@Anonymous wrote:
@kdm31091 wrote:
@Aarvard wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Jeepers, lets not go crazy about $5500 in MS. That's a very small amount. Nothing is going to happen to him. SARS? Laughable. People get ridiculous over this stuff. His shutdown was due to the crazy number of applications in short period of time by two people tied together on a card and address.
It's more like $11,000-$12,000, still a small fry for them. Aren't SARS only filed for suspicious activities related to depositing a large amount of cash and money order or wiring a large amount of money internationally? I don't think credit lending is involved with SARS at all.
SARs can be filed over any suspicious money related activity including CCs. I work in retail. We can file SARs for any "suspicious transaction" over $2,000. I have never personally done it, but potentially, your gift card purchases could be considered "unusual" at $5500 and fair game for a SAR.
Now, will anything happen to you because of the SAR? Probably not, but it's not a good thing, either.
Ultimately, no one except Chase can say why the shutdown occured and it's pointless to speculate about it, but the constant apps and the large "unusual" transactions likely combined in some way to provide the shutdown. Alas, all you can do is tread more lightly next time. Good luck OP.
KDM, are these "real" SARs, that go to FINCEN? Or retailer versions such as those used by Walmart, which just records their version of suspicious activity, and is viewed only internally.
My understanding from working at Chase was that the SARs I filled out were sent to the IRS. Those particular SARs had to do with 10k+ deposits in cash. Even with those SARs I doubt anyone at the IRS looks at them, but most likely they are entered into a system designed to look for signficant patterns consistent with money laundering and if there are enough red flags someone might take a look to see if its legitimate or not. Like if your pumping hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in cash through your bank account but its a personal account and your tax return from last year indicates no income or job. At that point they are going to wonder what is with all this money. I bet a lot of the reasons they keep records is so that in the future if they are investigating someone that popped up their radar they can go back and look for a paper trail. I knew someone who was interviewed by the IRS after they moved a large amount of funds into a mutual fund and then pulled them out a day or two later. The IRS got into all the bank and mutual fund accounts looking to see if the person was sheltering to hide income that should have been declared. Once they checked it out to their satisfaction they moved on, since it wasn't they suspected. Still that was like over a million dollar transaction and isn't something OP needs to worry about.
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@Anonymous wrote:
@red259 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@kdm31091 wrote:
@Aarvard wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Jeepers, lets not go crazy about $5500 in MS. That's a very small amount. Nothing is going to happen to him. SARS? Laughable. People get ridiculous over this stuff. His shutdown was due to the crazy number of applications in short period of time by two people tied together on a card and address.
It's more like $11,000-$12,000, still a small fry for them. Aren't SARS only filed for suspicious activities related to depositing a large amount of cash and money order or wiring a large amount of money internationally? I don't think credit lending is involved with SARS at all.
SARs can be filed over any suspicious money related activity including CCs. I work in retail. We can file SARs for any "suspicious transaction" over $2,000. I have never personally done it, but potentially, your gift card purchases could be considered "unusual" at $5500 and fair game for a SAR.
Now, will anything happen to you because of the SAR? Probably not, but it's not a good thing, either.
Ultimately, no one except Chase can say why the shutdown occured and it's pointless to speculate about it, but the constant apps and the large "unusual" transactions likely combined in some way to provide the shutdown. Alas, all you can do is tread more lightly next time. Good luck OP.
KDM, are these "real" SARs, that go to FINCEN? Or retailer versions such as those used by Walmart, which just records their version of suspicious activity, and is viewed only internally.
My understanding from working at Chase was that the SARs I filled out were sent to the IRS. Those particular SARs had to do with 10k+ deposits in cash. Even with those SARs I doubt anyone at the IRS looks at them, but most likely they are entered into a system designed to look for signficant patterns consistent with money laundering and if there are enough red flags someone might take a look to see if its legitimate or not. Like if your pumping hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in cash through your bank account but its a personal account and your tax return from last year indicates no income or job. At that point they are going to wonder what is with all this money. I bet a lot of the reasons they keep records is so that in the future if they are investigating someone that popped up their radar they can go back and look for a paper trail. I knew someone who was interviewed by the IRS after they moved a large amount of funds into a mutual fund and then pulled them out a day or two later. The IRS got into all the bank and mutual fund accounts looking to see if the person was sheltering to hide income that should have been declared. Once they checked it out to their satisfaction they moved on, since it wasn't they suspected. Still that was like over a million dollar transaction and isn't something OP needs to worry about.
Was this before 2012? Since July 2012, SARs get filed with FINCEN rather than the IRS (both are under the Dept of Treasury though)
Its been around since 1990 actually. In 2012 they moved all the stuff into a digital format and allowed for digital filing. I used to have to fill out paper reports which they told me go to the IRS, but maybe they were sending it to this bureau. Apparently if you have a business and you get paid more than 10k in cash in a single transaction you are obligated to fill out a special form with the IRS as well. I didn't even know that.
Definitely sorry to hear about this misfortune. There is no way Chase will re-open these accounts. Same sentiment has been said throughout this thread - sad but true. Just move on cause I'm sure this will put you on the "unsatisfactory handling of previous chase accounts" list which lasts for quite some time (6+ year minimum).
⋅ INQs: 6
@red259 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:"Jeepers, lets not go crazy about $5500 in MS. That's a very small amount. Nothing is going to happen to him. SARS? Laughable. People get ridiculous over this stuff. His shutdown was due to the crazy number of applications in short period of time by two people tied together on a card and address."
Over 100k of credit applied for in 2 days? AU involved. Once a human saw this you can bet a SAR was filed. Main reason for filing is potential money laundering which is frequently done with credit cards. Lending (loans, leases and CCs ) are also monitored for Suspicious Activity. Not saying that something will happen to the OP legally but if a SAR is filed - closing of the accounts follows. Banks are going to CYA every time on stuff like this.
I was going to ignore this but since you stated your credentials, I have to bite. Are you absolutely certain this is the case for every SAR filed? For example, if someone comes in and buys a cashiers check and gives a teller $3,003 in cash. $3,000 for the check and $3 for the cost of the check assuming their accounts don't qualify for free checks. Are you sure that, once issuing the check and prompted to file an SAR, the customers account are flagged and closed?
If that were so, many many people accounts would be closed. So a broad statement [in blue] isn't true. Oh and like you, I worked previously for 2 well known banks.
+1 Yes, people tend to overexagerate what lenders will do in any given situation. My personal favoites are the claims that law enforcement is going to get involved in someone buying giftcards.
Dang, put those amazon and Netflix gift cards back, Bobbie. Robocop at the door sees me flashing a BCP, no can do. 
@Aarvard wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Discover2016 wrote:Yikes sorry to hear!
It seems that the MS is what did it for them, that is something that should always be avoided with Chase.
Maybe, maybe not. Depends on what type of MS as $4500 really isnt enough to get their dander up.
Yeah I don't think my $5,500 worth of MS poked the bear.
Edit: Now I realize that I did buy like another $7,500 VGCs at Simon spread across three cards, but ~$13,000 on 3 cards is still low in comparison with other heavy hitter.
What does MS mean in this context?