I do think the bank may be able freeze his checking account for the foreclosure itself. He needs to read every word of his contract with the lienholder. I paid cash for the house I'm living in now but still have an old contract from when I bought a house in 1989 and sold it in 1997. There is a clause in it that says if we defaulted on the loan we must pay ALL the legal expenses for the lienholder to recover the default and/or for the foreclosure.

If I was facing what your friend is, I think I would clean out my checking account and pay all my bills in cash in person, if owed locally, and by money order if out of town. Maybe he could do that until the foreclosure is settled and then open a new checking account at another bank. One bank can find out if he has an account at another bank if they have access to his Social Security number. Nothing is secret anymore and that's why I said wait until the foreclosure is settled.

Since the house is old and small and in a bad state of disrepair, the bank may not put any effort toward evicting your friend. They know it's going to take a lot of money to bring it up to standard and probably still won't be able to sell it for enough money to break even. With as many houses as there are in foreclosure, the bank is going to be looking for the more expensive ones to sell. jmo