Title: August 29, 2008
Q: A few years ago, I filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. I owed about $700 to Washington Mutual back then, but the debt was discharged. I recently applied for an account online with Washington Mutual because that’s the closest bank to my house. The bank opened a checking account about 4 months ago and issued a debit card. When I attempted to add my son as a signatory on the account, my debit card was cancelled by the bank the following day. I could not view any account details online, while my payroll check is in the account. I found out about this while trying to use my debit card at the grocery store and to buy gas for my car. Can the bank take my money away like this?
A: If your bankruptcy was discharged, no the bank cannot. You may have a lawsuit against the bank for violating the U.S. Bankruptcy Court discharge injunction. Once a debt is discharged in a Bankruptcy Court, no one can ever try to collect on it. Many credit cards will sell debt to collection agencies for a penny on the dollar and collection agencies will attempt to collect on these credit card debts, several years later. But your case is completely different. I would contact Washington Mutual and show them your discharge Notice. They might need you to produce the specific Bankruptcy schedule that lists the debt to Washington Mutual, so as to ensure that particular debt was included in your bankruptcy discharge. I suspect that they will return your money rather quickly after finding out that particular debt was already discharged.
Q: I keep receiving e-mails about my winning some contest I never entered into in the UK, or in Nigeria, or some bank clerk looking for someone in the USA to transfer some huge amount of foreign capital into the United States, a percentage of which would be mine. Why do I keep receiving these e-mails and what are they all about?
A. These e-mails are all fraudulent, and I would delete them without even reading them if I was you. The people perpetrating the fraud are looking for a “fish”. If you respond, they might entrap you to give your bank information to them, so that they can empty your bank account. Typically, they send you a bogus check or promise to transfer some large amount of money into your bank account by a certain date, and then ask that you write a check for their “percentage” back to them. If you have the “percentage” amount in your bank account already, they will cash your check while theirs will bounce, and you will be left holding the bag. Please these are all con games. Do not fall for it!
Maxine de Villefranche has been an attorney for 15 years and is practicing law in Tehachapi and Lancaster. Send your questions via fax at (661)825-8880 or e-mail your questions or comments to http://www.generalaw.com She will answer your questions to the best of her abilities.
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Q: I filed bankruptcy in January 2008 and received my discharge papers in November 2008. I receive a letter from my bank informing me that a judgement was ordered on my checking account on July 22, 2009. This judgement is associated with a water bill for a property that I used to owned. I included all of this in the bankruptcy filing. Can they still put a judgement on my checking account.
ReplyDeleteJennifer