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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

#671

Post by politician »

Quindecillion wrote: post #608
fragmede wrote: post #574

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A crypto currency pegged to the dollar won't "go to the moon". If you're looking for that, there's USDT. Unfortunately, when trying to pick a coin, it's like trying to choose the best programming language. Each coin has its own ins and outs, there isn't one that is the best. They have their own time and place. A lot of people see this and want to use them in inappropriate places, but doesn't mean there aren't appropr…

> Each coin has its own ins and outs, there isn't one that is the best. They have their own time and place. This is just wishy washy rubbish trying to appear "diplomatic" and "balanced". Oh sure, you can mint some monkey jpegs or construct a needlessly complex and public smart contract for some esoteric "use case", but the truth is the majority of people in the world don't want or need those things. People just want…

> People just want a money that works. You can send or receive it instantly across international borders, that no one can stop, and it doesn't lose its value over the years.

Pure fantasy.

On cross-border trade that cannot be interdicted: There is no reason for any state to deny itself from sanctioning its adversaries.

On currency valuation: An economic zone has many many actors making independent decisions which in aggregate affects the value of the zone’s currency. The ability to debase a currency by over issuing it is identical to the ability to expand the supply to provide liquidity to a growing economy.

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#672

Post by WinstonSmith84 »

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…

Sorry to hear, but the bottom line here is to not trusting a single entity. Not having funds split between traditional banks and crypto (exchange + offline wallets) is just asking for problems.

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#673

Post by shakow »

seattle_spring wrote: post #460
TheHiddenSun wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100% agree. Crypto today is the only way how you can take control of your own funds. What use is the money in your Bank account if the ruling political party can label you an ultra-right extremist and retroactively lock all your money down, just because of a single 1$ donation you did to a cause you believed to be right, like Canada did?

No one had their accounts closed in Canada purely based on a donation.

So what justified closing their account instead?

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#674

Post by cortic »

klauserc wrote: post #537
fyzix wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm usually a crypto sceptic but your story scares me, because it'll only get worse with time.

Why reach for crypto? My strategy would be to have a small emergency fund with a different bank. The risk of being debanked by two independent banks _at the same time_ seems lower than crypto.

> The risk of being debanked by two independent banks _at the same time_ seems lower than crypto.

I use 3 separate banks for this reason. But honestly, the 'reason' for dropping me might be a 3rd party risk assessment that flags something and services all three banks... Or some sort of story or hysteria that could trigger three similar systems.

Using a decent crypto currency with good practice, the biggest threat is me messing something up. And i can put systems in place to minimize this. The only issue is that most things i spend moneys on don't accept crypto and so still need banking services to use crypto. I hope this changes.

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#675

Post by shakow »

fzeroracer wrote: post #381
redox99 wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Glad we have so much energy focusing on legit bankers instead of the crypto that is actually funding multiple US adversaries at this very moment Funny you criticize crypto, when it actually solves all the bullshit you're mentioning. It's so nice knowing for a fact that when I send or receive crypto, it will 100% arrive within moments, unlike the absolute shitfest that is international transfers (like SWIFT).

Ah yes Crypto definitely solves all of the problems. Please ignore the rich men behind the curtains shutting down exchanges and stealing money, the numerous ways people have had crypto stolen from them or how volatile crypto is in general. Make sure to hold my bag for me.

Technically, people wishing to use crypto as a bank account would care as much about the exchanges as a ‶normal″ bank customer should care about regulation enforcement on some random bookmaker; both run on [insert currency], but that's about it.

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#676

Post by nly »

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…

This is why you should always have more than 1 bank account and credit card.

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#677

Post by suoduandao3 »

mattdesl wrote: post #581
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…

> I want the pendulum to swing the other way. Everybody gets and gets to keep forever an account at the Reserve Bank. Overhauling the financial system to ensure that citizens cannot have their accounts revoked on a whim sounds like a nice pipe dream. I am cynical we will ever see that in our lifetime, as countries prefer to have full control over their citizen's wallets (e.g. see Canada enacting Emergencies Act to cu…

in a multipolar world though, a country being able to do that weakens the currency severely in international markets. countries may like keeping their populace under their thumbs, but they may have overriding concerns - at least that's my hope.

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#678

Post by pc86 »

fsflover wrote: post #551
robertlagrant wrote: post #546

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is a solution - not sure if everyone's ready to hear it yet: Decentralized finance Carrying some emergency cash is also a solution for this sort of thing.

It wouldn't solve the OP's problem.

Sure it wouldn't solve this specific problem faced by this specific person at this specific time. But I'm willing to venture that a lot of people who had similar problems would have been in a much better spot had they had a bundle of cash in a sock drawer or something.

But cash can't be used for lots of things, even though legally it needs to be accepted anywhere. I can't imagine it would be easy to pay your $6,000 school tuition with a stack of $20 bills. You might be able to get a hotel room if you paid a hefty deposit on top of what the room actually cost, but you'd be just as likely to run into some 20 year old desk agent who can't be bothered to find the form for that, if it even exists.

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#679

Post by pilchard123 »

tjpnz wrote: post #369
crossroadsguy wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don’t have an ombudsman? Or something like that? Here in India we can even make them sing exact reason for rejecting credit card applications and if they just did it shoddily then they have to actually issue it. They just can’t say “internal policy” or shit like “discretion”.

Same thing in New Zealand. If you can't get something worked out with your bank you complain to the ombudsman and the bank must respond. Sometimes, even the mention of a potential ombudsman complaint is enough to grease the wheels.

In some a case going to the Ombudsman costs the bank regardless of the outcome.

In the UK the first three cases in a year are free, but from the fourth onward the bank has to pay £750 [1]. It doesn't matter the outcome is - the customer could be totally innocent or the next Bernie Madoff - the bank has to pay. A customer saying "I will get the Ombudsman involved" is heard by the bank as "if we don't make this go away right now, we will get charged £750 (plus any compensation the Ombudsman may award)". It does tend to make them sit up and take notice, I hear, presumably because banks get a lot of complaints and so a large bill.

[1]: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/businesses/resolving-...

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#680

Post by pc86 »

ta1243 wrote: post #655
ArabicBaklava wrote: post #584

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, sadly you are not the only one that did not believe me. My family, the closest to me, said the same thing, and it took a while to convince them i was not in california to play.. that is after coming back empty handed / degreeless. Please refer to the FAQ from the university i was studying at. #10 to be exact https://sbs.fullerton.edu/about/FAQs.php I was late to pay the tuiton, only because the bank account was…

How long did the bank hold on to your money? To me that says "talk to us before the deadline if you've got problems paying". What did they say when you said your bank was having problems?

I don't have any context into OP's story that isn't in this thread, but there's no legal requirement for a bank to immediately give you access to your funds if your account is closed, especially if its closed for suspicious activity. My wife had a PNC account closed when she was in college and their official position was that they would mail a cashier's check to the address on the account within 90 days. I'd be shocked if anyone in this situation has gotten access to their money within 30 days.
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