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Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

nytimes.com

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Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#631

Post by Clubber »

close04 wrote: post #521
Clubber wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>No such thing as "an algorithm run amuck" - more like "another department run amuck". Someone programmed the thing, someone is running it deliberately. Not to defend banks, but you know how many bugs the average large software system has?

With such a critical activity that has the potential to destroy lives, "a bug" is not a good enough excuse. Hire a human to override the bug driven decision. These aren't bugs but conscious decisions taken by each bank because the fallout is on few enough customers that they don't need to worry. I've worked with/in enough banks to know someone intentionally drew a line and everyone who happens to fall under it can ju…

You're not wrong. Chase has 18.5 million checking accounts and 25 million debit cards, so they can afford to lose a whole lot of small customers while still saving a bunch of money with the automation.

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#632

Post by trompetenaccoun »

ricardobayes wrote: post #610
mcny wrote: post #544

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is a solution - not sure if everyone's ready to hear it yet: Decentralized finance. I want the pendulum to swing the other way. Everybody gets and gets to keep forever an account at the Reserve Bank. > self-hosted Ethereum wallet I'm sorry. The technology might be fine But I simply do not trust the people involved with cryptocurrency. Not just the scammers such as SBF, I don't trust the "victims" to make wise…

"Crypto" as a whole broke the circle of trust for most ordinary people. Mocking cryptos now became so mainstream that UK television ran ads, calling out crypto believers. Not to mention all of crypto on and off ramps are incredibly centralized.

>Not to mention all of crypto on and off ramps are incredibly centralized

The major ones, yes. That's because most of the decentralized ones got shut down or closed voluntarily out of fear of getting prosecuted on ML charges. LocalBitcoins is a good example, first they got their site blocked in authoritarian countries like Russia. Then they had to restrict service in some US states and other more liberal places as well. Finally they shut down operations completely.

The question is if people still want to fight for such liberties or not. There are multiple countries working on CBDCs and to abolish or at least severely restrict cash payments. In many EU countries this is already reality. For example France has a limit of 1000€ for residents.

Cash is a quasi anonymous form of payment, in self-custody. Throughout history something similar has always existed, be it metal coins or even earlier forms of money. There is a real danger as we're on our way to go fully digital to lose control over this freedom to governments and/or banks.

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#633

Post by BiteCode_dev »

ArabicBaklava wrote: post #481

Bank of america did this to me, in the same weekend i was moving out. All my stuff was in the car, it was a friday at 3PM and i was in the gas station. I couldn't fill up my gas. Called and they told me to come to the bank with two forms of ID. When I arrived to the bank the fraud department was operating in NY (3hrs ahead) and they were closing, so they told me to come next tuesday (it was a long weekend). I went ho…

That's why I have 2 bank accounts.

It happened to me once in Africa, and I said "never again".

I now have a backup plan for everything that is critical for my life.

I have several modes of transportation, several clients, 2 computers, 2 sources of internet, several ways of contacting my family, etc.

System always fail.

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#634

Post by ryukoposting »

ArabicBaklava wrote: post #481

Bank of america did this to me, in the same weekend i was moving out. All my stuff was in the car, it was a friday at 3PM and i was in the gas station. I couldn't fill up my gas. Called and they told me to come to the bank with two forms of ID. When I arrived to the bank the fraud department was operating in NY (3hrs ahead) and they were closing, so they told me to come next tuesday (it was a long weekend). I went ho…

That's fucked up. I don't know what else to say about it. I've worked with plenty of people in the US on H1B, and I've seen how that process is like bureaucratic blackmail. Your story is a whole different level.

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#635

Post by eganist »

zlg_codes wrote: post #447
jltsiren wrote: post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Protip to anybody dealing with a bureaucracy, no matter whether it's automated or human-based, public or private, fair or oppressive: don't look weird. Bureaucracies function by finding the right category and using the appropriate process for the category. If they can't place you in the right category, you may be in trouble. To avoid that, you can try using products and services that signal the right category, even w…

Cool ,I'll remember that when I'm starving because my account was frozen. For 'efficiency'. I'm glad they care so much about me as a customer. Banks are about to lose more trust, and money. I'll be doing some research into my credit union as well. Can't trust these institutions, man.

If you're comfortable sharing, which one?

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#636

Post by EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK »

sneak wrote: post #25
wolverine876 wrote: post #8

You can be barred from flying (is that still true?) and now banking, without trial or evidence. It's already highly anti-democratic, but imagine what an aggressive, oppressive government will do with this power.

Banking is optional; the problem is that many businesses insist on bank cards to transact. It’s important that businesses be compelled to accept cash for all transactions. It’s particularly bad in some cities. Rather than enforcing access to the special hell that is US retail banking, just prohibit businesses from ripping out their existing cash infrastructure. Even with a bank account, your ability to transact is su…

You can walk into any USPS office and buy up to $1000 in money orders anonymously. What prevents them from selling anonymous prepaid cards the same way?

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#637

Post by DoughnutHole »

TacticalCoder wrote: post #193
krupan wrote: post #70

The crazy thing to me in all this is that the types and amounts of transactions you make with your money and the bank is not criminal and never could be. It could however be a technique used to hide things that are criminal like fraud or theft. Somehow somewhere along the way we as a society decided we were ok with criminalizing the types of transactions that can be used to hide crime. That to me should have been a c…

> Somehow somewhere along the way we as a society decided we were ok with criminalizing the types of transactions that can be used to hide crime. That to me should have been a clear step in the wrong direction. Totally wrong direction. > "Money laundering" (however that is defined) should not be a crime. Theft, fraud, etc. should be. This goes back to this weird fetishism where people think it was oh-so-cool to arres…

This society sends people to jail for tax evasion all the time, even if the original source of their income was non-criminal.

Al Capone was guilty of running a massive criminal organisation responsible for many many crimes (very difficult to prove due to structures of organised crime). He was also guilty of massive tax evasion (a crime carrying serious jail time), because it turns out it's hard to pay the right tax bill when you're trying to hide the income from your massive criminal enterprise.

The Capone tax case wasn't some made up crime to try pin him. He committed serious tax evasion, which would also carry severe penalties if you or I did it at that scale with legitimate income.

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#638

Post by AniseAbyss »

mcny wrote: post #544
trompetenaccoun wrote: post #523

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Horrible. I've heard similar stories but this one's the worst by far. This shouldn't be allowed to ever happen again, such sudden closures without warning need to be illegal. The issue is banking is highly regulated but a lot of the regulation is about AML, terrorism screening and such. Not actually protecting customers from abuse but rather the other way around - banks are taking precautions to protect themselves fr…

> There is a solution - not sure if everyone's ready to hear it yet: Decentralized finance. I want the pendulum to swing the other way. Everybody gets and gets to keep forever an account at the Reserve Bank. > self-hosted Ethereum wallet I'm sorry. The technology might be fine But I simply do not trust the people involved with cryptocurrency. Not just the scammers such as SBF, I don't trust the "victims" to make wise…

[dead]

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#639

Post by EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK »

matwood wrote: post #627
EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK wrote: post #540

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been residing overseas for the last 6 years, living in and visiting 27 countries in total. I also have 5 bank accounts and 9 cards, all registered to a virtual mail address and a VoiP phone number. No problems so far. Protip: chill.

Expanding on your point, when people say 'overseas' they should be more specific. To take an extreme example, spending a bunch of time in France is different than say Somalia.

Only half of those 27 countries were in Europe, others were all kinds of shitholes.

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#640

Post by kylebenzle »

ArabicBaklava wrote: post #494
ArabicBaklava wrote: post #481

Bank of america did this to me, in the same weekend i was moving out. All my stuff was in the car, it was a friday at 3PM and i was in the gas station. I couldn't fill up my gas. Called and they told me to come to the bank with two forms of ID. When I arrived to the bank the fraud department was operating in NY (3hrs ahead) and they were closing, so they told me to come next tuesday (it was a long weekend). I went ho…

Well, this happened in 2017.. fast forward to this account closure effect on my life: I had to go back to my country, without a degree, was not able to land any job. Unfortunately, good places require degrees. Stayed unemployed, hit with chronic depression as anyone would. Lost 4+ years of professional progress. When covid came, i was able to complete my degree online and graduated in 2021, but because all fresh grad…

You should have switched Bitcoin LONG ago.

Soon we will have to stop having sympathy for people who get screwed by the banks as the alternative is just too easy and obvious.

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