s-corp protection from personal creditors

[davehpi]

I own 50% of an S-Corp (company A) that is a manufacturing company. ( not related to the other owner, also 50%) My wife & I also own another S-corp that is basically not active and owes money to a local Credit Union (company B). My question is, if the Credit Union goes after me personally or Company A (I think we signed personal guarantee) can they also try to go after Company B because they know I own 50%. Company B has no debt but banks with the same credit union as Company A, so the loan officer has access to both accounts.

The reason I ask is this: I am president of Company B so I have been making large deposits from customer payments into that account. My loan officer from Company A is making it difficult for us to access our money (deposit holds) even after a year with them. He is asking for updated personal financial statements and tax returns relating to company A, before he will release these deposit holds on Company B, which has nothing to do with Company A at all, other than I own stock in both companies.

I am going to a different bank for Company B, but there will still be holds for the first 30 days I'm told.

Is it normal for a bank to tie up client funds for 2 or 3 weeks even after a year? I can't do business like that, we need immediate access to our money.

I hope this makes sense to someone. Sorry for rambling.

[nealrm]

Welcome to the forum.

While much of the information on this site is great, I strongly suggest talking with a lawyer versus free internet advice.

However, I suspect you will find that since you signed a personal guarantee the bank can goes after anything you own to collect the debt. The includes both companies, your home and other belongings. This varies from state to state, so I highly recommend that you talk with a lawyer in state.

[davehpi]

Thank you, I was afraid of that. We don't have an attorney at present, but I agree with you on that point. I'm considering giving back my shares and staying on in a consulting role until the dust settles.

Do you know if I can sign over my stock certificate to the other shareholder to protect them from my creditors? I don't have any capital investment in the company, and am not receiving any salary as of yet.