Little Known Banking Rules That Could Affect You

How would you feel if your bank denied you access to your money? Or, said you needed to wait 10 days before making a transaction like a wire transfer?

While it may sound like a bad dream, it’s happened to many Americans – including Blanchard clients. If this has in fact already happened to you – don’t despair – you aren’t alone.

There are a surprising number of little known banking rules and regulations that can stand between you and your money – especially if you need it fast.

Even worse, banks are delaying customer’s access to their own money – for 10 days or more.

When you have money in a U.S. bank account, you expect to have access to your money when you need it. Sadly, that’s not always the case.

9 real-life examples our clients told us about what happened when they tried to invest in tangible asset and wire funds:

1. “What is this wire for? We need to know or will not send the funds.”
2. The bank wasn’t aware of Blanchard and required bank officials to research the company first before releasing the wire transfer.
3. “I tried to withdraw a sum over $10,000. The bank told me to come back tomorrow, that I couldn’t take it out that much cash on a moment’s notice.”
4. “I wanted to send a $20,000 wire transfer. The main branch of the bank said their internet was down and they couldn’t send it. I went to another bank branch and they said they had to vet Blanchard for 30 days before releasing the wire!”
5. “Before agreeing to the send the wire, the bank made me fill out a form detailing where the money was going and why it was going there.”
6. “The teller told me no, they won’t approve the wire transfer. I had to fill out documents and talk to a manager first.”
7. “My credit union ran a ‘credit check’ on Blanchard before agreeing to transfer the money. I’ve been a customer at this credit union for over 30 years. My wire transfer amount was only $1,500.”
8. “The bank manager told me ‘I don’t know where this money is going’ even though I assured them I knew Blanchard well and had done business with Blanchard for years.”
9. “My bank held a wire for 5 days before sending funds because they didn’t know who Blanchard was.”

As you may already know, Blanchard was founded in New Orleans in 1975 – and we have been in business for close to 50 years. With five offices across the nation, we’ve served over 600,000 clients.

Seriously. It’s your money. Should you have to jump through hoops to get it or make investments of your choice?

While these banks attempted to cast doubt on your own financial moves, our clients all persevered and eventually were able to gain the access they need and deserve – to their own money!

Some banks are clearly going too far.

A 2020 Financial Times article reported on thousands of complaints by bank customer’s whose accounts were simply frozen. That’s right. Zero access to your cash, with no warning.

“The greater your bank balance and your international connections, the more likely you are to match the profile. The decision to freeze an account often happens with no warning or explanation. Customers suddenly find they have no access to cash; their direct debits and standing orders are suspended,” the Financial Times said.

In one instance, Alex tried to send a bank transfer to his sister last year (and she had the same last name as he did!), yet it wouldn’t go through. The bank told him to call a number to discuss this and was told there had been suspicious activity and his account had been locked.

“My sister shares my surname, yet the bank decided this was so suspicious it immediately locked down all my accounts and turned off my internet banking access,” Alex told the Financial Times.

Are banks overreaching? Probably. Yet, this is a trend. You know better than anyone else what type of investments are right for you and your family. Don’t let anyone at your bank cast doubt on your financial decisions.

If you encounter difficulties of this nature, please know this is more common than you think. Your portfolio manager at Blanchard is always happy to assist where possible.

The surprising regulations, rules and sometimes arbitrary decisions that banks make over access to your money is another reminder about the benefit to holding a portion of your assets in tangible assets like gold and silver bullion and coins:

• Privacy.
• Portability and instant access to your capital.
• Simplified wealth transfer between generations.

Gold, this is just another reason, you can put your trust in precious metals. Take that to the vault!

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