Using Pre-Bankruptcy accounts

[Deleted User]

Santander got in a right strop when I was bankrupt and refused to leave my account open (it was about 40p in credit at time of bankruptcy).

It then went overdrawn by about 6 quid (Amazon or something I believe), and after writing to me to tell me they'd close it, they harassed me for a couple of months and then eventually seem to have defaulted it and closed it down.

I had 2 other accounts with them, on nil balances. Both of these are still open (as is my Lloyds account and my TSB account I'd forgotten about!). They're sending me monthly statements. Lloyds & TSB seem to be sending quarterly statements.

TSB told me after Bankruptcy that head office would probably close my account down when they twig that I'm bankrupt, but to use it in the meantime (and be careful with salary going into it in case it gets frozen), so I moved it away to Barclays.

Barclays have been a nightmare from start to finish. Now nearly 6 months in it appears none of these 4 other accounts have been suspended. Am I legally ok to keep using them? The OR didn't care when I said I wanted to use Santander. I then told her TSB (after Santander threatened to freeze my main (now defaulted) account) and she didn't care about that... then I got a new account with Barclays (she wrote asking for the details of that).

The Santander 2 are on 0 balance, TSB is on about £11, and no idea about Lloyds but it will be pennies.

All of them will need online banking reset... but I'm tempted to carry on with at least one, if not all, as that's then a 'mainstream' account - as opposed to this cashcard malarkey at Barclays.

I know for a fact the Santander two are reporting positive payment data to the CRAs, which is amusing they're helping me (slightly) given the complaints process and rudeness I had from them.

owlet

My old accounts didn't get closed until about 7 months after my BR. Personally, I wouldn't chance it right now. See what the situation is after discharge. I don't know the legalities (if any) of this though.

TheGardener

The OR "wouldn't care" about all these other accounts because they have no jurisdiction to do anything with them - its the banks themselves that decide to close accounts. If the accounts were not the source of any of the debt, then the OR would probably not bother writing to them.

I had a store card account that had had a zero balance for over a year so didn't show up on the years worth of statements I gave the OR. I thought I had closed the account and cut up the card but when I moved house, I found it jammed in a draw in the sideboard. Eventually I updated my logon and used the card for a small amount at the store - it was fine and I have used it since I was AD as a way of getting a few 'green spots' on my CRF.

All of the banks you have old accounts with are known not to be BR tolerant (and I have to speak up for Barclays here as they have been better than all my previous banks put together so far) Perhaps narrow it down a bit though - you have so many dormant accounts they might actually be hindering your credit clean up rather than helping.

[Deleted User]

That's true. Barclays said the letter they got was a generic one that the OR probably sent to all banks - so I'd expect the others to know - especially Santander, since they have defaulted one account (and a sent letter along the lines of "now you are bankrupt... we will default your account in due course").

Agree with all of those not being BR friendly (apart from Barclays of course). Hopefully I'll be AD in 6 months and can get online banking back with Barclays as that's been a real nightmare having that taken.

I've used TSB to transfer £10 to my TSB savings. Also reported the card lost, so will see if they twig and close the account down after those requests. I'd hope TSB trying to market themselves as the friendly people's bank might leave it open on an individual basis, but I doubt it! I was told in branch the last debit card I requested was referred (referred for a debit card!!!!) - so presumably that will be the same again.

I know I can't even get the £25 fee & interest free overdraft that's built into my account, so they obviously have a lot of bad data on me. If I get the replacement card I might move my wages back - as you say, there is no debt on them, and all money in them is from documented wages post-BR, and then see what happens!

pd52

My Lloyds TSB full current account stayed open with about £1.50 in it, i used it as a second account before BR, HSBC being my main one. When I went BR I put down all my accounts and opened a new barclays one for my wages. Once I was discharged I noticed my Lloyds account was still open, I rang the OR and they said I was ok to use it providing I told them I was BR.

I called up and explained I was BR and could I use the account, no problem they said 'we got no issues with your account' not OD etc , I had a cheque book too. So ive used it since, its been handy as its allowed me to get a preapproved 0% credit card and loan with lloyds (both paid off) I guess they used the internal scoring to assess me. If I do a soft search for credits cards I still get 0% acceptance with everyone accept aqua/vanquis. :rotfl: and I'm only 14 weeks away from the BR dropping off my credit file . Its been a long 6 years! :T