Re: US vs Overseas Banks
Of course, this bank has been criticized for being somewhat lax on who they give accounts to, but the point still stands. I could have been anybody, and give any false address. *shrug*
Why should they give a damn who you are? IMO, it's none of their business. Hell, they're making $$$ on *your* deposits, it's time they stopped being such shits about it.
Mostly they are afraid that you will get checks under a fake name, and bounce a lot of them, which ends up costing them a lot of money, even though they don't pay off on them. (Most of the costs of any financial transaction system come from handling exceptions). They are also under obligation to provide accurate SSN or Business Tax-ID information to the government on any interest-bearing account, so that you are forced to declare it on your income taxes. Clearly there are other ways of preventing or insuring against the problems that arise from check fraud (such as not issuing checks), but the IRS requirements are out of the bank's hands.
On Wed, 2 Aug 1995, Douglas Barnes wrote:
Mostly they are afraid that you will get checks under a fake name, and bounce a lot of them, which ends up costing them a lot of money, even though they don't pay off on them. (Most of the costs of any financial transaction system come from handling exceptions).
They really worry that you will divert real checks payable to the account name you are using, deposit them, collect the dough, and disappear. They will then be on the hook because they paid on a false endorsement and the institution that deals with the false endorser gets stuck.
They are also under obligation to provide accurate SSN or Business Tax-ID information to the government on any interest-bearing account, so that you are forced to declare it on your income taxes.
They are also under an obligation to obtain identity information from everyone who opens accounts (even non-interest-bearing). Many Midwest banks still don't. The rules don't specify exact ID requirements so there is some slop here. They say you have to use the same ID requirements to open an account that you (the bank) would use to cash a check. If you shop around, you can find friendly banks even today. DCF "'The Internet made me do it' -- Janet on how a call to arms on the nets caused her to send in the tanks."
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Duncan Frissell