How to Avoid a Run-In with the U.S. Patriot Act

I was ready to sell my computer. My wife was trying to see if anyone would buy her diamond jewelry, including her engagement ring. We didn't want to sell these things. We frankly were so desperate for money that we felt we might not have any choice. The bizarre thing was that we had money. From a small pension and book and article royalties, we had a regular monthly income with which we survive very well in Mexico. About fourteen hundred dollars a month does very nicely in providing us a living. However, the U.S. Patriot Act made sure we could not access our money. They took it, still have it and will not give it back - yet.

The actual story began months ago when my wife was reading on Yahoo News that the online bank we had used for years was going belly-up. We really hadn't been paying much attention to the current U.S. banking crisis. Our bank was one of the casualties. We signed up with this bank years ago before we even thought about moving out of the country. We continued to use it after our move because we could use our international address and do our banking online. We even were able to have our book and article income deposited into this online bank through Paypal.

Well, my wife saw the story that our bank was getting closed down by the Feds for some apparent naughty handling of mortgage loans and the other bank-killers. The accounts, which amounted into the billions, were being bought out by a larger, international based bank in the States. Ok. Sounded good. We even received snail-mail, mailed to our Mexican address, telling us we wouldn't have to lift a finger or worry our little fiscal heads over this transition. And, mind you, the wife and I have been through banks being sold in the States before. Nothing to it; sit tight; and the bank people will take care of it. Boy, did they lie to us.

On November 23, 2007, while housesitting for some friends, we ventured to the good ole ATM to snag some cash. We've found this is very convenient and a lot less of a headache than trying to get dollars and then changing them into pesos. The ATM gives you a better exchange rate than the currency exchange companies, so that's been our practice ever since leaving America. We went to the ATM to get money for something and the Visa Check Card wouldn't work. It showed us our balance but it would not spit out the cash. We went to several ATM's and none would work.

When we contacted our failing soon-to-be-assimilated-by-a-larger-conglomerate bank, we were told they closed our account because we lived overseas!

Apparently, a provision of the U.S. Patriot Act forbids you, American citizen or not, from having a bank account in an American bank unless your actual physical residence is in America. Unless you prove you are not a terrorist or drug laundering maniac by jumping through the appropriate hoops, you are denied a bank account in America. The hoop through which you have to jump is that your physical residence must be in America. You have no choice. That is how it is.

Now, my wife and I moved out of the country so that we could afford to live. It is just that simple. And, we are not the only American expatriates being forced into doing this, either. Because of a chronic and incurable (in this lifetime) illness, we had to move here to be able to afford the medications and doctor care to keep me alive. I do have to take at least two medications without which death is most certain.

When our bank folded and our account was closed, we were cut off from our money. We had one bank account that was in the U.S. The large bank that was in the process of taking over the failed bank accounts refused to open a new account for us, even though they said in the letters they sent that they would, because our primary residence was in a foreign country.

Here is what the American banks are supposed to do to be kosher with the U.S. Patriot Act:

"(i) Verifying the identity of any person seeking to open an account; (ii) maintaining records of the information used to verify the person's identity; and (iii) determining whether the person appears on any lists of known or suspected terrorists provided to the financial institution by any government agency."

The last time we checked, we were not on any lists as suspected terrorists. And, if this giant bank that was assuming the accounts of our folding bank had actually told us of what was going down, we would have made arrangements to make sure we could have met the criteria for establishing our identities.

They never told us, never sent snail-mail, never sent email, never gave so much as a "by your leave."

They cut us off and to this day we still haven't recovered our money.

We went through one of the most frightening experiences of our lives. We couldn't buy food, medicine; pay the bills, or the rent. We had money we could not access. We lived out of the USA and could not access any of our money in order to get back to the USA to fix the problem.

Some of our Mexican neighbors as well as some of the local expatriates showed pity and helped us out. One lady, a Mexican national, opened an account in her name with our names on the account to get our money flowing once again. This worked but it took a month.

We tried opening an account at several of the big-name banks in the States. Every one of them demanded we produce utilities in our name at the U.S. addresses we were giving them. We had friends and family who offered their home addresses in America to use to open an account but this wasn't good enough. The banks acted like a bunch of FBI (thugs) agents asking you the most intrusive questions as though we were terrorists. We finally gave up when our friend, a local, offered to open an account for us here in her country. Can you begin to imagine the stress and humiliation?

What really got to me was the presumption of guilt by our American government. My wife and I are writers. We barely get by financially with what we make. We live in this foreign country so we can afford medical care. If our country would offer its citizens affordable medical care, especially for the chronically ill, then maybe we would have stayed in America and none of this would have happened. But, being forced to live out of the U.S., we are being punished by our government. We are presumed to be guilty of terrorism unless we prove our innocence by meeting the criteria of identification to get a U.S. bank account. Fair? I do not think so.

The balance we had in our account when the Feds closed the failing bank is gone. It was in the hundreds of dollars. We do not have it. We do not know where it is. All we know for certain is this gigantic bank that assimilated the accounts of our bank refused to open an account for us.

A twist to the story is that we know of at least two ladies living in the same town as we do, American expats, who had quite a bit of money in the failed bank. We were all customers of the same bank. When it failed, these women simply offered as proof of their American residence the addresses of relatives in the States. They do not live in the States. They do not keep a house in America while living in another country. They had on their banking records their foreign addresses just like my wife and I did and yet, ING Direct Bank (there I said it) gave these two ladies bank accounts using addresses not belonging to them but belonging to relatives.

When my wife and I tried it, ING refused to open an account for us. I guess CD's in the several hundreds of thousands of dollars had more persuasion power than the paltry sum the wife and I had in our account.

We now have an account in the foreign country in which we are living because of the kindness of one of this country's citizens. Our direct deposits are currently flowing. An old college roommate gave us money to help us out.

What is going to happen is that the million plus American expatriates who live here just might find themselves in the same boat as we were in. Let something happen to their current accounts, like a bank failure, and no one in the United States of America is going to let them open a new account in any bank at all. These banks will, as they did to us, demand you produce a lease agreement and utilities in your name associated with the American address (not that of a willing relative) you give them and it all will have to be in your name. If you can't produce it, you do not get an account in an American Bank! It is just that horribly simple.

Alternatives we've discovered is that you can get a Prepaid Visa or MasterCard card. It functions just like a debit account. You load a certain amount into this account and you can suck it out whenever you need it just like you would with your traditional checking account. This was a marvelous find of which we took advantage. We now have two accounts. We have our Mexican account and an account with a bank in America. The only difference is that I fund the USA account through Paypal. My book royalties, when deposited to Paypal, will be deposited into this Prepaid Visa Account. It has a regular bank account number; it has a routing number for direct deposits, and is FDIC-insured with a bank in America. No questions were asked and I offered no extra information like where I actually live.

I used a friend's American address.

Thank you, U.S. Patriot Act for nearly ruining our lives and putting my life in danger.

If friends hadn't given me money to buy my life-sustaining medications, I would not be penning this story.

Did we dodge a bullet?

I like to think so!

Source:

http://www.gcglaw.com/resources/financial/identification.html