US government freezing US citizen's bank accounts because they are paying down debt

HomeSecRuleBreak: Pay Off Your Credit Cards, Get Investigated
by lapinFri Mar 03, 2006 at 12:56:24 AM PDTHey guess what! Paying off your credit card debt is now considered questionable behavior in New America. This post 9/11 world requires people who actually pay off their debt to be considered a threat to national security. Here's the link. A vital story too important to paraphrase. lapin's diary :: ::They both learned the same astounding piece of information about the little things that can set the threat sensors to beeping and blinking.They were told, as they moved up the managerial ladder at the call center, that the amount they had sent in was much larger than their normal monthly payment. And if the increase hits a certain percentage higher than that normal payment, Homeland Security has to be notified. And the money doesn't move until the threat alert is lifted.We are not free citizens. Everything is being watched. Every day they give us more reasons to quit the electronic system, go cash whenever possible. The section of the Bank Secrecy Act that mandates reporting of suspicious transactions to the federal government was enacted in 1996.

It seems that a more accurate title would be "make large financial transactionm, get investigated." I pay off credit cards each month, 'cause I'm too cheap to pay the finance charges. As far as I can tell, I am not being investigated for that.The case you report seems to have been mishandled, in my opinion.This message has been edited by AdminJar, 03-03-2006 12:30 PM

The silly thing, in my mind, is that the first thing that we believe about an unusaully high payment to a credit card company is that it's terrorist activity?That terrorist activity is the most likely reason that a unusually large financial transaction might take place?

Inductive reasoning?

How is that any different than the forfeiture laws that states have had for a while now? Hell, if you were searched in an airport and were found to be carrying a large amount of cash, you used to be immediately suspected of being a drug dealer and the money would be "impounded", to be returned, basically, after you've proved that you are innocent.Now instead of being accused of drug dealing one is accused of terrorism. Heh.

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"Intellectually, scientifically, even artistically, fundamentalism -- biblical literalism -- is a road to nowhere, because it insists on fidelity to revealed truths that are not true." -- Katha Pollitt

Well, carrying a lot of cash while traveling is a bit different (not much, I admit) than just paying a big chunk of money to a credit card company.I mean, I agree, maybe, that it could be considered "suspicious", but why would such an activity be something particular to what terroritsts do?I can see taking out a whole lot of money on a credit card would look iffy, but paying a big chunk to your creditors?I can't for the life of me figure out why terrorists would do that.

I thought these reporting laws had to do with laundering money. As I recall, the drug trade is one of the concerns.

One of the reasons given has to do with hiding and transfering money. The credit card is portable, and can be used easily and realtively safely to aquire things terrorists might need, then the debt paid off by some central funding organization.It's not completely unreasonable.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

As far as I'm aware, many large transactions that are 'out of character' are flagged either way. It is generally because of money laundering worries and (for transactions in the other direction) fraud.This isn't just terrorism or drug dealing, but it includes bank robbery and other such crimes (which may be related to drug dealing which may be related to terrorism/insurgency). I'm surprised they froze the payment, it seems a little bit extreme for a transaction less than $10,000...but I'm not surprised that it was considered potentially suspicious.Unfortunately money is a government run thing...if anybody is concerned about the government tracking their economy I'd advise they trade in some other commodity. I hear tripods used to be popular

When I sold my house this past fsll I ended up using the money to buy a couple of cars, some nicer furniture, security deposit and rent on a new apartment, and a few other needed items. The transactions were larger than any I had ever made before and all came within a timeframe of less than a month. Those transactions went thru fine, but the first time I tried to write a check for less than $250 it tripped the flag for that particular company. After dealing with two different reps it fianlly came out that all the large transactions just prior to this attempted purchase had put a flag on my account that made this particular company deny the check.

OK, I can see that.

This is illogical. The watch should be on the supplier of "things that terrorists might need", not a reimbursement to the purchaser who MAY have paid by credit card. Is it assumed that terrorists don't want to be out of pocket?

There are far more locations to watch when it comes to "things terrorists need" then by using the funding as a filter and common point. Terroists need food, shelter, clothing, transportation, education, and all the other things that non-terrorists need. But by watching the funding vector, it is possible to find patterns.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

I can't. By that same reasoning it is not unreasonable to put video cameras in all private homes and public places since we might be able to spot terrorists planning acts of terrorism. In fact, it is far more reasonable since it would spot actual criminal activity rather than focusing on innocent citizens who are merely engaging in behavior that is deemed "suspicious".

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"Intellectually, scientifically, even artistically, fundamentalism -- biblical literalism -- is a road to nowhere, because it insists on fidelity to revealed truths that are not true." -- Katha Pollitt

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Those who would sacrifice an essential liberty for a temporary security will lose both, and deserve neither. -- Benjamin Franklin