Bank account frozen

[jason314]

i have my iva meeting tomorow on the 23rd but my bank lioyds has frozen my account leaving me with no money to live on also cant pay rent now so i may be homeless and jobless in the next week or so

[Foggy]

Speak to them and ask them why. They should release funds.

We have had instances where a bank clerk with little brain has treated an IVA application in the same way as bankruptcy, where assets are frozen to the order of the OR. But, in an IVA this does not happen --- there is no OR and the IP has no authority to hold assets to order.

[Mrs_Brown]

This happened to a joint account I was named on. The ex used it and before my IVA I had tried to be removed from it but didn't realise as Lloyd's only told the other party that to remove me, the overdraft must be ceased and they were instructed to keep me on (I complained about this aspect and they upheld the complaint because I wasn't informed)

After my IVA papers were submitted, Lloyds froze the account. Based on this forum, it happens regularly. I wasn't affected personally as I hadn't used the account in 18months, my card had been cancelled when I handed in the form to be removed from the account.

My wages were paid into a bank I had never had credit with, and safe, but the ex contacted me on a Friday evening saying his bank had been frozen because I was going into bancruptcy and he couldn't do anything, I needed to call them. I tried calling them but all I got was a rude woman who stonewalled me, she wouldn't tell me anything, told me to go to the bank when it opened on Monday, yet someone had told him that!

On the Monday we both had to go to the branch separately for it to be resolved. The woman I saw only needed confirmation from my IVA firm it was an IVA not bancruptcy and they sorted it there and then, removing my name and she told me they were moving his money out to a different account for him. I rather suspect they took the overdraft amount off him as they closed the account, but I don't know for sure. I had been dreading the trip to the bank expecting to be judged like I had felt on the phone call, but the lady was very friendly. She also filled in the gaps for me about why I had been left on the account.

I know my situation is different to yours but the outcome was that the money got released. I am not sure with COVID-19 if the call centre may be better placed to help you now, they may have more authority than they used to have.

[kallis3]

This is the problem with a lot of banks - they think an IVA is bankruptcy (my mortgage company did that until I put them right). It is about time they educated their staff about is.