After having my accounts forcibly closed by Lloyds Bank for what I presume was my prolific OTC Bitcoin trading, I had to look elsewhere. The manner in which my accounts were closed was particularly frustrating, all I knew was that at around 3pm on a Friday, my card stopped working, my OTC trading account was closed and the funds transferred into my current account. I had to go all weekend without access to MY money. I went into the branch on the Monday morning and demanded to know what the hell was going on – the response was a wonderful “I don’t have any details available”. Sigh.
They then tried to hold my money to ransom, before I made it clear that I would accept nothing less than £1000 in cash accompanied by a banker’s draft for the remaining amount. On receipt, I duly marched into HSBC, and opened a Premier account there. I’m sure HSBC suck just as much, but at least now I have a premier account, they can suck in style.
Anyone who has tried to use HSBC for Bitcoin trading in the UK knows that it is nigh on impossible, given that they don’t seem to be able to manage the instant transfers other banks can. And it seems that separate accounts is not sufficient any more, I opened another account with Metrobank from which to do my trading. They’re a very unusual bank. No enclosed kiosks or glass screens. They print your card there and then in the branch, and they also have safety deposit boxes in branch – perhaps for your paper wallets.
I’ve seen some suggest that they aren’t particularly fast at “faster” payments either, but I haven’t tried yet – I’m taking a well earned break from trading.
I live for the day when banks are not necessary.
