Subj:	Banking Wackyness or something more?
Date:	12/26/01 6:52:26 PM Pacific Standard Time
F

Kento, me ol' son:

Skimmed the article you linked to at Rayelan's Rumpus Room of The Freely
Associated and Randomly Connected Dots. While I don't know that I buy all of
that(Who, in their Right Mind, does...especially from Rayelan's?), I do have
a few vignettes to share with you, regarding the subject matter. Please be
advised: everything contained is something *I* or the company I toil for has
experienced in the last two weeks or so. None of this is "friend of a friend"
drivel or from that old saw, the "Mysterious Source". Gah!:

1. I recently fought and scrabbled my way out of approximately 4 years of
personal and financial hell. Name it, and I experienced it. Not the most fun
I ever had with my clothes either on or off, to be sure. I now have a pretty
good job, one that pays better than any I have had before. I received my
first paycheck, drawn on an out-of-state bank. I went to the very-close,
local bank to open an account, get a mitt and get back in the game, so to
speak, feeling pretty good about myself all the way. First, the
Brunhilde-type assistant manager does everything but take a blood and sperm
sample. She then runs a credit check on me. "Credit Check?" asks I, in utter
incredulity. She prevaricates something about how this is S.O.P. for a new
account now. Credit check shows I owe $US149 and change, to another bank. She
will not open an account for me. I ask how might I pay that charge, if I
cannot gain access to funds? She suggests going to a check cashing service,
because said check would also take *12 DAYS* to clear into my account!

Now, let's look at this for a skinny minute: Federal Law, from The Banking
Reform Act of 1996, clearly states that 2 Days is all it should take to clear
a check, from a bank in the US. Hence, they needed my check, or more
importantly, MY FUNDS, for an extra 10 days. Why? I suspect they wanted to
roll those funds over in 5 day Certificates of Deposit, thus making extra
money. Why? I suspect the same reason that the Enron Building is being turned
into a parking lot: They made some really bad investments in derivatives, and
need to make money to cover their action. Also, Congress recently held
hearings, where they took representatives very much to task, over the fact
that Federally-chartered, for-profit banks were regularly funneling people to
check cashing services. Why? These Federally-chartered banks, having
less-stringent rules than state-chartered financial institutions, have
developed "relationships" with check-cashing services, which charge a minimum
of 10% on a cashing transaction. Sometimes as much as 20%.

One female congress-critter came out with the best line: "There used to be a
group that did business like this. They were called The Mafia".

2. The company I work for recently wanted to buy into a very nice business
deal. We needed a quite substantial sum, which the owner/CEO financed out of
his own holdings. Wellllll, getting the funds freed, transferring the funds,
everything, every step of the way, has been an INCREDIBLE torture. No matter
that this deal was time-sensitive. Each step of the way, it was delay, delay,
delay, even with our retained company attorney. Funny thing is, that with
each delay in freeing the funds from one link in the chain, another senseless
obstacle designed to keep the company from its funds has exploded upon the
scene. Another funny thing is that there is a constant that has run through
all of this:

January 2, 2002.

No one wants to take their hands off the funds until that date, so sayeth
they. This date is THE constant.

What is the meaning of January 2, in all of this?

SlewthZ??!