im thinking about going bankrupt

[kelly1]

hi, im thinking about going bankrupt, im concerned about my bank account it is with natwest and is a solo debit card account, i cant get overdrawn on this account will i loose this account.
thanks

[ianmillington]

Is NatWest one of your creditors eg by way of a loan etc?

Ian

[kelly1]

no i dont owe them anything.

[MelanieGiles]

If you have money in the account on the day of your bankruptcy order, then this may be held by the Official Reciever as your account is likely to be frozen. At the end of the day it will then be up to NatWest whether they allow you to retain the account or not, but I have bankruptcy cases where the debtor does have a NatWest account.

[kelly1]

also can i ask if the bank account is frozen how long is that for? and what about my wages being paid into that account,during the period when im bankrupt what if the time it takes to open up a new one overlaps the date my wages are due to go into that account, can i have my wages paid into a friends account for example until i open a new one if natwest dont allow me to keep it

[ianmillington]

Whichever bank you are with it is likely to be frozen when the Bankruptcy Order is advertised. When you do go Bankrupt tell the Official Receiver about the account and ask him to give the Bank clearance for its continued operation. It's likely to be on the following terms:

1. That it won't go overdrawn (obvious that one!)

2. That the credit balance must not exceed a given figure (probably 1 months receipts into it). The logic there is that if the credit balance exceeds a certain figure then you have surplus income which ought to be paid into the Bankruptcy.

What you can't do is force NatWest or any other Bank to continue operating the account but I can't see why they shouldn't. However, it might be worthwhile checking as a hypothetical question what their stance would be were you to go bankrupt.

ian