Emigrant’s Dirty Little Explanation

Written by Nickel - One Comment

The other day I wrote about Emigrant Direct’s dirty little secret… A clause in their terms and conditions that allows them to require 60 days written notice of any withdrawal. Well, it seems that jim over at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity sent them an e-mail about this, and has now received a reponse. So here it is, straight from the horse’s mouth:

We have never had to exercise this option. Since 9/11 the Patriot Act states that all banks include this statement in case of a Terrorist Attack. Otherwise transfers take 2-4 business days.

Like jim, I’m not sure that I buy this explanation. After all, ING Direct ($25 account opening bonus) doesn’t seem to have a similar clause. A more likely explanation is that all New York banks are required by law to have this provision in order to protect against bank runs, although I can’t say for sure.

Published on November 9th, 2005 - One Comment
Filed under: Banking
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About the author: Nickel is the founder and editor-in-chief of this site. He's a thirty-something family man who has been writing about personal finance since 2005, and guess what? He's on Twitter!

Comments (scroll down to add your own):

This scared me for a bit. Makes me think about transferring.. Thanks for the headsup tand the post about what they responded to..

“Because of the Patriot Act” - What a ridiculous answer.
Comment by Dan Wilt — Jan 29th 2008 @ 4:11 pm