U.S. bank closing all of my deposit accounts because of bitcoins

[notme]

This is actually pretty important.  Does anybody know of a list of bitcoin friendly banks?  i.e. Ones with a large amount of branches?

In my experience it is the smaller institutions that will give you less trouble.  I couldn't care less that my credit union doesn't have any branches outside of my state.  They refund all ATM fees anyway.

[mateo]

I think the war on Bitcoins is only just starting, its a direct threat against BANKS. The only Bank that will support this is the "ANTI-BANKs" IE Credit Unions

I think banks make most of their money by giving out loans. Transaction fees probably don't count for that much. It's things like PayPal and credit card companies that can very easily become obsolete.

[Trongersoll]

"all of my deposit accounts" how many accounts did you have?

[data_teks]

   There's more to this story than just "we're closing your account because of its association with bitcoins".  Some kind of fraud had to trigger an investigation or the OP was moving thousands of dollars (through bitcoin companies) and the bank dug around and didn't like what it saw.

[CurbsideProphet]

all i was doing is arbitrage. buying in one place sell them in other

Were you doing the arbitrage on your own or using a third party like this:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=251951.0

Banks keep tabs on your normal account activity so if you suddenly spiked up with higher activity (high cash deposit frequency, lots of wires, etc.) they might be covering their ass by shutting you down.  I would still try to find out what specific term or condition you violated as it will be beneficial to you and the rest of the community.  Ask for it in writing, don't just talk to some customer service agent.

[acoindr]

I think the war on Bitcoins is only just starting, its a direct threat against BANKS. The only Bank that will support this is the "ANTI-BANKs" IE Credit Unions

I think banks make most of their money by giving out loans. Transaction fees probably don't count for that much. It's things like PayPal and credit card companies that can very easily become obsolete.

Not exactly... check out this article:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/halahtouryalai/2012/03/01/no-surprise-here-bank-of-america-looks-to-charge-more-fees/

The fees mentioned in todays Journal story are related to basic checking accounts; $6 to $9 a month for an “Essentials” account while other account options being tested in some states carry monthly charges of $9, $12, $15 and $25, the Journal reports. Customers can avoid the fees by maintaining minimum balances, using a credit card or taking a mortgage with Bank of America.

This shouldn’t come as shocking news to anyone paying attention to the banking industry recently which is struggling with flat or decreased revenue numbers. As a result,  many of them are looking for new ways to make money.

[weex]

USBank is fairly conservative and would not open an account of me a couple years ago when I told them I wanted to do currency exchange. If you're going to be regularly sending and receiving even moderate amounts of money, they're eventually going to want to see your AML and KYC bona fides. I would say it's better to be up front with them if you are opening an account but there's no guarantee that what a local branch manager will say will hold any sway at all when corporate's AML compliance team flags you. It's best to diversify bank wise and keep it to a personal level of exchange unless you're prepared to get licensed as necessary in the US/your state/your country.

[notme]

I think the war on Bitcoins is only just starting, its a direct threat against BANKS. The only Bank that will support this is the "ANTI-BANKs" IE Credit Unions

I think banks make most of their money by giving out loans. Transaction fees probably don't count for that much. It's things like PayPal and credit card companies that can very easily become obsolete.

Not exactly... check out this article:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/halahtouryalai/2012/03/01/no-surprise-here-bank-of-america-looks-to-charge-more-fees/

The fees mentioned in todays Journal story are related to basic checking accounts; $6 to $9 a month for an “Essentials” account while other account options being tested in some states carry monthly charges of $9, $12, $15 and $25, the Journal reports. Customers can avoid the fees by maintaining minimum balances, using a credit card or taking a mortgage with Bank of America.

This shouldn’t come as shocking news to anyone paying attention to the banking industry recently which is struggling with flat or decreased revenue numbers. As a result,  many of them are looking for new ways to make money.

Yep.... it's hard to make money on loans when the base rates are below 0.25% per year.

[razorfishsl]

here is what i got. it doesn say much. So when i called bank asking what rules i broke they told I was buying bitcoins . I didnt tell bank i was using it to buy bitcoins just ecurrencies. Somehow they find out
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/106526372/letter.jpg

What sorts of transactions were you doing related to bitcoins?

all i was doing is arbitrage. buying in one place sell them in other

Its called money laundering...... you need a license and a clear  COC

[cp1]

This is why I'm terrified to use my bank account to buy bitcoins.  I know this guy was doing a lot of transactions, but if they closed down my account it would be terrible.

[Pale Phoenix]

Its called money laundering...... you need a license and a clear  COC

What??? Arbitrage does not, in any way, equal money laundering. Christ, has everyone been brainwashed?

[Anon136]

This is why I'm terrified to use my bank account to buy bitcoins.  I know this guy was doing a lot of transactions, but if they closed down my account it would be terrible.

why? you could just move to a different bank.

[cp1]

Moving to a different bank isn't an easy task.

[fenican]

This sounds wholly inaccurate.   It is perfectly legal to buy or sell bitcoins using a bank account.  Coinbase does tends of thousands of transactions every day.

Can you post the letter from the bank?

Must be more involved here.

[QuantumQrack]

This is actually pretty important.  Does anybody know of a list of bitcoin friendly banks?  i.e. Ones with a large amount of branches?

In my experience it is the smaller institutions that will give you less trouble.  I couldn't care less that my credit union doesn't have any branches outside of my state.  They refund all ATM fees anyway.

If you do business on localbitcoins.com, it is nice to have a large number of branches, since people across the U.S. for instance can pretty much deposit cash in a local branch that is U.S. Bank for example.

[notme]

This sounds wholly inaccurate.   It is perfectly legal to buy or sell bitcoins using a bank account.  Coinbase does tends of thousands of transactions every day.

Can you post the letter from the bank?

Must be more involved here.

He was moving thousands of dollars through is personal accounts to do arbitrage across exchanges.  You should at least talk to your branch manager before starting this kind of activity.

[Littleshop]

This sounds wholly inaccurate.   It is perfectly legal to buy or sell bitcoins using a bank account.  Coinbase does tends of thousands of transactions every day.

Can you post the letter from the bank?

Must be more involved here.

He was moving thousands of dollars through is personal accounts to do arbitrage across exchanges.  You should at least talk to your branch manager before starting this kind of activity.

Really.  Because using a bank as a bank is a bad thing.  But maybe he was using too many free wire transfers..... wait.... wire transfers are not free....

Ok.  I get it.  They were making too much money on him and wanted to stop. 

I could imagine if he was constantly moving money around for free, but not for fees.

[notme]

This sounds wholly inaccurate.   It is perfectly legal to buy or sell bitcoins using a bank account.  Coinbase does tends of thousands of transactions every day.

Can you post the letter from the bank?

Must be more involved here.

He was moving thousands of dollars through is personal accounts to do arbitrage across exchanges.  You should at least talk to your branch manager before starting this kind of activity.

Really.  Because using a bank as a bank is a bad thing.  But maybe he was using too many free wire transfers..... wait.... wire transfers are not free....

Ok.  I get it.  They were making too much money on him and wanted to stop. 

I could imagine if he was constantly moving money around for free, but not for fees.

Banks fear the government more than the lust for extra money.  The make enough money as it is without risking invoking the wrath of the USG.

[Torn]

Fuck the bankers.  They are responsible for MOST OF THE misery in the world.  Follow the money trails.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Yes this! Fixed for you

T.

[cp1]

Banks fear the government more than the lust for extra money.  The make enough money as it is without risking invoking the wrath of the USG.

Banks fear the government and aren't greedy?  We're talking about the US here.