6 ms·

I just had my bank account terminated by Block (Square) because it was easier to boot their customer than deal with my support request which was outside of thei

I just had my bank account terminated by Block (Square) because it was easier to boot their customer than deal with my support request which was outside of their pre-written script. Their ToS of course allows them to terminate an account at any time for no reason. Their support staff keep saying that I violated the ToS, but they can't specify which one because of course they have no option in their system for someone who was terminated for NO violation of their ToS.

tomschlick 5y ago
I would say your next step is a complaint here: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/ https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/ Generally those get treated seriously by financial entities.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- imroot 5y ago
  I had 40K+ taken from me by US Bank after a payday in 2020. Writing the CFPB basically generated a response that "We're returning your money to the processors who send you money" from US Bank. Guess who never reached out to me to ask why my bank was returning transactions? My employers. When I called them to ask what had happened, their "Fraud Research & Gap Analysis" VP was shocked that this only caused a mild inconvenience to me (mainly because I split my payroll between a bank and a local credit union) and then pressed me to get the name of my credit union.
  - aspenmayer 5y ago
    > When I called them to ask what had happened But what happened?? The suspense!
    - imroot 5y ago
      Simple: They closed my accounts, which, is something that they can do in the terms and conditions that you agree to when you sign up for an account. They did not disclose to me where the money in my checking account went to, because, according to them, they did not have to. I realize that 40K isn't a lot to some folks on here, but, it was the money that I had set aside to go and do a fun project after COVID-19 had subsided (here we are, two years later): if the bank does something with your money that it doesn't have to a.) disclose what they did with it, and b.) be judge, jury, and executioner with it, I'm not sure a lot of folks would really appreciate that. In the end, I was out 40K-ish, a few hours of my time, and a reply from the CFPB that didn't really solve my issue. I can make more money. I can't make more time.
- kingcharles 5y ago
  I did. I got a response very quickly. The response said absolutely nothing of value. It just said "We responded to your support request then terminated your account" but used 1000 words to say it.
0xy 5y ago
You hit a flag for suspicious behavior and they can't tell you exactly what was suspicious because this allows fraudsters and criminal networks to adjust their operations accordingly. People don't just get terminated for no reason. Either you were doing something sketchy or you were acting in a behavior that is similar to previous fraud/criminal behavior. I'm a legitimate customer and my credit card has been flagged for fraud numerous times at large companies (Steam, PayPal, eBay etc). Often temporarily, however. (source: have worked in various fraud/risk departments)
- andreareina 5y ago
  I hear this argument all the time. What I never hear is anything that actually helps to judge the trade-off. How often is a flag incorrect? How often is a legitimate user able to recover from the flag and how much effort does it take? I notice you say your flags have only been often temporary, i.e. sometimes permanent. Are we really ok with throwing away due process because it might help the criminals? Sure nobody needs that game but access to money services is a bit different. And what you also never hear about is being refunded for all the content paid for in the blocked account.
  - 0xy 5y ago
    The justice system has thousands of false positives and throws innocent people in jail for decades sometimes. As a whole, society accepts some level of error margin in every facet of society. After working in risk and fraud, I've seen some truly horrifying stuff. An elderly woman threatened physically if she didn't let the attacker drain her bank account. Huge scams for thousands of dollars. Organized crime rings fleecing millions of dollars. Identity theft. On and on. I would wager that society would accept some level of errors in exchange for drastically reduced criminal activity that actually hurts people. Legitimate people getting blocked inadvertently are rare, and often of the stories you hear on HN and Reddit and other places, a good portion of these "innocent victims" are actually doing sketchy stuff when you dig into it. Justice isn't and cannot be an exact science. Society agrees and accepts the risk.
    - 5y ago
devoutsalsa 5y ago
When your account was terminated, what happened to your funds? Recovered? Lost?
- kingcharles 5y ago
  Eventually managed to exfiltrate it. I didn't have another bank account outside of Square, so I had to go and open one and was eventually able to get the money out. Funny though - I tried to transfer the funds to my other Square account and it said "We cannot transfer funds to Square because of their excessive fees." WTF.
  - devoutsalsa 5y ago
    Ugh. Glad you got your money out.

tomschlick 5y ago

I would say your next step is a complaint here: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/ https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/ Generally those get treated seriously by financial entities.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
imroot 5y ago
I had 40K+ taken from me by US Bank after a payday in 2020. Writing the CFPB basically generated a response that "We're returning your money to the processors who send you money" from US Bank. Guess who never reached out to me to ask why my bank was returning transactions? My employers. When I called them to ask what had happened, their "Fraud Research & Gap Analysis" VP was shocked that this only caused a mild inconvenience to me (mainly because I split my payroll between a bank and a local credit union) and then pressed me to get the name of my credit union.
- aspenmayer 5y ago
  > When I called them to ask what had happened But what happened?? The suspense!
  - imroot 5y ago
    Simple: They closed my accounts, which, is something that they can do in the terms and conditions that you agree to when you sign up for an account. They did not disclose to me where the money in my checking account went to, because, according to them, they did not have to. I realize that 40K isn't a lot to some folks on here, but, it was the money that I had set aside to go and do a fun project after COVID-19 had subsided (here we are, two years later): if the bank does something with your money that it doesn't have to a.) disclose what they did with it, and b.) be judge, jury, and executioner with it, I'm not sure a lot of folks would really appreciate that. In the end, I was out 40K-ish, a few hours of my time, and a reply from the CFPB that didn't really solve my issue. I can make more money. I can't make more time.
kingcharles 5y ago
I did. I got a response very quickly. The response said absolutely nothing of value. It just said "We responded to your support request then terminated your account" but used 1000 words to say it.

0xy 5y ago

You hit a flag for suspicious behavior and they can't tell you exactly what was suspicious because this allows fraudsters and criminal networks to adjust their operations accordingly. People don't just get terminated for no reason. Either you were doing something sketchy or you were acting in a behavior that is similar to previous fraud/criminal behavior. I'm a legitimate customer and my credit card has been flagged for fraud numerous times at large companies (Steam, PayPal, eBay etc). Often temporarily, however. (source: have worked in various fraud/risk departments)

andreareina 5y ago
I hear this argument all the time. What I never hear is anything that actually helps to judge the trade-off. How often is a flag incorrect? How often is a legitimate user able to recover from the flag and how much effort does it take? I notice you say your flags have only been often temporary, i.e. sometimes permanent. Are we really ok with throwing away due process because it might help the criminals? Sure nobody needs that game but access to money services is a bit different. And what you also never hear about is being refunded for all the content paid for in the blocked account.
- 0xy 5y ago
  The justice system has thousands of false positives and throws innocent people in jail for decades sometimes. As a whole, society accepts some level of error margin in every facet of society. After working in risk and fraud, I've seen some truly horrifying stuff. An elderly woman threatened physically if she didn't let the attacker drain her bank account. Huge scams for thousands of dollars. Organized crime rings fleecing millions of dollars. Identity theft. On and on. I would wager that society would accept some level of errors in exchange for drastically reduced criminal activity that actually hurts people. Legitimate people getting blocked inadvertently are rare, and often of the stories you hear on HN and Reddit and other places, a good portion of these "innocent victims" are actually doing sketchy stuff when you dig into it. Justice isn't and cannot be an exact science. Society agrees and accepts the risk.
  - 5y ago

devoutsalsa 5y ago

When your account was terminated, what happened to your funds? Recovered? Lost?

kingcharles 5y ago
Eventually managed to exfiltrate it. I didn't have another bank account outside of Square, so I had to go and open one and was eventually able to get the money out. Funny though - I tried to transfer the funds to my other Square account and it said "We cannot transfer funds to Square because of their excessive fees." WTF.
- devoutsalsa 5y ago
  Ugh. Glad you got your money out.