How the Patriot Act is going to affect your bank account

The Patriot Act was designed to give investigators more power to find and identify terrorists before they get the chance to carry out their terrible plans. The Patriot Act also has a very strong anti money laundering aspect to it and it is this aspect that will affect you and your bank accounts.

The next time you want to open a new account you could find yourself on the wrong end of an inquisition. You could very well be asked some very personal questions and your background will be checked out very thoroughly.

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No longer can a bank just give a new customer an account, now there are things that must be checked out and confirmed. These things include the name of the would be account holder, their birth date, address and their taxpayer identification number. All financial institutions will also have to keep records of these verifications.

In the past banks used to have to photocopy whatever identification was used in order to verify identity. This was often a drivers license and a Social Security Card. Now these institutions only need to keep a written record of having seen these forms of ID.

Not only does a financial institution have to make sure that you are who you say you are, they must also do some work to see if your name is on any terror suspect lists. Government agencies supply these lists to institutions all the time and it is the responsibility of the banks to make sure that you are not on them.

These do not sound too far out but some of the questions that can be asked are unsettling many people Nation wide. Banks can ask you questions about any other accounts that you have any say in or contact with, as well as where you got the money that you are putting into the account that you hope to open. They can also ask you what you do for a living as well as where you do it including the name and address of your em0ployer. And how much are you worth in all? This is a popular question that everyone hates answering but this along with the source of your income are common questions. You may also be asked about your investment objectives and your tax status.

Financial institutions need to make every effort to get to know you and your business in order to keep the country as safe as possible. The questions that you are asked will be affected somewhat by how much you are planning to deposit right off the bat. If you go in with a significant amount of money to deposit they will be much more interested in where it came from than if you had $50 to deposit. And when you are depositing this money they will cross check any of your other accounts as well as look into your credit report.

There is also a chance that any unusual banking activity will be flagged and looked into further. For example if you have always had a couple of thousand in your account and all of a sudden you are depositing thousands of extra dollars each week or month they are going to wonder where this money came from and they will look into it to make sure that there is no connection to illegal activity. They will not tell you that they are investigating you or your accounts. IF the investigation gets serious and they freeze your accounts then you will be told of this but not necessarily why.

All of these new measures are there for your own security, they are there to catch terrorists and those who fund them. Banks reporting any suspected illegal activity to the Feds is not new. This has been happening for years but no customers are told in order to keep from compromising the investigations. If people knew they were being investigated and they were actually the bad guys then they would take off.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control has a list of criminals that banks are to watch out for. But there are other lists from other enforcement agencies that are a little more questionable. These lists have people that are not necessarily known criminals, but suspected ones. These people could very well be innocent of any wrong doing but treated poorly because of the suspicions.

Chances are good that you will not even notice all of the changes that the Patriot Acts has put into place, unless of course you are a criminal.

Big banks will have no trouble meeting these new requirements and working by these new and improved riles but smaller banks are struggling already. These banks do not have a lot of employees so all of these extra duties are weighing on the employees that they do have. They will still have to do the jobs that they have been doing plus more. And not only that but the customers are none too happy with all the new and penetrating questions. Many people are very sensitive about giving out their most personal information but it has to be done.

There is another unpopular aspect of the new rules put in place by the Patriot Act and that is the fee. Opening a new account cost a few dollars, it always has but now that fee is tripling all thanks to the new rules.

All this extra work means paying the bank employees more and the banks have to make this money back somehow and charging you is the most sensible way for them to do this.