Sovereign Man: Your Bank Is Not Safe

[vox]

http://www.sovereignman.com/expat/your-bank-is-not-safe/

Let’s speak plainly. If you are in the United States or Western Europe, chances are incredibly high that your bank is simply not safe. In other words, your money is at risk. Big time. Let’s review some of the chief concerns:

 

[pmbug]

It's not too late... every day could be bank transfer day.

 

[ancona]

Unfortunately, our banks are the only vehicle we can use on a realistic level, to conduct business, pay employees and transfer large sums. "They" have made it nearly illegal to handle sums of money greater than about five large. I have experienced it myself. I went to BAC to get ten grand and was told that if they gave me that much money, they would not be able to service all their customers throughout the day. I was told to order the money through an associate and return the next afternoon. What a pain in my ass.

 

[DCFusor]

ancona - they needed the extra time to fill out the mandatory forms to the DHS when you do that. My banker slipped up and told me about things like that - a jail-able offense for her under the classified parts of the Patriot act. Small towns - no secrets!

To me, this kind of thing was a large part of what OWS should have been about, whether they realize it or not. The sell-appointment of authorities over us who feel entitled to not only be a PITA - but to skim a little on everything that goes by - even though they created very little if any value in the process. That endless long line of little hits - death by thousands of cuts - look at any utility bill, any bank statement, any bill of sale for anything major...

And soon you'll be paying more for your internet so ISP's can recoup the costs associated with being forced to "prevent piracy" and various other censorship. You're already paying for the costs of CALEA...and the dysfunctional patent system. The entire system is very slanted in favor of big business and government over small, everywhere you look. And it's not changing in direction.

 

[dontdeBasemebro]

You may want to consider Sharia-compliant banks in places like Abu Dhabi or Singapore (which has never had a bank failure) since Islamic code requires financial institutions to maintain significantly higher liquidity ratios.

I would be very cautious following this advice. With the Patriot Act and newly passed NDAA, banking with a Sharia bank in a Muslim country might expose you to some very serious "risk".

 

[DSAbug]

I'd also advise against trying to "work around" these rules by making several withdrawals over a series of days. I was told that if the bank sees a sufficient amount of money withdrawn over a given time period your account will be flagged. If the DHS can prove you were intentionally trying to "work around" their system, they can charge you with some ridiculous charge of "structuring". I think that's what it's called at least.

My experience was over 4 years ago when I bought my wife's ring and wanted to pay cash to my local jeweler. I'm sure it's only gotten worse since 08..

 

[suibhne]

I've been trying to keep my bank balance as near to €0 as I can the past couple of weeks. If things go tits up at any point, I know our banks will be empty before I can get down there and take it all out. I wouldn't be surprised if they take a bank holiday, or else put a limit on withdrawals per customer with very little notice.