My Bank Froze My Account!

I have banked with USAA for over 20 years, but last month when I went to the cash machine, neither my wifes nor my, debit cards worked.

Turns out my account was frozen until I answered a bunch of (allegedly) Federally mandated questions.

The department taking the questions was the customer care section under the guise of "knowing your customer".

These questions were
1 What's your income
2. Where does your income come fron
3 What's your net worth
4 What do you predict you will be making in 10 years
And so on... About 20 of these.

Now me being me, I gave some pretty smart ass replies. But afterwards I was really livid.

My income is right there in the deposits... They can see everything, so why ask this snip?

Has anyone else dealt with this?

I live overseas and use a US bank account but still. I now know what it feels like being probed by an alien.

a reply to: lakenheath24

Not that same thing but I opened up an account and I could never transfer or put money in the account unless I sent it to them in the mail. I called about 2 or 3 times to see why and nobody ever said, well the last time I called they said the account had been flagged for fraud.

First day I had it, somehow it got flagged as fraud, so I didn't close it but I have only had 14 cents in there for like 6 years.

a reply to: lakenheath24

The banking service of USAA is the weakest of all in terms of how customers are handled. They are useful but their policies are not friendly to customers from what I've seen.

Cheers

Check this article out them. It tells how the IRS can just empty out anyone's account with the flimsiest of reasons.


a reply to: sandman441

I've been with them for 20 years and no probs. They stated it was a Federal regulation. One that they could not point me to.


a reply to: F2d5thCavv2

I'm less and less a fan of banks and all their fees to spend my hard earned money.
And I'm not a fan of the cashless society that's being gradually rammed downed everyone's throats.

I told a bothersome beggar out my window in a large city the other day that all I had was a debit card. He was too healthy to be a real beggar and likely had made a career of it.
It got me off the hook but after I told him that, it occurred to me that the cashless society will very likely starve all the homeless people to death with no currency for kind folks to hand to them.

Welcome to your nightmare.... Atm cards for homeless peeps.

www.givecard.io...

a reply to: Trucker1

a reply to: lakenheath24

USAA sucks. I banked with them for a few years. Their insurance is overpriced. Their interest rates are too. Their banking rates are garbage. When I got out of the Navy, I went to a local community credit union and found it to be a way better deal.

Fair enough, but the bank is not the point of the OP.




a reply to: AutomateThis1

originally posted by: Trucker1
It got me off the hook but after I told him that, it occurred to me that the cashless society will very likely starve all the homeless people to death with no currency for kind folks to hand to them.

Wouldn't it be funny if the beggar pulled out his iPhone with one of those credit card scanners attached and hands it to you to sign! Could be a welfare program of the future.

Get out of USAA today!

I use to work for them. They rob from the poor and give to the rich.

I use to be one of their investigators until I refused to follow their corrupt business tactics.......



a reply to: lakenheath24

a reply to: Trucker1
They will give the homeless a credit/debit transfer device. Begging issuse solved.

originally posted by: lakenheath24
I have banked with USAA for over 20 years, but last month when I went to the cash machine, neither my wifes nor my, debit cards worked.

Turns out my account was frozen until I answered a bunch of (allegedly) Federally mandated questions.

The department taking the questions was the customer care section under the guise of "knowing your customer".

These questions were
1 What's your income
2. Where does your income come fron
3 What's your net worth
4 What do you predict you will be making in 10 years
And so on... About 20 of these.

Now me being me, I gave some pretty smart ass replies. But afterwards I was really livid.

My income is right there in the deposits... They can see everything, so why ask this snip?

Has anyone else dealt with this?

I live overseas and use a US bank account but still. I now know what it feels like being probed by an alien.

"Know Your Customer", or KYC as it's known in banking industry, is code speak for investigation to ensure client is not laundering money.

Not saying USAA is calling you a drug smuggler or trafficker, but they are mandated I believe to have this information on file, and may pertain to regulatory requirements, especially if someone is living outside the US or has transaction records meeting certain criteria.

a reply to: lakenheath24

looked around a little bit and found a couple of reddit threads about this and a few other complaints that went back to at least a year.

the best i can tell it is due to the way USAA handles their Patriot Act requirements.

if you have deposited large sums and being that you live overseas it appears for some reason your account may have been flagged because of it.

en.wikipedia.org...

a reply to: lakenheath24

Now I don't know USAA's policies, but I do work for a bank and the only reason I can think of why they would freeze your bank account is if they have seen some shady activity on your account. You say it's all in your deposits, but it could be your deposits that have them sketched out. Questions that come to mind are:

1. Have you been depositing very large amounts of cash recently that are outside of your normal income??
2. Have you been depositing some strange checks lately that seem outside of your normal income??
3. Have you been using your debit card in regards to strange transactions??
4. Have you purchased bitcoin recently??

Whether any of us like it or not, banks do have to look out for shady activity to ensure they're not assisting with money laundering, funding terrorism, the cartels, etc......alongside trying to ensure our customers also don't get scammed out of their life savings. In order to do this, yes, we sometimes do have to ask nosy questions that anger people that don't want someone in their business.

Anytime someone deposits/withdraws $3500 or more, we have to ask about where the funds came from/where they're going. Most people are nice and just talk about it, maybe they're buying/sold a car, giving it as a graduation gift, transferring it between banks, etc......and some people get angry like we punched their first born and either refuse to answer, or do what you did; give smart ass replies. Whatever you tell us, we tell the back end. If you get angry and give smart ass replies, we tell the back end and they determine how to go forward. Giving responses like that only makes you look bad, and if the bank feels that whatever you're doing is a liability to the bank, they can and will close your accounts. I've seen it happen. One particular customer we had is currently being investigated by the FBI because of deposits and what they were doing with them.

You don't have to like it at all, but that's part of what you'll deal with if you're going to use banks. They have to protect themselves, as well as their customers. If your account has been frozen, that means you're doing something that makes their eyebrows raise and they want to know what it is. Just know that how you respond to them is also noted, and could end up getting your accounts closed. If you don't like it, then don't use banks. If you need/want to use banks, then this is part of the process. Every bank will do it, and as each year goes by we have to get more and more strict, all thanks to those that cheat the system.

I've had the opposite experience with USAA. They are pricey but they settle claims fast. I know after Katrina, everyone I talked to who had USAA said their homes were the first ones getting repairs. Like within weeks. Others like State Farm, Farmers were waiting a long time.

Several years ago, an illegal alien side swiped my wife's car. He had no insurance. They took care of it and we had no accident forgiveness. Took care of it in a week.

Banking, never had an issue. Their phone app is one of the best. They've had a phone app for over ten years. Check depositing software is exceptional.

We bought a new car a few years ago and even though the car didn't qualify for the 0% interests rate for one year they gave it to us. We paid it off in a year. The car dealership said nobody could compete with that deal.

Banking, I have checking and a CC. Never had an issue. I use another high interest rate bank for savings. They do suck in that dept.

originally posted by: SleeperHasAwakened

originally posted by: lakenheath24
I have banked with USAA for over 20 years, but last month when I went to the cash machine, neither my wifes nor my, debit cards worked.

Turns out my account was frozen until I answered a bunch of (allegedly) Federally mandated questions.

The department taking the questions was the customer care section under the guise of "knowing your customer".

These questions were
1 What's your income
2. Where does your income come fron
3 What's your net worth
4 What do you predict you will be making in 10 years
And so on... About 20 of these.

Now me being me, I gave some pretty smart ass replies. But afterwards I was really livid.

My income is right there in the deposits... They can see everything, so why ask this snip?

Has anyone else dealt with this?

I live overseas and use a US bank account but still. I now know what it feels like being probed by an alien.

"Know Your Customer", or KYC as it's known in banking industry, is code speak for investigation to ensure client is not laundering money.

Not saying USAA is calling you a drug smuggler or trafficker, but they are mandated I believe to have this information on file, and may pertain to regulatory requirements, especially if someone is living outside the US or has transaction records meeting certain criteria.

Yep, this is all due 9/11 and the patriot act.
I wonder what awesome stuff they are going to come up with after this current 9/11 event (Covid-911) (Corona bin Laden)
looking forward to more fascist sh!t from the NWO!

Change your bank if you get poor service. Sounds like the questions they are asking are none of their business.

a reply to: lakenheath24

the nationless families who run the world-, their [octopus] tentacles of evil spread wide across the globe lol.