[2015-04-18] The Telegraph: Barclays closed down my bank account after BTC trade

[bryant.coleman]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/11537972/Barclays-closed-down-my-bank-account-after-Bitcoin-trade.html

Charles Bartlett, a 17-year-old student and aspiring entrepreneur, is still waiting for an explanation after being “sacked” by his bank earlier this year. Unfortunately, his is not an isolated case. A small number of people, estimated to be in the low thousands each year, are told that their bank has made a “commercial decision” to close their account.

Nothing special here... it is happening all over the world, not just in the UK. 

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[Kprawn]

Just move banks... Go to a bank, that would accept your use of crypto currencies.

In the end, they are cutting off their nose and spoiling their own face. {They are willing to loose out on transaction fees and banking fees to spite crypto currencies use?}

This is just one more reason to disrupt this arrogant industry... They have had so much power over people, and still do.

I will not be sad to see them go!!! 

[MUFC]

Just move banks... Go to a bank, that would accept your use of crypto currencies.

Sometimes it's not that easy though. Most banks seem to be shutting down peoples accounts for any reason if bitcoin was involved. I've read a few users on this forum have had their accounts shut down.

In the end, they are cutting off their nose and spoiling their own face. {They are willing to loose out on transaction fees and banking fees to spite crypto currencies use?}

They wont miss the money the tiny percentage of bitcoins users they shut down.

This is just one more reason to disrupt this arrogant industry... They have had so much power over people, and still do.

Hopefully bitcoin may force them to change their ways eventually but I fear we might be waiting a while.

[indiemax]

Just move banks... Go to a bank, that would accept your use of crypto currencies.

Sometimes it's not that easy though. Most banks seem to be shutting down peoples accounts for any reason if bitcoin was involved. I've read a few users on this forum have had their accounts shut down.

I don't agree. Most banks aren't hostile towards crypto businesses. Just check how many banks there are in each country. Typically there are at least 10 big players, including the ones with government backing plus a lot smaller ones. If a bank is known to be hostile just move somewhere else and I can bet you at least half of the banks operating in your country will not cause you problems.

Ok,please name the 'friendly' to Bitcoin banks in the UK as i'm sure a lot of guys would love to know.me incluided

[pawel7777]

Ok,please name the 'friendly' to Bitcoin banks in the UK as i'm sure a lot of guys would love to know.me incluided

Probably it has not much to do with Bitcoin at all.

In case of most non-business bank account, the only money coming in are from your employment, with occasional transactions from friends/family, paypal and other known institutions.

So it may be the case, that when you're sending/receiving funds from bitcoin exchange (often foreign bank account) it could trigger the 'suspicious transaction' procedure on the bank's system. This comes with the costs of engaging staff to perform investigation.

Even if they figure that there's nothing illegal about your activity, they could simply estimate that costs of regular investigations on your account exceeds any potential gains. So they'd be better off by simply closing your account.

Although that's just my theory. On the other hand, Bitcoin is not much of a threat to banks atm, but as it's growing, it'll be taking some of the banks' income little-by-little, so it could be their way to try to keep people away from it.

[Bit_Happy]

Replacing my bank account would be too much wasted time and effort (mostly due to bills on auto-pay), so I cannot afford to lose my bank account. Right now I'm not doing BTC to fiat transactions, but in the future I hope this doesn't cause problems.

[Chef Ramsay]

I've never had a problem with the bank I use that links up w/ Coinbase in terms of buying coins from it and even selling here and there. However, in the event of the next rally coming forth and churning over significant amounts of fiat back, this is uncharted territory for me and not sure how it would work. That said, I have another account w/ Comerica and when I made the account I point blanked asked the manager about what would it look like to them if they saw 5 or 6 figures raining in. The account manager said there would be no problem and was really curious as I had talked about bitcoin with her. She asked me how I was doing with it considering the price had been coming down and I'm sure she had her own thoughts on the subject assuming all of what she heard about it back in the fall of 2014.

[Kaneki]

problem with a bank account is a serious problem hopefully this does not happen again to someone else

[Lethn]

When I start getting serious money moving about I am going to sign up with Euro Pacific bank specifically because of this, it was a conversation I had two years ago ( Yes that's how much I think ahead ) but they said to me they have no problem with Bitcoin, whatever Peter Schiff's personal grievances with it he clearly doesn't hate it outright and understands how to operate a business unlike these guys.