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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

#881

Post by svnt »

pjc50 wrote: post #560
svnt wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are moving this much money regularly using these means you will be using a private bank which is a completely different experience. Maybe some people get caught in the transition to wealth before private banking but having moved significant amounts of money a few times, the banks generally do not want to hang onto it against your will.

I don't like saying this, but the Farage fiasco involved a "high touch" personal private bank, Coutts (now a subsidiary of NatWest)

He apparently made the fatal error of being both a terrible person and not wealthy enough at the same time.

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#882

Post by MrDrMcCoy »

phil21 wrote: post #742
nativeit wrote: post #725

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Providing the account != requiring its use

That's what folks said about credit and debit cards to the curmudgeony folks like me 30 years ago. Now I can walk to a half dozen places that won't do business with you if you have neither. It would likely be defacto required, just line SSN is today. Sure you can "opt-out" - but at severe expense to your life.

Isn't it the law for a business in the US to accept legal tender?

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#883

Post by MrDrMcCoy »

BobaFloutist wrote: post #855
bombcar wrote: post #700

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least if the DMV or the IRS goes insane, you can take them to real court. A government bank of last resort is probably something we need.

Yeah the point of government services like a central bank or a public healthcare option or what have you is that they provide a floor of "this is the worst service/bargain you can possibly get", and then the private sector needs to compete against it (sometimes by dishonestly implying they have a better product when their product is worse, but that's its own can of worms). For basic necessities to modern life, there…

I think the state ought to fund such minimum services, but should under no circumstances be permitted to provide them directly. Quality has a hard time competing with free, especially for the poor. If you can only afford the government free solution and they wrong you, your options for seeking redress will be much more limited than if the government gave you a voucher for a privately provided service.

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#885

Post by MrDrMcCoy »

kitesay wrote: post #308
Tao3300 wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We'll probably see people get demailed then too. They'll probably go for inmates first.

Ask the homeless about their mail address. Not having a physical address is a huge problem.

Post office should offer free services for receiving and holding mail for up to 30 days. Not necessarily a P.O. box, as there's limited space for that, but something they can get for you during business hours. Would significantly help the homeless and van-lifers.

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#886

Post by fastaguy88 »

BobaFloutist wrote: post #857
fastaguy88 wrote: post #724

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are buying a house with cash, you are likely to be transferring $500K+. I do not think an attorney is necessary for the transfer.

When you buy a house an attorney is likely involved, but, in any case, you're going to be transferring the 500k through escrow, not making a direct deposit or wire transfer.

I made a wire transfer to the escrow agent.

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#887

Post by momirlan »

WalterBright wrote: post #395
momirlan wrote: post #370

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes, there are the millions dead in various "cultural" and agri-"cultural revolutions, the millions dead in gulags because they opposed the horrors of communism. i grew up in it, and it makes me vomit when someone mentions that murderous ideology.

There are plenty of Marxist communes with no dead, but they never worked, either. The US has had something like 20,000 of them. It's probably the most tried and failed system in history. There are even examples that predate Marx - the Jamestown and Plymouth settlements. It's perfectly legal in the US to set up a commune. The people who want it are free to give it a go.

true, like there are many cults that last for a while before they become murderous or just peter out. when it scales up to country level (USSR, China, Cambodia, Cuba...) communism is always murderous. Just give me an example that contradicts that.

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#888

Post by jacquesm »

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…

What an incredible horror story. I so hate the impersonal way in which large institutions deal with individuals. The least they should do is to realize that banking is 'mission critical' and that shutting down an account has an immediate real world effect that can result in any kind of mishap to a person. Very, very nasty, and props to you for not entirely losing your drive over this.

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#889

Post by creer »

Clubber wrote: post #353
creer wrote: post #107

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.

>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?

I'm not arguing that the system must not have bugs, really - you are right there. I'm arguing that since everyone knows it does, then the system must provide for that. That is, the institution that we are buying the service from needs to be able to sort things out when it happens. Here we have abundant examples where they have no plan to even notice anything. - And that then they should not be surprised when we are desperate to find a better institution that is not THEM.

Re: Why banks are suddenly closing down customer accounts

#890

Post by willy_k »

MrDrMcCoy wrote: post #885
kitesay wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ask the homeless about their mail address. Not having a physical address is a huge problem.

Post office should offer free services for receiving and holding mail for up to 30 days. Not necessarily a P.O. box, as there's limited space for that, but something they can get for you during business hours. Would significantly help the homeless and van-lifers.

https://faq.usps.com/s/article/What-is-General-Delivery
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