Posted on 01/26/2014 9:33:19 AM PST by SkyPilot
Some HSBC customers have been prevented from withdrawing large amounts of cash because they could not provide evidence of why they wanted it, the BBC has learnt.
Listeners have told Radio 4's Money Box they were stopped from withdrawing amounts ranging from £5,000 to £10,000.
HSBC admitted it has not informed customers of the change in policy, which was implemented in November.
The bank says it has now changed its guidance to staff. New rules
Stephen Cotton went to his local HSBC branch this month to withdraw £7,000 from his instant access savings account to pay back a loan from his mother.
A year before, he had withdrawn a larger sum in cash from HSBC without a problem.
But this time it was different, as he told Money Box: "When we presented them with the withdrawal slip, they declined to give us the money because we could not provide them with a satisfactory explanation for what the money was for. They wanted a letter from the person involved."
Mr Cotton says the staff refused to tell him how much he could have: "So I wrote out a few slips. I said, 'Can I have £5,000?' They said no. I said, 'Can I have £4,000?' They said no. And then I wrote one out for £3,000 and they said, 'OK, we'll give you that.' "
He asked if he could return later that day to withdraw another £3,000, but he was told he could not do the same thing twice in one day. Continue reading the main story “Start Quote
As this was not a change to the Terms and Conditions of your bank account we had no need to pre-notify customers of the change” HSBC wrote.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
These depositors thought their savings (excess capital) was safe on deposit. Actually the bank lent that capital mostly to government who promptly spent it on consumption. That is what happens when as a culture you deficit spend, print money, suppress productive capitalism with rules, regulations and taxes and consume more than you produce. A liquidity crisis is simply a guise of poverty.
This seems to be an effective way to start a full scale bank run...
This is just to prevent bank runs on printed money. Woe to those that want to remove their gold.
something wicked this way comes...
If I were asked the answer would be “I’m going to spread it out on my bed and roll around on to achieve sexual gratification. I’ll return it afterwards for deposit into my account.”
Have their water cannons been delivered yet?
The Millbury Savings Bank is still in business operating from the same location.
Over the years, I’ve read that at least some banks in the US question customers who want to make large withdrawals, particularly if the customer is older. They do so in an effort to protect their customers from being scammed.
Based on the story, that’s what this UK bank is doing, although they seem to have gone overboard.
Connecting it to a possible “bank run” seems a little excessive based on what is presented. If an effort to prevent bank runs is suspected, the story ought to cover more than one bank.
kind of self fulfilling prophecy
Ping for your prep distro list.
He was overly compliant and cooperative with their attempt to steal his money (yes, “steal”; if they took it under a pretense and won’t give it to him what is that but theft). His response should have been “Then close my account right now. This second. I want every penny.”
they could not provide evidence of why they wanted it.
Did not know this was in the contract how about its my money and because I want it
If you can’t get cash out, why don’t folks simply write out a check or make a large credit card purchase for something of value, real estate, PMs etc?
It is rather strange that the bank is promoting an image of potential instability and weakness by going after those that just want a few thousand in cash. This behavior would only encourage widespread suspicion and lead customers to start broad based withdrawals and transfers, and discourage potential depositors and investors.
A bank’s image s everything. Once it’s seen as corrupt, it will fail. Now that the government is seen as corrupt, and banks are seen as extensions of the government, look for bank runs to accelerate on any bit of bad news or difficulty.
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HSBC says it’s all done in the name of customer protection. "The reason being we have an obligation to protect our customers, and to minimize the opportunity for financial crime.”
This is a national and international trend. If you take out cash, the banks are now asking "What do you want it for?" Whatever happened to "Mind you own business - it's my money."
Governments are now imposing more and more control on every aspect of our lives.
Cash provides some freedom from the Big Brother observance of every single transaction in our entire lives, but I think cash is very rapidly on its way out. For months now I have seen people paying for things using their smart phones.
Because it is my (expletive) money is all the (expletive) evidence the bank is ever going to get.
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