Scotiabank horror stories

Horror story #1

Last year I received a wire transfer sometime in the early afternoon on a Friday.

My bank (scotiabank) called me regarding the transfer.. requesting that I verify where its from, and what its for.

They requested that I get the sender to fax them a business invoice from his bank with the information. She actually specified that it has to be a business invoice not just something he makes on his computer.. I was like wtf dont most people make their invoices on their computer??... I use to get wires pretty often and never had to do this before.. this wire was only for 5k-7k USD (cant remember exact amount.. was along time ago).

The wire was from another country .. 6hour time difference.. so I told them I would try to get the fax in tomorrow. That night I spoke to the person that was sending me the funds and asked if he could send the fax.. he was able to send all the required information but unfortunately be wasnt able to do it from the bank he was sending the funds from because it was a business account that wasnt local. He lives in Malta, its a very small country (smaller then most cities) and its an island.. so his business bank account was actually in another European country.

So I call my bank back asking if he can send the fax from his office instead.. the lady I was speaking to said she wasnt sure.. and she would call me back.. I wait all day.. no call back.. so I call them 20mins or so before closing.. and they tell me they rejected my wire transfer and sent it back to the sender.. for some reason they never felt it was necessary to contact me after doing this.. or prior to doing it.. I ask to speak to the manager and he says you only have 48hours to send the fax before they reject the wire.. at this time its been less then 24hours and a good 8hours or so was me waiting for the bank to call me back... his reply was "we are closed on sunday and monday is a holiday so theres no way we could get the fax in 48hours so we just sent it back"..

Pretty ridiculous eh?

Horror story #2

After horror story #1, I just got international checks for all my work to avoid any problems since their wire transfer policy suddenly changed or they flagged my account or something. They told me anytime in the future I get a wire transfer I will have to do all the stupid fax garbage. I do freelance programming online for many companies.. I am usually a temp employee and its not really possible for the company to send all this requested information to my bank.. especially when 99.9% of the world does not have to do this garbage.

I recently started to use a new ewallet (moneybookers.com).. I used it to send and receive a lot of funds.. after about 6months or so of using and probably 2 or 3 dozen transactions I wanted to withdraw my balance. Their withdraw options were check or wire transfer... I knew my check would get held for 30 business days.. and wire transfer would be fast.. so I decided to gamble and try the transfer.

Wednesday the money arrived.. and I seen it in my account altho it was put on hold for 10 business days (strange for a wire transfer)... a few hours later someone calls me from my bank.. I wasnt available at the time so she left a voicemail. Her English was REALLY bad.. she left a phone # and extension # to call her back.. her english was so bad that I couldnt understand the phone # or extension #.. luckily the phone number was on my call display.. and the extension # was only 4 digits, so I figured I could piece it together.. Nope.. I tried every possible combination and they were all invalid.. the only way to get through to anyone via the # I was calling was with an extension number. So I had to look up the branch number online and get transferred to her..

She requested that I verify the wire transfer... I was worried this is what it was for.. the wire transfer was only for $5000USD. I tried to explain to her that the transfer is from an ewallet account of mine and that I can not get anything faxed to verify the source of the funds because
a) moneybookers wouldnt do it
b) moneybookers does not know what any of the money is for
c) theres been so many sending/receiving transactions.. itd be a pain to put an original source on every dollar... then get each source to send the information they are requesting

She is confused as hell and doesnt understand anything I am saying.. I try to explain to her that the situation is equivalent to me sending my balance from another bank to this bank.. its already MY MONEY.. I am sending it to myself.. and the best I can do is show a transaction log of the account to verify the source of the funds.. but that is unnecessary and I shouldnt have to do it.. because a lot of the transactions are no longer relevant to the current balance.

She tells me she will call me back.. so 30mins or so later she calls me back and we basically have the exact same conversation.. I request to speak to a supervisor.. she says hes not available.. but she will get him to call me back.. I wait the entire day.. no call back..

Next day I call them back.. I get her again (hooray).. request to speak to a supervisor again.. hes not available again.. she says he will call me back.. again... he doesnt call me back... again..

Today I check my bank account .. and notice the hold has increase to 30 business days.. wtf?!

Once this issue is resolved I am going to close all my accounts with scotiabank.. cancel my credit cards.. and go to another bank.. I really dont want to do this tho because Ive had a scotia account since I was a teen.. but clearly that is irrelevant to them since I cant even get a wire transfer without a ton of issues.

Sounds like to me that your transactional history smells of money laundering which is why they are giving you so much hassles. Especially your first story, don't think that going to another bank will necessarily solve your issues.

Ideally, given your situation, you should consider HSBC or establish a business account. Wonder if you declare your income as well to the CRA?

Hi bail, I recommend you don't cancel your stuff with Scotia right away, but to wait before closing it while you go to another bank, and tell them you're "thinking about switching banks" and "what can they offer you" as there are often perks associated with switching banks. I think Royal bank has a points perk for switching:

http://www.rbcroyalbank.com/expectmore/

Also, ask up front about what the new bank's policies are with respect to wires and international cheques, etc.

Good luck and hope this helps!

Wow, sound like you are on a National Security Watch List as a suspected terrorist Is your name bin Laden by any chance? Yeah, really weird stuff. Better open a business account at RBC. Never had to do anything of this sort with them.

Originally Posted by evoviii

Sounds like to me that your transactional history smells of money laundering which is why they are giving you so much hassles. Especially your first story, don't think that going to another bank will necessarily solve your issues.

Ideally, given your situation, you should consider HSBC or establish a business account. Wonder if you declare your income as well to the CRA?

Of course I declare my income to the CRA.
I asked Scotia before if I had a business account would I experience the same issues.. they said its mandatory for everyone now.. probably lying to me though.

I dont see what sounds so bad about the first story? getting money sent from overseas smells like money laundering?

Most my money come from 2 sources and I can verify those sources and I was willing to verify them.. but I am not willing to do it every time I get a wire transfer because its too much of a hassle.

Also thanks everyone else for the tips.

I'm surprised Scotia has went through so much trouble and blocking off wire transfers, even if they are below $10,000. Wire transfers are guaranteed money, there should not be a hold placed on it in normal circumstances. If you are using a personal account and constantly sending/receiving wire transfers, you probably should be using a business account as that kind of activity would be "suspicious" on a personal account.

Money sent from overseas may raise suspicions of money laundering, especially if it appears you have no connection to the country and if the country is an offshore tax haven.

If you do so much international banking, you should consider using HSBC Premier and setup accounts in the countries where you do business with a lot. It would save you a ton on wire transfer fees.

I will definitely look into HSBC.

Regarding the wire transfers, Ive received a decent amount.. not sure if I would call it a lot.. for along time I was probably getting 1 a month.. or 1 every 2 months. I've only sent 3-4 wire transfers ever... and they were all to the united states (if that is relevant).

After having issue #1.. I didnt get a wire transfer for 6 months, but I had all the requested information faxed and it wasnt a problem... now the current issue has been 6months+ since my previous wire.

My biggest concern now is what the bank is going to do with my $5kUSD.. I really hope they dont send it back to moneybookers because moneybookers has HORRIBLE support and take over a week to reply to an email... so I could see my money getting lost somewhere lol. Hopefully when I do eventually get to speak to a supervisor I can explain the situation and he will understand why I cant get a single individual to fax him the requested information.

They say Scotiabank is notorious to this type of client treatment.

One time they blocked a wire transfer and would not release the money regardless of what I did. The invoice I sent did not comply to the Scotiabank rules; the contract was inappropriate because it was signed with a US based corporation (Sybase). All I had to do is to prove that this transaction was not associated with international terrorism (just think of possible ways of doing that!)

After a month and a half of fierce negotiations with the Office Of The President they finally deposited the money and made me promise the next time I have my invoices signed by the customer and would not charge them more than $10,000 at a time.


The only way I can explain this is that Scotiabank probably makes the person who accepted the transaction personally liable if something goes wrong.

Originally Posted by evoviii

Sounds like to me that your transactional history smells of money laundering which is why they are giving you so much hassles. Especially your first story, don't think that going to another bank will necessarily solve your issues.

Ideally, given your situation, you should consider HSBC or establish a business account. Wonder if you declare your income as well to the CRA?

I don't think 5-7K is enough to worry about for money laundering? 50K maybe.

Surprised they gave him so many hassles for such a relatively small amount. You don't even have to start reporting it to the feds until it is over 10K.

If I was the OP I would take my business elsewhere. Talk to a bank manager and explain the business you do and why it is important to not have these wires rejected.

Usually smaller amounts aren't but something must have spooked them, perhaps because it's from Malta.

Though after awhile, if it keeps coming from same account there should be no reason once a preliminary investigation finds it's self employed income. Though frequent amounts just under 10k would get flagged as well as this is suspicious behaviour.

Though scotia is in the wrong for not following up with the OP. Frankly these type of issues should be escalated in person. The contact at scotia was simply not willing to have you in contact with her superior, she could have simply forwarded you to supervisor's voicemail or branch manager. That's what they are there for. There should be a branch compliance officer that looks into these things.

Go with TD bank, longer hours for Tellers and pretty good bank account plans or HSBC like others suggested.

I suggest going to your branch (the scotiabank branch where your account is based) and finding someone to talk with about these issues. It's much better to deal with someone in person especially with the branch manager.
It's too easy for someone to blow you off over the phone with excuses.