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Banks can't just ban you, nor just take your money. The price they pay for being gatekeepers is a ton of regulation. This is why PayPal for the longest time m
by jedberg 1mo ago
Banks can't just ban you, nor just take your money. The price they pay for being gatekeepers is a ton of regulation.
This is why PayPal for the longest time made it really clear that "we are not a bank". So that they wouldn't be subject to those regulations and could suspend accounts and keep the money.
- Terr_ 1mo ago> Banks can't just ban you They kinda can. https://www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/seeing-like-a-bank/ https://www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/seeing-like-a-bank/
- jedberg 1mo agoSure, but they have to give you your money back. They can't just keep the money.
- Terr_ 1mo agoI think in this context the concern isn't that you'll lose the money, but your loss of all legal/practical authentication mechanisms. In other words, you leave the bank-branch with a big sack of cash... And then your car is impounded because you can't prove you're the owner or your license expires, and you'll live in a tent in the woods because landlords can't verify your credit/rental history, etc.
- megagpt1 1mo agoBanks can just ban you if they whisper the magic words "suspected money laundering". They are theoretically accountable to a process that takes 500 years and 3 quadrillion dollars to reach a resolution, then they will unban you. You might notice both you and the bank will be dead by that time.
- jedberg 1mo agoI actually know someone this happened to. While they did ban him from using the bank, they first warned him, gave him a chance to close out his open transactions, and then helped him move all the money somewhere else at no cost. The important part is that they can't just close your account and keep everything.