Bank Story #95

Experiences with Wells Fargo Bank manager in Oregon today

About a year ago I established a business checking account with Wells Fargo Bank in preparation for my currency exchange with them.  (My primary business accounts are with a state-regulated bank).  Per advice from Tony and DC to have accounts set up before our exchange appointment, today I set up two business savings accounts, one for deposit of funds from exchange of foreign currency held more than one year, and one for deposit of funds from exchange of currency held less than one year.  What surprised me was how long it took to get those accounts established.  I had to wait 10 minutes for the bank manager to finish with a client, then it took about 20 minutes to get the accounts set up.  Even though the bank manager already had all of my personal and business information, it had to be reviewed and confirmed at still accurate, and I had to sign 4 documents, and the bank manager had to leave the room for a few minutes to retrieve new account numbers.  My experience shows there will be insufficient time during the 20 minute exchange appointment to set up these deposit accounts.
Then I asked if I wire funds into the bank, can I have the funds pass through a temporary account to these new accounts.  I was told the practice of depositing money into one account, them immediately moving it to another account and closing the old account is flagged by the bank and federal government as a MONEY LAUNDERING SCHEME.  I was told the bank has to flag it, fill out paperwork, and report it and discourages clients from doing it.  I was told that when funds are wired into the bank they are held in an offsite bank queue before being routed to the local account, so there is no need to bounce funds from one account to another.  This information goes contrary to advice provided by Tony and DC in the past and should be discussed for the benefit of all TNTdinarians.

Tony's never mentioned them?

Thats an old drug dealer move. They did that stuff in ScarFace I believe...open several accounts at various banks, deposit money and then wire it all over the place. But TOny said it's ok...so it's obvious the banks being wrong!!