Bitcoin Forum

Chase bank has begun sending out account cancelation letters to long time business account holders.
The letter states in part;
“We recently reviewed your account and determined we will be closing it on xxxxx xx, xxxx. Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience. We want you to have enough time to complete pending transactions and open another account at another bank.”
“If you have any questions, please call us at …..”
An account holder did just that and was told “…according to the terms of our account, either party may cancel the account for any reason at any time. We are exercising our right to cancel the account.”
The bank letter was directed from “Chase Operating Loss Preventing” so naturally questions about the proposed cancelation were asked.
Q. Why is the account being canceled?
A. We are exercising our right to cancel.
Q. For what reason are you canceling the account?
A. Per our account terms, we are exercising our right to cancel.
Q. The letter is directed from loss prevention. Has there been activity on the account that we should be aware of?
A. We cannot discuss that with you.
Q. What do you mean you cannot discuss it? You have verified the account holder using your security questions?
A. We are not allowed to discuss that with you.
Q. Under what law are you not allowed to discuss? This is not a HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) violation. Under FoIA (Freedom of Information Act) shouldn’t you be required to inform the account holder?
A. We cannot discuss the reasons with you.
Q. This account has been open for years without problems. If this concerns a loss prevention issue, isn’t it important that the account holder know what may be causing a potential loss?
A. We reserve the right to cancel the account at any time for any reason without any explanation.
And so it went up the chain. No explanation required, just your account will be canceled.
But this account had been used to purchase bitcoin.
And apparently there is a new tool that the federal government is using to crackdown on businesses that they determine as “undesirable”.  
If you sell guns, coins, or any other product the FED doesn’t like, the message is clear:
The government now has the right to restrict financial institutions from working with you.
According to Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, the “initiative”—known as “Operation Chokepoint”—is being front-lined “on behalf of the American people.”
Mark Cohen, a gun seller in Massachusetts, lays it out. “Our loan was turned [down] not because of our credit—We had perfect financials and [had] been working with the same bank manager for 20 years. It was just because we sell guns—and they said that to us specifically.”
Since federal attorney Michael Bresnik introduced the initiative last March, The Justice Department has sent hundreds of subpoenas warning banks and payment processors that they will be severely fined if caught financing businesses like Cohen’s.
Thousands of banks are now rushing to cut ties with “undesirable” businesses in what California Representative Darrell Isa calls “The Justice Department’s newest abuse of power.”
The first “choking” victim was not a gun seller or coin dealer, but an $809 million-asset Four Oaks Bank in North Carolina.
The Fine: $1.2 million.
The Crime: Working with a payday lender.
In short, Four Oaks Bank is now the poster child of the government’s new relationship with finance. Finance someone the government doesn’t like? You will be run out. Produce a product the government doesn’t like? You will be “choked” out.
Sources:
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/economic-intelligence/2014/07/02/some-in-congress-object-to-justice-departments-operation-choke-point
http://dailycaller.com/2014/07/18/operation-choke-point-hearing-reveals-doj-threats-and-strong-arming

Smoothie, I have followed your investment advise and posts extensively. I'm guessing you have personally had this experience w/ Chase. The legacy banking system does not like people playing with their monopoly on money movement. You know this I'm sure.

I am not nearly as savvy as you, but I am currently unbanked except one account where I carry a ZERO balance. It is difficult to navigate this terrain, but I manage because I am committed to my principles. Sometimes this means eating out at only chains that accept Gyft. I hate chains, but I love bitcoin.

In order to be unbanked and have some accumulated wealth; sacrifices must be made. Being unbanked has led to me accumulating more than I otherwise could have by way of hodling due to circumstance. I am also forced to have a trusted network of family and friends that allow me to use multiple prepaid cards in their names.

I hate that this keeps happening, but...Cash and BTC work just fine in most instances. For everything else there is a prepaid reloadable card.

It's the usual corporate kabuki dance where if one person or department has done something egregious, everyone is punished by the revised set of rules.

An ethnicity, or ethnic group, is a socially-defined category of people who identify with each other based on common ancestral, social, cultural, or national experience.[1][2] Membership of an ethnic group tends to be defined by a shared cultural heritage, ancestry, myth of origins, history, homeland, language (dialect), or even ideology, and manifests itself through symbolic systems such as religion, mythology and ritual, cuisine, dressing style, physical appearance, etc.

Guess you can't use Chase, better to go to another bank then.  And, thanks for the warning so we can all avoid Chase.

Regarding ethnic argument, that's never going to work.  Is there anything else you can think of that's similar?  Most things have to do with skin color, where you're from, religion, language, etc.  Under your definition then all fans of a certain sports team would be an ethnicity.

Correct me if I'm wrong but does the FOIA apply to the practices of private banks, or any private institution? My thinking is no...but someone please inform me if I'm incorrect.

Citibank is the same. Fuck Citibank.

They flagged my account for "suspicious use" four times in a month because of ATM withdrawals. I called in 4 separate times to tell them that I, the account holder, am responsible for the charges and that they were not fraudulent.

2 Days later it happened again over a $2 charge. My card was declined. So I called Citibank AGAIN.

I spoke with someone in Loss Prevention and told then I was going to the local branch tomorrow to punch the bank manager in the face. Since they couldn't ever seem to find the right "department" to keep my card from being unnecessarily flagged for fraud, I thought maybe they could get a message to my local branch that I was going to punch someone in the face the following day.

They told me they wouldn't be able to get that message to my local branch, either.

So I went there the next day and punched the bank manager in the face.

True story.

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552, is a federal freedom of information law that allows for the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased information and documents controlled by the United States government.

The NSA wants you to start a BTC-friendly bank. Bitcoin is their invention.

Alright, I now know what I should start doing.

Aim to get a banking license, and create a BTC-friendly bank.

Wait, the NSA logged my IP for saying that...

Darn.

Chase also just refused an international wire transfer to BTC-e, claiming that "the government didn't allow it". I'm closing my accounts with them.

many exchanges are getting hit hard by regulations. i have stopped watching exchange price values ages ago as the volumes are so low that they should no longer be used to judge market cap value.

BTC-E use to trade over 100k volume per day last year, now its settles at an average 15k-20k, with hardly any actual bank movements, mostly day trading.

its not just chase bank, so it might be worth looking for other banks and also other methods to also buy-in

The DOJ has been trying to shut down legal bitcon (as well as gun dealers and payday lending companies) companies that are operating within the law but are not doing things that the Obama administration "likes"

i think its more about the fact that dollars are ending up in bank accounts in the british virgin islands and not in the "big 5" banks. (thats my personal belief).
bitcoin itself is not a problem for the world in regards to 'justice'/crimes or terrorism. but when people are sending funds to non US banks, they dont like it much.

the most stupidest think though is that these banks don't realize that the dollars eventually come back (when people cash out). thus its just like buying a bunch of banana's after visiting an ATM. one person hands dollars to someone else, but eventually those dollars end up in a bank account.