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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

#731

Post by ClumsyPilot »

Scoundreller wrote: post #442
ClumsyPilot wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That alone exceeds the requirement of “minimal" Does a car with 4 wheels exceed requirements of minimal? Who operates a payment service without handling fraud? Can you operste a postal service without handling fraud? > pay for all that extra staff? Do roads create revenue? Like you are fee to argue that its not worth it, but government services do not need to charge fees, rhey can create economic growth and get the…

> Does a car with 4 wheels exceed requirements of minimal? I mean, yes? 3 should be enough without too many design changes. 2 with a kick stand. Even 1 with tech that absolutely cannot fail or else catastrophic failure.

> 2 with a kick stand. Even 1 with tech

This comes across as a bait and switch - clearly no-one calls vehicles with less than 3 wheels cars.

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#733

Post by davidgerard »

raincom wrote: post #137
panarky wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Chase monitors your political activity This is a big claim. It should have big evidence to back it up.

At least in the UK, NatWest debanked Neil Farage's account for his political views. Even its CEO resigned over her lying. "19 Republican states accuse JPMorgan of closing bank accounts and discriminating against customers due to their religious or political beliefs" [1][3]. Of course, this site is not favorable to conservatives and their views. Some left activists' accounts are closed as well [2]. [1] https://www.bus…

This is a false claim.

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#734

Post by mindslight »

raincom wrote: post #482
mindslight wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One should get an attorney if they desire legal representation, period. Otherwise it's quite perverse to be contributing to one of the main guilds facilitating this cesspool of overregulation, just in the hopes that their social status is going to make a bank think twice. And also attorneys aren't immune from this. In fact, one reason to actually get an attorney is that you want to launder some money. Also, business…

Lawyers are not of much help when it comes to reopening already-closed accounts. Most of the time, banks will send a cashier check for whatever money left, if they close accounts abruptly. Sometimes, they give a month to move funds elsewhere. When a bank closes an account for that last check which they find suspicious--subsequently cleared by the payee bank, that's when banks give a run around. File a complaint with…

I agree - you don't need an attorney to file a complaint with the CFPB, and you should file a complaint with the CFPB ASAP when a bank starts pulling this crap. But the comment I was responding to was saying you should have an attorney to handle any large transaction, which I disagree with.

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#735

Post by sgjohnson »

bostik wrote: post #480
xioxox wrote: post #465

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No fan of Farage, but then why was most of the document the bank produced about what he did as a politician? Farage also claims he never met these supposed thresholds.

Combination of reputational damage[0] and him being a PEP. I believe the account closure was a business decision, but they definitely had no reason to be public about it. One good thing came out of the debacle, though: it put the spotlight on UK retail banking regulations and how they are allowed to treat customers in the first place. Financial institutions don't like small-time PEPs. They don't net the banks anywher…

> and him being a PEP.

I'm a immediate relative of a PEP. And banks treat those just like they treat PEPs.

I've banked in 4 different countries with about 10 banks total, disclosed to them the fact that I'm a PEP or an immediate relative of one, and it has never, ever caused any issue.

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#736

Post by sgjohnson »

phpisthebest wrote: post #699
ceejayoz wrote: post #661

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you are in the US, express the desire to violently "decolonize" the US or chant "from the river to the sea" then maybe you should be investigated. The original founding document of Netanyahu’s Likud party: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/original-party-platform... “between the Sea and the Jordan [River] there will only be Israeli sovereignty”

The moral equivalency you are attempting to draw between those 2 statements is both ignorant and asinine. When the terrorist organizations chant "From the river to the sea" they are clearly calling for the forced removal (at best) of all Jews from the land. A political party that calls for "Israeli sovereignty between the Sea and the Jordan" it is clearly a rejection of the "2 state solution" but that is not a call f…

This exactly.

People generally don't even understand what the term "free Palestine" means, even without the "From the river to the sea" part. It's not a call for an independent Palestinian state. It's a call for a Palestinian state where Israel stands.

And we all know how that would end for just about all non-Arab Israelis.

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#737

Post by j-a-a-p »

sgjohnson wrote: post #729
j-a-a-p wrote: post #599

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OTOH I do hope a bank is allowed to go full stop on the brakes if needed. I had my CC blocked 4 times because of fraud detection. All done by the CC company and it never cost me anything but inconvenience. If the bank would be liable, we all suffer. How much will banks charge if we would be both secured from fraud risks and indemnified from account closure damages? I would think 1% of your cashflow would not be unrea…

Banks are almost never liable for fraudulent CC charges. The merchant picks up the tab just about every time.

Yes been there, still am actually.

Also as a merchant I like a pro-active attitude of the bank to deal with fraud. But, more on-topic, bank accounts are definitely more stable than CCs. But they are not immune for seizures and fraud detection.

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#738

Post by phil21 »

gentleman11 wrote: post #704
phil21 wrote: post #613

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am a firm believer of having 10% of ones liquid net worth in cash or equivalent not gatekept by anyone but myself. This is from extremely hard won personal experience. Yes, it's a lot of cash. I don't mean keep it all under your mattress. Edit: A month of your total living expenses including mortgage/rent is what I would deem as both reasonable, and an absolute bare minimum. Not having this on hand would make me fe…

One day, pirates learned they could get better interest on their treasure by putting it into banks than they could by burying it. But many had forgotten where they buried it and were not able to take part in this new world

I suppose the smart pirate would diversify their portfolio. Keeping it all the bank doesn't sound super smart for a pirate who might be unmasked and assets seized.

Certainly no form of wealth storage is without risks!

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#739

Post by mindslight »

zlg_codes wrote: post #437
mindslight wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One should get an attorney if they desire legal representation, period. Otherwise it's quite perverse to be contributing to one of the main guilds facilitating this cesspool of overregulation, just in the hopes that their social status is going to make a bank think twice. And also attorneys aren't immune from this. In fact, one reason to actually get an attorney is that you want to launder some money. Also, business…

Wait hold up, lawyers can help you avoid the law as well? I suspect the bar would not allow that.

You obviously can't cold call an attorney and ask for help laundering money. But if you find a money laundering operation through the proper channels, then it will likely involve a law firm somewhere that's facilitating making it properly legible to the system - setting up less-than-truthful companies, generating copious fraudulent documentation, etc. If anything attorneys' trust accounts should be receiving more scrutiny rather than less - using your account to handle money held in trust for someone else is generally something that sets off compliance department alarm bells, and for good reason (well, as good of a reason as there can be in the context of this topic).

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#740

Post by BiteCode_dev »

pc86 wrote: post #692
BiteCode_dev wrote: post #633

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I've considered doing this for some time now. Do you have any sort of link between the two accounts? Maybe not directly, but e.g. are both connected to the same brokerage or anything? Is one online-only or do both have physical locations somewhere?

One is online only (the one I use the most), the other one is a completely different bank with very different objectives and clients plus physical offices everywhere.

Each account can send money to the other via wiring, but that's it.

Saved my ass several times already when I lost my credit cards or other unpleasant situations.

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