that also happens to be with BoA.

They will not just take money out of this checking acct. As for the filing fees and what not, see if you apply for a waiver. You can find forms on your local district's bk court.

Answer 4

Yes, you can keep the checking account. Filing for bankruptcy, nor does being declared bankrupt, keep you from having a checking account with Bank of America, nor any other bank.

Answer 5

As long as you don't have a minimum balance requirement you will be able to keep your checking account. But all of your cash will be taken by creditors. So you will have a zero balance in the checking account.

Answer 6

yes
you are allowed to have bank accounts
yet if you have huge amounts of money
they will want to use that to pay down the debt you owe
plus you will have to supply present and past bank statements
to the officer handling the bankruptcy

you can always ask the lawyer handling
the case for you all of these questions.

make sure you have all the bills you owe handy
to make sure they are included in your bankruptcy

Answer 7

Yes. But I doubt they'll be much money in it after paying for the filing and attorney fees.

Answer 8

i have been surfing online more than three hours today searching for answer to the same question, and I haven't found any interesting discussion like this. it's pretty worth enough for me.

Answer 9

Maybe yeah

Answer 10

kinda