19 replies to this topic

[Eldorado]

Black Red Devil, on 28 February 2013 - 07:54 AM, said:

Both the Federal Govt and the State Govts are just a bunch of money laundering thieves.  The problem is that Australians haven't got much of a choice as far as political selections.

There are mainly two/three major political parties, a Right Centre Right wing Coalition, National and Liberal Parties and the Centre Left Labor Party.  There doesn't even appear to be any ideological differences between them anymore.  All they seem to have on their agenda these days is how to sweet talk and screw the taxpayer without them noticing.

Same here, mate.  Same here.  

[Gummug]

Black Red Devil, on 28 February 2013 - 07:54 AM, said:

Both the Federal Govt and the State Govts are just a bunch of money laundering thieves.  The problem is that Australians haven't got much of a choice as far as political selections.

There are mainly two/three major political parties, a Right Centre Right wing Coalition, National and Liberal Parties and the Centre Left Labor Party.  There doesn't even appear to be any ideological differences between them anymore.  All they seem to have on their agenda these days is how to sweet talk and screw the taxpayer without them noticing.

I wish you guys could somehow start a grass-roots party that would actually be in favor of the people.

[and then]

Another angle of this for me is the banks themselves.  In the US if one doesn't keep an account at a bank then most transactions involving checks and other financial instruments are loaded with fees.  The bank gets a cut regardless.  I'd like to see independent, citizens rights oriented credit union type institutions take over in banking.  Something akin to a not for profit financial services sector on a limited scale.  The people would RAVE over such a choice, I think.

[White Unicorn]

OverSword, on 27 February 2013 - 06:07 PM, said:

This is just unbelievable, I guess if you want to save for a rainy day in australia you have to hide your money in your matress.

From the article:


HOUSEHOLDS face losing up to $109 million from their family savings as the Federal government moves to seize cash from inactive bank accounts.
After legislation was rushed through parliament, the government will from May 31 be able to transfer all money from accounts that have not been used for three years into their own revenues.

http://www.news.com....r-1226585867131

States in the US have  been doing escheat for decades.

Banker view,  In the old days accounts would sit for years usually a deceased party and heirs had no clue they had money. Letters sent to address before escheatment are usually returned unknown address of forwarding instead of claimed, banks added hours to their payroll complying with the state and didn't get anything back for doing the state's paper work.

When most banks were small and just started using remote online systems that were usually provided by a larger more techno bank.  So here you have that majority of the accounts being small and ended up keeping them on the books for years and paying a fee to a BIG bank to process it for years. Small bank would pay processing fees just by housing it on a computer information system which would end up costing them  more than what was even in most of the accounts.

Things changed, even the small banks started dormant account fees to recover losses before account escheated. So if you have a fee say $5 monthly yearly or whatever and the account would service charge out and close more quickly.  By the time the escheatment time comes for high balance accounts, what's left all goes to the state.  

The states got greeder or smarter ? in the end too. Before you could inquire on unclaimed funds and send in a claim to recover with no charge.  Today we are modern and can do online free searches but the state charges a fee of say $50 with the claim form. They don't tell you the amount, so you may end up having a fee being more than your unclaimed account!

This is how it works, welcome to the American way Aussies !

[Jinxdom]

Two of the most dangerous organizations fighting, in a land that most people have never seen or could imagine, for control over some powerful object that we don't fully understand, under the name of the dead and forgotten, and following in the shadows of the long fallen USA.

This is a conspiracy theorist's wet dream

Banks are going to notify you before it happens, because if they don't they don't have access to the account either. They use money to make money after all. If the amount isn't worth the effort then nobody would really lose out. (Does Crazy Bob really need any amount of money if he is that far off the grid to not even accidentally keep the account active and miss the warning the bank would give him? I really doubt it.)

Just don't use a government owned bank.