Posted on 09/11/2006 2:15:13 AM PDT by JOAT
Banks are reporting even slightly 'abnormal' transactions to comply with the law. The result: A deluge of reports, a lot of confusion and more government intrusion.
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It's called the Suspicious Activity Report, or SAR, and critics say it victimizes honest citizens who are conducting legitimate financial activities through legitimate banking channels, while generating a flood of useless paperwork and burdening financial institutions with billions of dollars in costs.
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In total, 919,230 SARs were filed in 2005. You cannot find out if one has been filed on you; anyone revealing that information is breaking the law.
What can trigger a SAR? Almost anything out of the ordinary that rouses the suspicion of the personnel where the transaction took place. According to their rules, any group of transactions totaling $5,000 or more that "is not the sort in which the particular customer would normally be expected to engage" can cause enough suspicion to create a SAR. The reports are filed with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a division of the Department of the Treasury, and shared with law enforcement.
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Scared of paying off a debt
Unlike other government spying programs, this one is out in the open -- and it's creating fear among people doing ordinary banking activities. Take a recent college graduate from Columbus, Ohio, whose parents offered an interest-free loan to pay off his high-interest credit-card debt. While surfing online, a message-board post caught his attention.
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"They could report you to Homeland Security if payments deviate from the norm. It sounded scary and made me nervous. I think it's ludicrous that anyone should be afraid of paying off their debt."
(Excerpt) Read more at articles.moneycentral.msn.com ...
Then they must have a full time FBI agent sitting outside my house...
(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo! )
It is unless your a Liberal Democrat (at least to Liberal Democrats)
The Fed.Guv is getting swamped with these reports as banks cover their hineys with papers. Poetic justice for bureaucrats I suppose.
Any transaction of $5000 or more has been suspect for at least 30 years. This is nothing new.
(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo! )
You also have to wonder if all of the reams of unnecessary papers that are being filed are a not-so-subtle attempt by reluctant banking staff to prevent USEFUL information to the Feds about suspicious banking activities by potential terrorist groups and individuals from being examined?
This could be like the leftist librarians refusing to cooperate with federal investigators regarding certain books and publications checked out by library patrons, i.e., by flooding the Feds with paper regarding transactions which are not really worthy of review, they (bankers) create a blanket of information which helps to conceal that which OUGHT to be investigated.
Some people don't see a problem when it stares them in the face.
Nothing to see here. Move along.
Until Uncle Sam comes up with some solid regulations to whittle the stream down at the bank end, if it's easiest and least risky financially for a bank to file, a bank WILL file. If I owned a bank I would do that too, after the whopping fines that the heavyhanded Fed.Guv has levied.
Obvious why more and more people are dumping US banks in favor of offshore banks.
Try paying your mortgage with checks from the First Bank of Switzerland.
Myopia -- sheesh!
And your credit cards. And your car loan. And your insurance policy. And your electric company. And
Where are the detention centers for all these persons?? /s
And your credit cards. And your car loan. And your insurance policy. And your electric company. And.
WOW! The the government has you hook, line and sinker. And I thought the Internet would educate people to their benefit. More and more people are taking their financial transactions offshore -- leaving the plantation, so to speak. Obviously you're not one of them.
I support the war on terrorism. Fact is, my life is more likely to be hindered/burdened by the government than terrorists. As best I can I protect myself from any person or government that can harm me.
I'd sooner GO to Switzerland, if I was so bugged out.
I'd sooner GO to Switzerland, if I was so bugged out.
I'm not bugged out. I merely felt the water temperature rising -- incrementalism encroaching -- and jumped out of the pot. How much incrementalism is just the right amount for your liking? What is the destination of incrementalism?
My bank knows damn well I'm not well-funded enough to be a terrorist.
(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo! )
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