Incredible US banking ineptness

[bradiston]

22 hours ago, bubblegum said:

Just open a Wise account, it's in Belgium with a Belgium bank nr. and IBAN.

A Wise Euro account you mean? A Wise $ account is held in New York. A £ one in City of London.

[Crazy Noobie]

When I have an issue with my credit cards or anything that is located in the USA, I call the company during their normal business hours. This way I NEVER get a Call Center. As most Call Centers are used outside normal business hours for that company. Being in Thailand, that means I have to call during my usual sleeping hours. 

[JackGats]

On 10/2/2024 at 11:49 AM, BigStar said:

 

Oh, just close the account and use a Thai account. I never have any trouble w/ my Thai banks or Thai credit card. 🙂 

Do you own 600k USD in shares? How do you bring that to Thailand?

[Presnock]

17 hours ago, jaywalker2 said:

No, as a US citizen you can't open a bank account with a US bank. Almost all banks and brokerages require that you have a permanent US address to apply. And they might also run a credit check. You might be able to open an account if you have an address in the US that you can use but you run the risk that they will close it if they find out you're living overseas

this is a false statement.  I an American citizen living in Thailand over 20 years no US address or phone number for more than 10 years opened a bank acct go t credit card etc with very little problem.  There are US banks that will open accounts for Americans without a US address  and/or a US phone number.

[bubblegum]

1 hour ago, bradiston said:

A Wise Euro account you mean? A Wise $ account is held in New York. A £ one in City of London.

Yes I was talking about euro when I commented.

[BigStar]

3 hours ago, JackGats said:

Do you own 600k USD in shares? How do you bring that to Thailand?

 

The old-fashioned way: bank transfer. 

[OneManShow]

On 10/1/2024 at 8:55 AM, jaywalker2 said:

And even when you report a fraud, they act like they don't care.

Those who can open any type of account on some others name, definitely have some connections in the financial institute. It is not possible to change addresses, phone numbers and emails without having someone inside. 

[Hamus Yaigh]

On 10/1/2024 at 8:55 AM, jaywalker2 said:

But this credit card account was using my email address and the name on the email account. So as a courtesy, instead of just blocking it, I called up Citibank to report a fradulent credit card account. First of all, it took me several phone calls just to talk to a representative. Then it was not the right representative, I had to  be transferred, they transferred to the wrong place, I had to be transferred again, I was cut off. I had to call back.

Why would anyone go to the trouble of doing this? Just flag the email as spam and forget it! Besides no bank would send a statement to an email account.

[flexomike]

21 hours ago, jaywalker2 said:

No, as a US citizen you can't open a bank account with a US bank. Almost all banks and brokerages require that you have a permanent US address to apply. And they might also run a credit check. You might be able to open an account if you have an address in the US that you can use but you run the risk that they will close it if they find out you're living overseas

Without a US address it is getting harder to even maintain a US account, last month my IRA holder found out that I now live in Thailand and they froze the account, no trades no stocks, only cash in the account now. Luckily my main bank and credit card are still ok for now. Get this I now have to make 90 day reports to my US credit card company letting them know that I am on vacation in Thailand. Getting to be too much stress for me. Lets ad the possiblity of having to pay taxes in Thailand on top of everything else.

[Dan O]

On 10/2/2024 at 5:28 PM, gamb00ler said:

I think it likely that there is some miscommunication between you and the Citibank customer service representative.

 

How likely is it for Citibank to issue a credit card in a fake name (without documentation) that presumably has no credit history?

Wells Fargo was found guilty of doing exactly this. They were opening fake CC accounts, mortgages and car loans a few years back.  Apparently they had some quota system in place and the staff and middle managers were all in on the ploy.

 

During the big short leading up to 2008 in the US,   tons of mortgages were issue with no back ground checks or documentation.

 

Anything is possible if there's a will to do it.

 

in this situation there may have been some type of data breach and scammers are involved. They could be linked to the account and use it to siphon off small amounts repeatedly. Under a certain threshold those charges are just written off and filed against their insurance. 

[JackGats]

2 hours ago, BigStar said:

 

The old-fashioned way: bank transfer. 

<deleted>! You don't transfer a stock portfolio by bank transfer. You have never owned a stock portfolio obviously.

[NoDisplayName]

23 hours ago, jaywalker2 said:

I told her to check the social security number and compare the name with the name on the account. They can't match, so that should be proof but she wanted my personal details as well.

 

Of course she did!  You're just a random yahoo calling an 800-number call center demanding info on accounts.

 

You bet they're gonna make you prove your identity before they give you account information.