Closing your bank account

Closing a bank account used to be quite simple and customer service was usually something that could be counted on but it appears that now asking for your fiat paper currency (greenbacks) to the said value in your account appears to be a little tricky today. Even if you have some friends waiting outside to make sure that you don't get arrested by the police and bank security - well they might end up in the same place i.e. a police prison cell, after being dragged of the pavement and dragged into your local Citibank branch.

Some tips and tricks to get some of those (your) hard earned greenbacks.

i) If closing down your bank account go alone and not as an organised group of individuals trying to make a point to your least favourite financial institution. These financial organisations are literally terrified because, due to leverage rates of (25-250) a $10,000 withdrawal of greenbacks means their liquidity has actually been reduced by $250,000 - $2,500,000. They will, it appears, do anything to its unhappy customers, even make them disappear from there friends and family (even if it was just for a short period, well lets hope it was only a short period, I mean its not like Siberia is anywhere nearby )

ii) Try and take small amounts out often at various branches lest you get lifted (arrested) as a money launderer (quite a humorous state of affairs to those running the banks , mind you they should know what a money launderer looks like ) . I have heard that anything over $10,000 is the cut off point.

iii) You may find it more and more difficult to transfer monies from one financial institution to another via electronic transfer, again the same problem arises, how to get the greenbacks?

iv) Automated tellers will have a daily limit of around $500, so plan on 20 days to get $10,000 in fiat currency.

v) Many supermarkets will offer cash back when making small purchases, which means you don't have to go near you favourite bank.

Want to see a bank manager liquidate his asset in his trousers, tell them you're closing your recently opened account, and you would like that $500,000.00 RIGHT DAMN NOW in US Currency as required by law.

I transferred a that much via a bank draft from one institution to another. The new bank locked the funds down for 31 business days. Now a draft is guaranteed good, so there was no "check to clear". THis made it difficult to keep things going business wise for a month.

I was advised by a retired bank fellow to demand cash on the 32nd day, and carry it to another bank (I rented an armored service) If an FDIC bank in the US cannot provide cash for a depositor, they have to lock the doors immediately.

I closed not just my account, but my branch! (well the branch for the day)

Edit: It was a lot of currency, and a headache with all the federal paperwork for large cash transactions. Worth every moment.

Desperado, you always put a grin on my face! You need to post here more often.

Sue

I like Desperado's solution. Let the bank play by my rules with my money. Every time I make a relatively large transfer, my bank offers to double the interest rate for 12 months. I sometimes give in, as long as they don't ask "Why are you moving your money?" I don't think that's a question that should be asked.

Has anyone at a bank ever asked it? If they did, I would look at them incredulously and ask them why they thought it could POSSIBLY be any of their business.

Sue

It's mostly the bank trying to figure out if they did anything wrong.

Last time I did that to a bank, they knew exactly why the account got yanked because they had just had to fix the problem (account balance = 0 in an account that was well above minimum balance, mailed me a notice about it, & had the nerve to charge me a daily fee for it). I wish I had known about the cash twist.

If they REALLY REALLY want to keep your account (not allow you to close it and remove your cash money) they may be willing to call their security and call the NYPD and have you arrested and taken away in a paddywagon ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH3kiaJ1-c8

Was this in October 2008 from a Lehmans Brothers branch...?

Could we give this a rest already? They were not arrested for asking to close their accounts or asking for their balances in cash. Where do you get this? These videos provide zero context to what we're seeing. Everyone in that group who asked to close their accounts were allowed to do so by the bank. Locking them inside was a stupid move, but besides that, there seems to be so much misinformation, or even disinformation, about what went down there.

A group of about 20 were holding a teach-in in the bank, they were asked to leave, and most refused and carried on what they were doing. Most weren't customers and weren't conducting any bank business. That's why the cops were called. There are certain places where you shouldn't dick around and expect it to be tolerated for long. A bank lobby is one of them. The security check-point at the airport is another sensitive spot these days.

Straight from the horse's mouth: Protester's account of this weekend's arrests at Citibank .

If they had closed their accounts and then danced around over their symbolic victory right outside the bank and had their teach-in and then moved on, likely nothing would've happened. A similar action that same day at Chase didn't result in any arrests. They closed their Chase accounts and they made lot's of noise outside, but they didn't do anything inside the bank.

Well, this is not entirely accurate, the video shows a woman who was arrested/assaulted/kidnapped by an undercover police man (? no Memorandum Rights rights read), whilst outside the bank. What was she arrested for? What crime has this woman committed? Taking a list of names/communicating with those detained (so that they can be legally represented?) isn't a crime.

Was this actually an undercover police man or was he a Central Intelligence Agency agent?

There are many unanswered questions here, but there does appear to be a truism being displayed by this financial institution in that the bank is prepared to close its doors and no pay monies owed in the event of a future bank run most likely citing the possibility of civil disturbance (even though the banks customers will have queued peacefully to get their money).