Frozen Bank Accounts

What exactly is a frozen account?

A frozen account is referred to as an account where no depositor can do either withdrawals or purchases. The main reason an account can be frozen is if the account holder does not pay for his purchases that are charged to his account. Deposits can be made, but any money that is deposited, cannot be used, for it is frozen with the account. Even checks that are written against the account will be no good, as long as the account stays frozen.

Heading – Who can freeze bank accounts?

Any time you engage in a transaction with a company, and you have to pay the transaction back. This creates debt. The person you owe money to becomes your creditor. As such, if you do not pay your creditor when required, the creditor can freeze your account. All the creditor has to do is place a judgment against you. When this happens your account becomes frozen until you pay what you owe.

Usually when your account has become frozen, you will receive a notice from your bank, letting you know about your situation, and what you need to do to unfreeze it. There should be a number of a lawyer listed. You will have to enlist the services of a lawyer to get your bank account unfrozen. Even if your bank account is frozen, no creditor is allowed to withdraw money just because the money is there. To get what money is owed, the creditor needs to get a turnover order from a judge.

If during the time your bank account is frozen, you write checks against your account, you will have to take steps toward contacting everyone you sent checks to. This is because those checks will bounce, since the money is not useable. Just contact the people and let them know what happened. Explain that your account was temporarily placed in a frozen state, and that you are taking steps to unfreeze it. Just ask them to hold the checks until you notify them to the contrary. Once you contact them, they can then cash the checks.

Until you resolve your situation, you will need to avoid using your bank account for the foreseeable future. This means you cannot make any deposits and you also must cancel your direct deposit if you have one. If you do have bills to pay, ask a friend or family member to do it for you.

Heading – Can the government freeze your bank account?

Usually the government can’t freeze a bank account. Since you are not actually purchasing anything from them directly, they have no way to store your money. Plus, the government as an entity does not have or own a bank. They do use one. That’s how they pay their bills. But technically speaking, they do not have a way to store your money.

The only time the government can freeze an account, is for security reason. For instance, if they suspect terrorists are using money in an account, the government can go in and freeze the account, so the money can’t be used.

LIST:

Bank of America – 1-800-432-1000
JP Morgan – 1-800-935-9935
Wachovia Bank – 1-866-647-7365
Wells Fargo Bank – 1-866-647-7365
Citibank – 1-800-950-5114
Washington Mutual Bank – 1-800-788-7000
SunTrust Bank – 1-800-786-8787
U.S. Bank – 1-800-872-2657
Regions Bank – 1-800-734-4667
Branch Banking and Trust Company – 1-800-226-5228
National City Bank – 1-888-622-4932
HSBC Bank USA – 1-800-975-4722
World Savings Bank, FSB – 1-866-647-7365
Countrywide Bank – 1-800-841-9986
PNC Bank – 1-888-PNC-BANK
KeyBank – 1-800-539-2968
ING Bank – 1-800-ING-DIRECT
Merrill Lynch Bank USA – 212-449-1000
Sovereign Bank – 1-877-768-2265
Comerica Bank – 1-800-292-1300