Capital One Closed my (US) Checking Account...

[Lancelot]

Well, it seems like the Patriot Act caught me- or some thing like that.

About one month ago I could not log in to my Capital One account, so I called them up and was told that my US address was not a permanent address, only a mail forwarding address, which is true. They gave me 30 days to transfer my funds out and as of yesterday, my account has been closed. I have another US bank, so I'm OK- for now. The only reason that I even kept that account open was the relatively high intrest. Yeah .85% is high now a days for idle cash.

My motorcycle was stolen on Sep 27 and a checking account was closed two days later.

When it rains it pours.

Other wise, life couldn't be better

[Mike45]

Send them the letter from the State Department and see if they will reopen the account for you.

American citizens abroad says:

"Banking and the Patriot Act

There is NO provision in the Patriot Act which forbids banks from accepting clients who do not live in the US. However, US banks are looking at the increased diligence provisions in the Patriot Act and using these as an excuse to get rid of any clients who are too difficult to assess. Click here for guidelines to follow if you have problems.

ACA has recently learned (December 2011) that the US Treasury Department has offered to help ciitizens who have problems with account closures at US banks. If you are notified of account closure of an existing account by a US national bank (i.e. not a "local" bank), you can file a complaint with the Customer Assistance Group of the Treasury Dept. ( www.occ.treas.gov/customer.htm ).

ACA as well as the Americans Abroad Caucus are very interested in getting feedback from people who use this process.

Also, the State Department has drafted a form letter which explains how US banks should treat accounts linked to a foreign address. The State Department has offered to provide a signed copy (via fax or email if so desired) to a US Citizen who would like to have one. The name of the requesting individual will be indicated as the addressee in the letter. This person can then present this letter from the State Department to the individuals or financial institutions with whom they may be having difficulty opening or maintaining an account.

To request a signed copy of the letter, the US citizen overseas should write to:

Overseas Citizens Services

Office of Policy Review and Inter-Agency Liaison

U.S. Department of State

SA-29, 4th Floor

2201 C Street, NW

Washington, DC 20520, USA

The text of the State Department letter is as follows:

QUOTE

Dear [name of citizen concerned],

This letter is in response to the concern you expressed regarding the

USA PATRIOT Act and your access to banking in the United States. The

Department of State has been contacted by numerous individuals alleging

that, under the USA PATRIOT Act, their U.S. bank accounts have been

closed or that they have been prohibited from opening an account due to

foreign citizenship or a foreign address. The USA PATRIOT Act does not

prohibit foreign citizens or individuals with foreign residences from

opening or maintaining a U.S. bank account.

Such activity is done frequently and is necessary in a global economy.

Notably, however, the USA PATRIOT Act does require financial

institutions to complete enhanced security procedures in certain

circumstances. For example, under Section 326 of the Act, financial

institutions must implement reasonable procedures for (1) verifying the

identity of any person seeking to open an account; (2) maintaining

records of the information used to verify the persons identity, and (3)

determining whether the person appears on any list of known or suspected

terrorists or terrorist organizations. In addition, foreign individuals

are generally required to provide a government issued number that is

similar to a social security number.

Enhanced due diligence is also required under Section 312, which

requires financial institutions to take reasonable steps to determine

the owner and the source of funds deposited into private banking

accounts that financial institutions maintain for non-U.S. persons and

conduct enhanced scrutiny of such accounts maintained for senior

political figures.

In developing their customer identification procedures under Section 326

or in the enhanced due diligence procedure under Section 312, a

financial institution may request information of a customer that had not

been previously solicited. However, the USA PATRIOT Act does not

prohibit foreign persons or those with foreign addresses to open or

maintain bank accounts in the United States. Please feel free to present

this letter to your bank, should you face any difficulties with

interpretation of the USA PATRIOT Act.

Sincerely,

Office of Policy Review and Interagency Liaison

Quote"

[Langsuan Man]

Why tell anyone that you are using a mail forwarding service in the first place?

They give you a street address just so that will not be evident that you are using a forwarding service

[qdinthailand]

I maintain a U.S. address at my bro's house, where I've never lived in order to retain my bank account and to keep active a Visa card account with another bank. They required I have a U.S. mailing address in order to keep these accounts active. I haven't lived in the U.S. since 2006. Of course, now the credit rating agencies think I live in Michigan.

[Lancelot]

Why tell anyone that you are using a mail forwarding service in the first place?

They give you a street address just so that will not be evident that you are using a forwarding service

Depends on the state; different states have different tax structures and I didn't know a reliable person in a state with no income tax...

Of course I didn't inform the bank that my address was a mail forwarding service. Its a street address such as 123 Main St #5. Capital One's compliance department determined that the adress was actually a mail forwarding business. They knew I was logging in to my account from Thailand, so that was that...

[Suradit69]

I maintain a U.S. address at my bro's house, where I've never lived in order to retain my bank account and to keep active a Visa card account with another bank. They required I have a U.S. mailing address in order to keep these accounts active. I haven't lived in the U.S. since 2006. Of course, now the credit rating agencies think I live in Michigan.

Yes, I've used a friend's address for credit cards, bank and brokerage, although these days about the only thing that ever gets mailed is replacement credit cards. I've lived out of the US since 1972, but initially the bank and brokerage had no problem with me using a foreign address. That only came about relatively recently. And even now they're aware that I'm accessing online accounts from Thailand because for the brokerage there's an extra security step whenever I log on that is only used for people outside the US. They even pay for collect calls if I need to talk to them.

[moradave]

Google has made it easy for anyone to find out what kind of US address you have. Just enter address and you will be told if it's a commercial or residential address. Remember, "Google is your friend".

[CaptHaddock]

I opened a credit card account with Capital One about a year ago. In the telephone conversation, the CapOne rep asked for my address. I gave him my mail forwarding address which is a street address. He then asked whether that was my mailing address. I said it was and waited for him to ask for my residential address, but he never asked for it. We use the CapOne card only in Thailand and have never had any problems with the card being locked, etc.

So, they recognize mail forwarders, but, at least sometimes, they don't care.

[55Jay]

I used a US physical street address to open CAP1 Bank/Mastercard and, at the time, a military FPO box as my mailing address.

Moved to LOS full-time and tried to change mailing address to here. Got a message back saying no, we are closing your account, where should we mail the check. I didn't change the address in the end, and kept the accounts.

Same thing happened with Charles Schwab. Said they can not do business internationally with the bank, but brokerage was ok. Oddly enough, I think Schwab played a similar game with my on-line account login just yesterday.

USAA and Navy Federal CU had no issues with the Thai mailing address.

[Mike45]

I'm starting to think it has to do with having a bank/brokerage account rather than a credit card. I'm also getting concerned about logging into my accounts from outside the USA and I'm strongly considering a VPN.

[NanLaew]

When it comes to a bank or any other institution abusing what they see as government authorised 'auditing' of your bona fides, in a similar way as discovering that a street address is 'owned' by a mail-forwarding company, using a VPN is no guarantee of maintaining your cloak of invisibility since most IP addresses they use are registered with an entity that can be identified as a commercial business that hosts VPN services.

Hence during the phone call where they ask, "Sir, are you in Cupertino, CA right now? I see you online from there but you just told me you're at home in Dallas."

Rumbled!