Freeze/Close Acct. Suspected of Money Laundering?
04/26/2020
Can the bank legally close or freeze an account that is suspected of money laundering and hold the funds in a general ledger account pending investigation?
Brian Crow is Executive Vice President at Thomas Compliance Associates, Inc. in Chicago, IL. Brian brings 20 years of prior banking experience to the consulting field. He was most recently Assistant Vice President and BSA Administrator for a suburban Chicago bank, where his responsibilities included preparing the bank's annual BSA risk assessment and audit documentation. Earlier as Operations Officer at the same bank, Brian monitored AML activity, aided in the implementation of the bank's AML software, and designed the bank's authentication blocking program that helped to reduce debit card fraud losses by 95 percent. Brian's responsibilities also included managing the bank's Regulation E claims, managing the bank's courtesy overdraft program, reviewing Reg CC hold notices for accuracy, and processing claims for fraudulent signatures and endorsements.
Mr. Crow has been, and continues to be, an education consultant for BOL Learning Connect, conducting webinars that have covered VISA/MasterCard chargebacks, debit card compliance and fraud prevention for hundreds of banks. It was in this role that Mr. Crow was recognized as a Bankers Online Guru in 2011.
Like many of us, Mr. Crow began his banking career as a teller, working his way up to head teller and then branch management responsibilities. He earned a B.A. degree in Theology from Concordia University, River Forest, Illinois. Because of his education background, Brian has been given the unofficial title of "Security Evangelist" as he strives to help financial institutions protect their bottom line from losses related to fraud.
See all Upcoming and On-Demand training presented by Brian.
You can contract Brian at b_crow@tcaregs.com.
04/26/2020
Can the bank legally close or freeze an account that is suspected of money laundering and hold the funds in a general ledger account pending investigation?
04/26/2020
Is it acceptable to not credit a customer for an error on a deposit (when performing proof of deposit) when the error is under $10.00, retaining that amount in income for the bank. I got an opinion that this was acceptable and was called "dominium's amount." If this practice is legal, should we have it disclosed in our Deposit Agreement?
04/19/2020
I have a few questions regarding Reg CC: 1. For accounts less than a year old, and a check is over $500, we place it on a 2-day hold, is that allowable under the Reg? 2. For accounts open more than a year and checks more than $3k but less than $5k, we place it on a 2 day hold, is that allowable under the Reg? 3. Does Reg CC apply to A2A deposits or mobile deposits?
04/19/2020
We have an item that was returned with the incorrect return reason code. It was returned as a forgery but should have been an endorsement. The item is payable to a business and endorsed by an individual. The payee claims to have not received the item in the mail. We received the item back as a late return claim. Can we return the item again for the correct return reason? What is the time frame for an improper endorsement?
04/12/2020
We received notice from our core processor that we will be charged for a debit card transaction that is not our customer, the card is not on us and the merchant is not a customer. We are disputing this with our core processor but they say we will be charged for the transaction. Why can this transaction not be returned when it wasn't on us? I have no idea how it reached our core processor and was processed for our bank.
02/23/2020
Can email notifications be sent for abandoned property? My understanding is that this is subject to what each state may require depending on the address the account holder is located. Some states require a written notice to be mailed. So if we meet E-SIGN requirements would that supersede state requirements? Would CAN-SPAM Act also need to be considered as not being in violation since it talks about "notification of a change in the recipient's standing or status"? I'm thinking this Act is more related for purposes of commercial electronic mail.
12/22/2019
Can a POS transaction be returned for insufficient funds and charged an overdraft fee if our bank does not offer overdraft protection? Would there be a benefit for a customer to "Opt In" if we continue to not offer overdraft protection?
12/15/2019
It has been my understanding that a bank has up to a year to return items in the event the item is altered or the endorsement forged. I have another bank stating that the midnight deadline applies. Could you please provide clarification. I am located in Florida.
11/24/2019
We were notified by a customer on September 27, 2019 that there are 72 POS debits totaling $1,373.01 from PlayStation on her account that she did not authorize. Since Visa will only allow us to go back 120 days for disputes, how much of these transactions is the bank responsible to refund to the customer?
11/10/2019
I am reviewing a debit card dispute and it is one that we denied because after investigating, we found out the customer had signed up for this service, but I am still a little concerned with the way the provisional credit was handled. The bank received the dispute (in writing) on 11/9/18. The final letter was mailed on 11/21/18; however, no provisional credit was ever given. I was under the impression that if we received the dispute in writing, we need to give provisional credit within 10 days. Are we in compliance?