That is an unsatisfying answer and it is the true one. The useful part is knowing what the law fixes, so you can tell it apart from what a bank chooses.

It is also worth remembering how little money is usually involved. How a MAP works covers a route open only to people with assets of no more than £2,000.

No. Section 78(1) vests the whole of your estate in the trustee on the date of sequestration, which changes who owns the money rather than telling anyone to stop payments.

What the Act requires instead

Section 86(9) requires the trustee, once it knows or becomes aware of vested funds held by a bank, to serve a written notice on that bank informing it of the sequestration and identifying the debtor and the funds.

That is a notification duty. There is no provision anywhere in the Act directing a bank to block withdrawals.

The provision that proves the point

Section 86(8) says the trustee has no remedy against a bank for a banking transaction entered into before the bank receives that notice, whether or not the bank knew of the sequestration.

That subsection exists because a bank may lawfully honour transactions before the notice reaches it. Section 86(10)(b) deems the notice received the day after it is sent.

What is settled, and what is not

Because banks find out quickly and make their own decisions. mygov.scot says credit reference agencies give banks a daily list of all new bankruptcies.

What the two official sources actually say

mygov.scot says that if you go bankrupt your bank may freeze your account and you may not be able to withdraw money, and that depending on the bank’s rules it may tell you to switch accounts or close the account. The Accountant in Bankruptcy says your bank may freeze or close your account and you may have to open a different one.

Both use the word may. Neither commits to what will happen, and neither publishes figures.

What nobody publishes

No source establishes how often accounts are frozen, which banks do it, how long a freeze lasts, or what triggers one. Pages that give you a number for any of those are not working from a source.

The people who can answer for your case are your money adviser before the award, and your trustee afterwards. Ask them rather than a web page.

If it does happen

mygov.scot says to contact the bank, and that you may need to give proof of your bankruptcy, usually the award letter.

The Accountant in Bankruptcy’s own guide adds that your bank may still allow you to have your salary or benefits paid into an account. Whether you can have a bank account while bankrupt covers the wider position.

There is unlikely to be much of it. Section 2(2)(c) and (d) cap your total assets at £2,000 and any single asset at £1,000 on the day the application is made, and cash counts.

What the evidence checklist asks for

The Accountant in Bankruptcy’s evidence checklist asks for statements for all bank accounts held by the debtor, verifying the balance at the date the application is signed.

The Accountant in Bankruptcy’s evidence checklist treats savings above £1,000 across all your accounts as defeating a Minimal Asset Process application. That is its practice rather than something the Act states.

A joint account is the case nobody has answered

No source addresses how a jointly owned item is counted, whether at its full value or at your share of it. A joint bank account is the case most people ask about and it is not answered anywhere published.

That makes it a question to settle with your adviser and with the Accountant in Bankruptcy before the application is signed. What happens to a jointly owned asset sets out how far the published material goes.

What a balance does to your eligibility

Note the last row. How assets are valued against the £2,000 limit deals with the fact that no valuation method has ever been prescribed, and what happens to your savings covers cash specifically.

It cannot be used to get ahead of the other creditors. Sections 24(6) to (8) of the 2016 Act make an arrestment executed within the 60 days before sequestration, or on or after it, ineffectual to create a preference.

A bank arrestment is not a wage arrestment

One attaches funds sitting in an account and the other attaches your pay. The difference between the two matters here, because the award deals with them under different provisions.

An earnings arrestment ceases to have effect on the date of sequestration under section 72(2) of the Debtors (Scotland) Act 1987, automatically and with no application to anyone.

The protected minimum balance

A bank arrestment could never touch the first £1,000 in any event. That figure sits on the face of section 73F(3)(a) of the 1987 Act and has done since 1 November 2022.

What the award does to each kind of enforcement

Money already deducted before the award is credited against what you owed rather than refunded. Whether a MAP stops an existing wage arrestment covers that in full.

By planning for it before you apply. mygov.scot advises keeping money for essential living costs when you apply, in case an account is frozen.

The questions to put to your adviser

• Where should wages or benefits be paid in the weeks around the award?
• What happens to direct debits for rent, energy and current council tax?
• How much should be kept accessible, and where?
• Who contacts the bank, and what proof will it want?

Why the adviser is already involved

You cannot make a debtor application on your own. Only an approved money adviser can grant the certificate for sequestration the application needs, and how to apply for a MAP sets out the sequence.

Nothing about a MAP pauses your living costs

Rent, energy, food and the current year’s council tax carry on. Those are not debts covered by the discharge, and falling behind creates new ones.

That depends on the provider, and no source establishes what any bank will do. What is published is the notice a bank has to give if it does decide to close an account.

What the account rules require

Grounds on which a basic bank account may be closed are set out in regulation 26(2) of the Payment Accounts Regulations 2015. For other accounts, regulation 51A of the Payment Services Regulations 2017 requires two months’ notice.

For a contract entered into on or after 28 April 2026, regulation 51B requires 90 days’ notice and specific reasons. Those are the rules on closing an account, whatever prompts it.

What is not established

Whether banks in practice close or restrict accounts after a bankruptcy is not addressed by any primary source. We are not going to tell you it is likely or unlikely.

Ask your trustee what it expects in your case, and whether you can have a bank account while bankrupt sets out what the Accountant in Bankruptcy itself says.

Borrowing is a separate question with a clear answer

An overdraft is credit, and there are disclosure duties both during the bankruptcy and for six months after discharge. Whether you can get credit during a MAP sets out which provision applies at which stage.

It vests in the trustee. Section 86(4) and (5) vest property acquired after the date of sequestration in the trustee as at the date of acquisition, and no court order is needed.

There is no small-sum exception

An inheritance, a compensation payment or a lump sum arriving during the six months is caught. Nothing in section 86 sets a lower limit.

Where the trustee learns that the money is sitting in a bank, section 86(9) requires it to notify the bank.

It is also a conversion risk

Where your total assets exceed £2,000, paragraph 2 of Schedule 1 lets the Accountant in Bankruptcy end the MAP modifications. That £2,000 is prescribed by regulation 14, replacing the £5,000 printed on the face of the Act.

Conversion brings creditor claims, dividends and a real contribution order with it. Whether a MAP can be transferred to full administration covers what changes.

Which is why you report it

The Accountant in Bankruptcy tells MAP debtors to report income changes, money received and inheritances. Do it in writing and do it early.