Does filing BK make your bank account close?

Nope....not necessarily true. I had no problem with mine and neither did anyone I know who filed.

There must be some other criteria that goes with that. When I filed bankruptcy none of my accounts were closed. All but one was empty.

Thanks ladies -- I had never heard of that before & I know a lot of times what you find on the web isn't really accurate -- I just wanted to make sure!!

Yes, we were warned by our lawyer that this could happen, particularly if you have a loan with the same bank. Also, she noted that Wells Fargo will often freeze your acct. even if you don't owe them any money. You have to wait to get the trustee to tell them to unfreeze the acct.

You have a point there, I do remember my Lawyer asking what kind of balances I had in my checking account. I think he even mentioned something about having low balances around the time I filed and went to court.

Okay thanks for the info -- I meet with our lawyer on the 30th so I will ask her about that then as well... when we first met w/ her she didn't say anything about it -- but for now I had already taken everything out of my account and am not using it... thanks!

I'm helping a friend with her BK in California and her accounts at Wells Fargo were frozen. Her attorney had no idea this would happen and he begged the Trustee to unfreeze it but to no avail. The creditor's meeting is today, but for 6 weeks my friend has had NO access to any money. The attorney begged the Trustee to instruct the bank to unfreeze the account, but the trustee did not even reply to him even though the funds are exempt. My friend had to borrow to pay rent and food. So watch out, if you're thinking of filing take your money out of Wells Fargo (and Union bank, too) first because they will freeze all your funds and you'll be left with nothing.

My lawyer told me not to worry about it as long as the account is not with a bank that is being listed as a creditor in the filing.

You stated loans.....how about credit cards? I have a checking account with chase bank and credit cards with them....should I keep a low balance?

If you default on the credit cards, then they could seize whatever money you have in the checking account to recover their money. If you are in a situation where you think that you will default, and not be able to make your payments, then I would close the checking account with Chase and open a new account at a bank that you have no other account affiliation with. That is what I did when I lost about half of my income and could not make my payments any more.

How long do I need to keep a low balance (filing a chapter 13)? I have been with chase for a long time and would hate to close my account with them,