OT: 2 US Bank Accts closed, need advice
mikief87
Senior Member
Yesterday I received notice from a large US bank that I have been banking with for 15 years that my checking and savings accounts will be closed in 3 weeks. When I called to inquire as to why the accounts will be closed, I was told that the bank is exercising their option to not tell me, just like I have the option to close my account without a reason. Everyone at my bank branch has known for years that I am a professional poker player and they have been nothing but very courteous and helpful to me over the years. I have only deposited one check from sportsbook.ag this calendar year at this account. I have never sent money to a poker site from this account, and I have never received a wire from a poker site to this account. Also my wife and I refinanced at this bank in December. When we refinanced in December the bank would only allow my wife to be on the loan. The bank also called and asked my wife about the nature of some of the deposits to the account (checks from sportsbook.ag and other poker sites deposited in 2012 and some cash deposits). She was completely honest with them and we closed on the refinance right before Christmas.
Today, my other bank (fairly large regional bank) sent me a similar letter, closing my account in 2 weeks. I have only done wires at this bank, no check deposits. Also, one time, I did transfer money from the bank in the first paragraph (bank A) to this bank (bank
.
Should I wait to open a new bank account and at a bank different from banks A and B?
Did the checks trigger bank A to close my account?
Did the wires trigger bank B to close my account?
Did the refinance trigger bank A to close my account? And as a result bank A told bank B that they were closing my account and that they should do the same? (I am really hoping that this is the case, as I would be more comfortable opening a new bank account without fearing that it will be closed with no warning).
Any responses will be MUCH appreciated.
Today, my other bank (fairly large regional bank) sent me a similar letter, closing my account in 2 weeks. I have only done wires at this bank, no check deposits. Also, one time, I did transfer money from the bank in the first paragraph (bank A) to this bank (bank
.Should I wait to open a new bank account and at a bank different from banks A and B?
Did the checks trigger bank A to close my account?
Did the wires trigger bank B to close my account?
Did the refinance trigger bank A to close my account? And as a result bank A told bank B that they were closing my account and that they should do the same? (I am really hoping that this is the case, as I would be more comfortable opening a new bank account without fearing that it will be closed with no warning).
Any responses will be MUCH appreciated.
Comments
Yes it's true that a large number of employees in Las Vegas and the state of Nevada are tip earners but unless your a bartender or a cocktail waitress your tips all go to the casino cage after being Mucked and Counted and then every two weeks it's on your check. Nevada is the most watched state in the country because of all the cash business that's done in this state. Don't think that bartenders or cocktail waitress's get away with anything from the IRS. Without getting into a long story they are taxed for every drink they serve and the amount is dictated on the section they work. Table game girl of course pays more per drink then a girl that's serves the 5 cents slot area. They have to swipe there badge for every order the bartender in the service area gives them. When they get stiffed they still have to pay a tax for that drink. maybe 50 cents a drink in a 25 cent slot section.
Now I would like to ask you how do they know your a poker player that plays poker for a living and what right do they have to ask what you do with your money. Now if you deposit a check from an off-shore account for over 10k that would be silly other then that I don't see why they would ask you any question and why would you admit to playing poker on-line off-shore poker which to the best of my knowledge is still Illegal. The banks don't want to do business with someone depositing money from Illegal activity. I'm sure money is washed every day in banks but it appears and I could be wrong this bank doesn't want anything to do with that. Not that your washing money it's just they know you do Illegal buiness from another country and they don't want any part of that. I have to ask again how does everyone at your Branch know you play poker for a living. Believe me I dealt with Casino auditing for years about every two weeks or so to make sure all monies are being properly report
I hope you file your tax return is a professional gambler or at the very least keep accurate records in case you should ever be audited. I think the bank who have taken checks from Illegal activity will report to the IRS to cover there ass. I've dealt with the IRS in a few occasions in the mid 80's for early 80's returns and I'll tell you it's not fun.
I could be off base and totally wrong but I wouldn't tell anyone in the banking business or anyone that I do business with how I earn my money much less answer any questions they have. When a new bank asks what do you do for a living hopefully your wife works and you tell them your retired unless your claiming as a professional gambler.
It really doesn't matter if you tell the banks you're a poker player. They aren't going to care, the customer service reps are just concerned about getting accounts opened. It's likely the checks and wires triggered something in a back office and were identified as gaming proceeds so they had no choice to close the accounts since they're forbidden from accepting gaming transactions. I think it's extremely unlikely Bank A contacted Bank B or vice versa. I think they just flagged the transactions independently.
You should have no problem opening an account at any other bank. This isn't reported negatively in Chexsystems (the system they access when you open account). It's not like check fraud or something more serious that would be reported.
I would recommend credit unions as well. They are a lot less strict and tend to mind their own business about what you're doing. In fact I'd probably get one credit union account for your poker stuff and a regular bank account for the rest of your banking - this is what I've done.
Good luck.
I work for a major bank and it could be a number of reasons on why they are closing ur accounts. When you did your mortgage an u were up front with deposits, they could could have notified the anti money laundering dept. They take that shit very seriously, they could have looked at ur account Activity and just decided to close the account. They most likely notified the other bank as well. If u never said anything about the gambling, they never would have closed ur accounts.
I have a customer that was accused of insider trading in 1992, he settled the case and was never indicted. I have been managing his account for 8 years and he does not even own any stocks. My bank sent me and him a letter that they were closing all his accounts. I could not even get a straight answer. I even spoke to the head compliance officer and she just said the bank wants to close it, no explanation. A 2 million dollar account and we cant even explain the reason to this guy. Has not owned a stock in 20 years, all of his accounts are managed by me and they still closed it.
My point is, once a bank has a little info and the don't like it, they will close ur account.
You can hire an attorney and try to fight it, but jus try a small local bank or a credit union.
Good luck man
I used put notes in accounts all the time from people that tried to circumvent title 31 it's something you have to do to prevent anything coming back to you. I not saying it's going to prevent him from opening another account but I believe there will be a note in the system that his account at two banks were closed because etc: just so they know who there dealing with. I've been dealing with off-shore accounts since 98 and it's gets to the point that we think it's legal. I'm not saying the FBI is going to knock on his door I just believe in privacy. It does spook you a bit when you get them letters doesn't it.
But yeah, there's no real reason to tell them. The thing is even if you're completely upfront about what you're doing and they close you're accounts, you still basically have no recourse. The fact you told them and they didn't have a problem with it, isn't going to help you. It's not the branch people making the decision, it's someone in a back office.
Best avoided.
OT, yes, I file as a professional poker player and am honest and report all of my earnings and I even pay self employment tax.
Even though I have nothing to hide, this statement scares the shit out of me.
Monday my Chase account gets closed, Tuesday my Huntington account. Should I be expecting a visit from the anti money laundering department on Wednesday?
Nothing else came of that other than them sending me a notice a few months later that I owed them $50 without a bill or any reason. Just paid it to be done with them.
I wouldn't worry at all. Can almost guarantee it's related to the poker/sports transactions. I've also had accounts in Canada closed for the same reason.
And I should have mentioned I worked in Bank of America for six years supporting the branches with any questions/problems they have. These banks are incredibly big and don't directly share information. That's why they have ChexSystems in place, it's an independent system that all the banks use to flag people at account opening.
I'd lay 10-1 if you go to a bank tomorrow, you'll have no problem opening an account. That's the best way to find out if there really is a problem, if there is, they'll deny you the account and soon as they run your social.
You really think it is the poker/sportsbook deposits that triggered these account closings? The longer I think about this, the more convinced I am that the refinance was what triggered the closing of my chase account, then chase contacted huntington since my chase and huntington account were linked.
I only did check deposits at Chase, the last one being 3/22. I only had wire deposits at Huntington the last one being 4/5 . Then both accounts close within a day of each other. No other regs at the poker site this is happening at has had a bank account close on them. Man that is a lot of coincidences, but then again, I want it to be the refinance reason for the account closures because the next bank account I open will get closed on me for the same reason.
What do you mean the refinance caused it? You mean the fact you told them some of your money was coming from gambling? If so, I'd be incredibly surprised if that had anything to do with it. There's nothing wrong or illegal about being a professional gambler in the bank's eyes though some do look down upon it (HSBC comes to mind).
I don't think you will, the bank has to do its due diligence per government regulations or they will be fined a lot of money. They don't want to have this turn into a problem and they just decided to close ur account. The banks also have a suspicious actively report, which u were put on. It gets investigated by the internal bank dept and it usually ends there. They are not gonna call the Feds for a few thousand dollars for gambling.
Do they send you a check with final balance?
I mean the refinance caused someone to look closer at my banking activity, which caused them to close my account (even though neither myself nor the bank broke any laws here, including the UIGEA)
When we refinanced we initially were going to have both of our names on the loan. Chase came back and said the loan will only go through if just your wife is on the loan, so we put just her name on the loan. Then a couple of weeks after that, the loan officer or underwriter called my wife and asked about a bunch of 2 to 8k deposits made to our account, and she told them the truth, that was December.
Have you tried to open another account?
No.
I am putting everything in my wife's name until I can determine what exactly caused this.
Here is what I do not want to happen:
I open a new bank account. I make a check deposit to it from my sportsbook or poker site. That bank account gets closed.
That is why it is important that I know what caused this. If it is the checks and wires causing my bank accounts to get closed, then I need to find another way to pull this money off of my offshore accounts.
I have no idea what caused this, but as I'm sure you're aware, there are plenty of people depositing checks from processors used by offshores with no problems whatsoever.
+1 to this as well.
One thing you can do is contact Chexsytems to see if they have any negative information on file for you. If they don't, you won't have a problem opening a new account and there shouldn't be any problem maintaining it. It's not like your old bank is going to find out you have an account with them and call them, it just doesn't work like that. As mentioned though, credit unions are the way to go for gambling transactions.
Good luck again and keep us posted, definitely interested to hear how this plays out.
I will not get a definitive answer from the bank as to what caused this. That I know for sure. I can only use deductive reasoning to determine the most likely cause. I had convinced myself that the refinance was the initial trigger that caused this, but TotallyTilt disagrees, and since he used to work at a bank, I have to respect his opinion and really consider it.
But the way I see it is
1. None of the regs I play with has had a bank account get closed on them for deposing either check or wires.
2. The book in question is sportsbook.ag, which is large. A manager at sportsbook.ag said he has never heard of anyone having a bank account closed (I believe him, but of course he would lie if it were not true)
3. Chase only saw the checks from offshore.
4. Huntington only saw the wires from offshore.
5. My huntington account was linked with my chase account, and both closed within a day of each other.
If Chase determined that my account needs to be closed because of the check deposits and Huntington determined that my account should be closed because of the bank wires, then it would be a major coincidence that both banks came to the same conclusion, pretty much on the same day, especially since no one else (on sportsbook.ag) to my knowledge has had a bank account close on them.
It just seems much more logical that the phone call to my wife about the 2-8k deposits during the refinance triggered someone at chase to look at me more closely. That person decides that I am a "potential risk" to initiate a transaction that would cause Chase to violate the UIGEA (which I would never do). That person decides to close my account and contact other banks that have been linked with my Chase account.
I'd bet this.