help - bankrupt, bank closed account. due tax credits tomorrow

bobbieg · 16 April 2015 at 10:26PM

I went bankrupt almost a month ago. Everything had been going fine. I had 2 natwest accounts. Neither of which were overdrawn. Natwest shut the main account as i was expecting. The second account was a basic account and i have my tax credits, wages and child benefit paid into it. I have today find out they have shut this account as well. I am due my tax credits tomorrow, i was relying on getting this money as i need food, petrol etc.
What do i do?

dancingfairy · 17 April 2015 at 8:06PM

Will the money be returned to the tax credit people? The other thing is if the account is not actually shut then you may be able to get some money tomorrow. Can you get to the bank tomorrow? You need to tell them that you need to use the first right of appropriation (google it). You may need to put it in writing so maybe print/hand write a little letter as well to take with you just saying that you are evoking the first right of appropriation and that you require x amount for bills (I'd take a breakdown of how much you need for each as well in case they require this).
It might also be worth a trip to your local CAB to see if they can refer you to a food bank/tell you how to claim the benefits again rapidly/get an emergency loan etc etc.
df

doomandgloom · 17 April 2015 at 10:10PM

I asked this question of the TC office when I first went BR because even though I was told my new Barclays bank account wouldn't be closed, I wanted to be prepared in case something went wrong.

I was told that the money would go back to them and they would reissue. Can't remember the full ins and outs but think if that happened they needed me to ring again to confirm this was ok or to give new bank details or to issue cheques (which takes longer).

I found them to be quite useful when I phoned. Maybe worth giving them a call in the morning? And maybe open a BR friendly account too

bobbieg · 19 April 2015 at 7:32AM

Thanks guys. I managed to borrow some cash from a friend until i sort it. I've an appointment at barclays next week to open a cash card account. I didn't do this earlier as i had 2natwest accounts, one was a basic one and the OR told me it wouldn't get closed.
I'm wondering if perhaps it's just frozen, the lady in the bank couldn't tell. I will phone the call centre on Monday.

TheGardener · 19 April 2015 at 8:55AM

The collective experience on this board suggests that whatever the bank and call centre staff say (and they say it in good faith) the Nat West Acc will be closed at some point anyway so get the Barclays acc set up soon as you can. The OR probably meant that the IS do not close the account - which is true - its the banks themselves that make the decision to close an account.

help - bankrupt, bank closed account. due tax credits tomorrow

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