When to open a new account

jo70

Hi all. We will be going BK in the next month or so.We (hubby) and I have an appointment to see our (non-profit) debt counsellor next week. By Friday we should have the fees, and on Tuesday when we see the counsellor she said we will finish filling the SOAs in and tidy up loose ends. I imagine she will ring for an appointment too.

Question is when do we open a new account? At the moment we have 2 accounts, both with the Halifax, the current account-majorly overdrawn we can't use,the Halifax have told us that. The other account is a basic cashcard acc, which my wages go into monthly, the child benefit and WFTC.

The question is do we open another account before the court hearing off our own backs or do we need permission from the OR?

Thanks in advance but we don't know what to do.

Jo

LilyBart

Hello Jo,
Some people have successfully opened a basic (ie Barclays or Co-op) account prior to going to court, others have gone along after going BR, sometimes on the same day. If you do it in advance, it may be temporarily frozen, then unfrozen when the OR says he/she has no interest in it. You won't need permission from the OR to open an account after going bankrupt, and it's a good idea to try and time everything so that your wages etc are accessible when you need them. There's a sticky at the top of the board about the accounts that are available to bankrupts.
Lily

Dez-Titute

I opened my account with th Co-op prior to BR.Told them upfront I was opening acc pre BR and left it with a nil balance until after BR when I then started using It.

To be honest can't fault them,

betterlatethannever

Hi Jo, Liliy's right, timing is important.
If your going to struggle, you can use a trusted friend/relations account for wages and benefits until you have your own account, or be radical and pay the old fashioned way. Cancel DDs etc and pay them over the counter at the PO until you have your new account up and running.

The Halifax are notoriously BR unfriendly and, in my case, they closed the account a lot faster than they took to open it:mad:

Merry_Gentry

Hi Jo, glad things are moving along for you. We were unlucky - our OR insisted that we close the Cashminder accounts that we opened pre-BR and open new ones. The Co-Op were not impressed, and we are still trying to sort out the mess caused by it all. Pay as much as you can by cash, and open the account the day you go.

Good luck mate :grouphug: