Banks (some anyway) Wont transfer to Epassporte anymore

[DJilla]

Originally Posted by Linkster

Seems some sponsors are having a little trouble with their banks refusing to send money to Epassporte - the common reason Im hearing today is the new gambling laws in the US

See this is a real fricking problem that I had guessed would occur and a consequence once again of americans sleeping as their rights are chipped away. The right or wrong of the new gambling laws that republicans snuck in at the end of an unrelated bill notwithstanding; this type of behavior from banking institutions is outrageous. The law specifies the restriction on transferring funds used for GAMBLING. That means that the onus on determining the source/use of the funds is on the banks. For a bank to deny you to receive or send funds to any properly credentialed financial institution is an outrage and I don't even think they have the legal authority to do it. My guess is they are just wholesale blocking of sending funds through the likes of e-passporte as a way of avoiding having to meet the legal obligation of determining the purpose/source of the funds and as an anticompetitive means of disrupting a e-finance business model. Bad, bad, bad.

As an aside don't most just use the e-passporte debit card?

[Linkster]

DJilla - unfortunately there are a lot of sponsors that only paytheir affiliates through epassporte - and if their bank will not accept transfers TO epassporte(which started happening this week) then they cant fund the account to pay their affiliates - has nothing to do with what you personally do with your epassporte cards

This comes on the heels of some sponsors requiring affiliates to either choose to be paid by epassporte or we have to pay to have a check sent to us which really makes no sense - if they are a real company which I hope is the case with these programs, then any check fees or handling is all a tax writeoff anyway

[DJilla]

Originally Posted by Linkster

and if their bank will not accept transfers TO epassporte(which started happening this week) then they cant fund the account to pay their affiliates - has nothing to do with what you personally do with your epassporte cards

Errr, right... duh

Still, on principle the banks are way overshooting their authority and I wonder how much of this is really about anti-competitive actions on the part of US big banking. Like Jim mentioned, the idea of having an account closed because it might be "off shore" is just none of their concern period. If there is a problem, all they have to do is make sure their paperwork is in order if the feds want to come sniffing around. IMHO, its not up to them to judge. I won't be surprised if there is a WTO action that e-passporte could bring somewhere in the mix here.