Security Bank Runs a Haphazard Operation that Works Against its Customers (May 2018 update)
by Allen Williams
Recently, I had the need to send money to a company overseas to purchase a service. I normally use PayPal because it’s readily accepted for overseas transfers unless you happen to bank with Security Bank of Kansas City, formerly Valley View Bank.
On April 28, 2017, I attempted the transaction but it was blocked. What’s interesting here is that I got an immediate notice from PayPal indicating that the party I was attempting to pay was blocking the transaction. Why would the people I’m trying to fund block the transfer? They don't want the business?
I didn’t find the answer to that question until the morning of May 1st when I received several email notifications and two automated phone calls from Security Bank asking me whether or not I was the originator of the $140 dollar transaction on April 28th and May 1st, 2017 respectively. After I confirmed that I was the originator, the transaction was still blocked.so what's the point of asking? It would be a good thing to verify the originator and then proceed with the transaction if the originator is who he or she claims to be but Security Bank is only concerned if it's an identity problem that they would have to refer the transaction attempt to the FBI. And a bank attempting to verify an overseas transfer of money would be a good thing if the queries had not occurred three days after I attempted the transfer. Why so fast, why not wait until the end of the week? No need to inform the owner of the account immediately- we’ll just block the transfer and see if it goes away on its own.
The experience gives one a feeling for just how much a bank exercises control over your own money being mindful that once deposited it’s not your money anymore. You’re just another creditor. And it gives new impetus to the scriptural text, “No man may buy or sell save he that have the mark.” It also reaffirms my oft repeated comment that “control over money is control over you.” It’s a major reason why the banks are warring against cash. It gives far greater power to the money barons over who buys what and when. Just wait until these morons have us all on electronic currency, where not only can and will they block transfers they don’t like, but will charge you VAT fees as well on both ends of the transfer.
What’s scary is that I could have been attempting to send the $140 bucks to a vacationing family member overseas who unexpectedly ran short. But that doesn’t matter, bank POLICY comes first, everything else be d_____! Ever wonder how the banking cartel and the government can quickly wreck your money portfolio along with your day? Read on!
Note that it doesn’t matter that I had set up a pre-arranged transfer annually for this event and that Valley View (now Security) had paid the same company at the same location for three previous years running. I affirmed that request with the same bank just last year but the only valid agreement with Security Bank is what you can make at the moment and even that agreement doesn't necessarily hold and is time limited. (These are the same YOYOs that offer you the opportunity to download your bank statement electronically BUT IT DOESN”T WORK! All you get is an error notification. Once inside their system you’re ‘on a 3-minute egg timer clock after you login; instead of counting inactive time and resetting their clock if you change the page or click on something else; they simply dump you out of your account. I’ve had to log back in multiple times to complete a single task. And along with that policy they required you to show your driver’s license each teller visit with your hat off so they could recognize you. Consider that you may not really be you, you could be someone that looks like you wearing a hat to pretend to be someone else. Never mind that you come in more than once a week for over 10 years, that's irrelevant. Policy is policy. I could go on and on.) It’s complete lunacy and it’s about time the public found out the kind of nonsense they can expect in doing business there.
The Bank’s President and his security advisor appear to be a couple of flakes bereft of common sense but they’re actually getting help “Thanks to Government, Banks That Treat You Like Crap and Spy on You” After all, I could be a terrorist buying a raft for some illegal to float into the country or maybe I was buying a bomb part or stock in a chemical weapons factory.
But I digress. So I called the bank to get some answers as to why my payment wasn’t going through. After giving a young lady in the ‘customer support’ group my identification information, she answered my questions indicating that Security blocks ALL foreign transactions. The government limits taking money out of the country to $10,000 but these people block all foreign transactions involving your money! The customer rep then promised that the bank would allow me to make the transfer if I performed it before May 2nd but then refused to identify herself. Incredibly, the customer Rep refused to give me her name citing it wasn’t needed! Now you know exactly what those canned statements informing you that calls are recorded for quality assurance are really worth. Further questioning revealed that the transfer would have to be before 12:01 am on May 1st. So, I hung up and tried the transfer again .. now wait for it.. THE TRANSFER STIILL was NOT made!
I was a little steamed when I called back the second time because they reneged on the agreement but this time I was able to get a customer rep with a little more savvy to manually process the payment, finally receiving confirmation from PayPal that the company had received the funds.
If you’re looking for a bank, I ‘d suggest that Security Bank of Kansas City isn’t it.
UPDATE 5/5/2017
Today, I received a response from the Bank's vice president :
I’d like to take his opportunity to pass along our apologies regarding the difficulties you experienced while trying to conduct a recent debit card transaction. However, I wanted to make you aware that the transaction posted to your account on May 3, 2017.
I want to assure you that we make it our top priority to provide reliable payment processing systems to our customers. We understand that customers depend upon debit cards for their everyday needs. We take that responsibility very seriously.
At the same time, I am sure you have heard on the news that debit and credit card fraud is a global epidemic. Criminals use multiple tactics to steal card numbers. Such methods include online and telephone scams; skimming devices placed on retail terminals, ATMs and gas station pumps; etc. International transactions (especially those conducted on the internet) are one of the biggest threats.
I have reviewed this incident. I can see that you needed to make several phone calls to resolve this issue. We apologize for the inconvenience that caused. As fraud issues continue to evolve, all financial institutions are facing similar challenges with balancing security and customer convenience. We are continually monitoring and revisiting our fraud protection procedures, so your feedback is truly appreciated.
Rest assured, we really are attempting to keep your best interests in mind with our efforts to protect your account. It is time-consuming and disconcerting to become a victim of fraud. We want to do our part to help minimize the opportunity for that to happen to you.
If you have additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. I will be glad to assist.
Best Regards,
Cathy Keeling
Senior Vice President
Security Bank of Kansas City
My response:
Mss Keeling:
What kind of remark is "the transaction posted to my account on May 3rd mean other than being patronizing? That didn't happen because of anything Security bank did. I got one of your support reps to push it through manually. What you're saying is 'well, it went through so get over it.' There's not much point in having your system make several automated calls to confirm my transfer request (not to mention 2 separate emails regarding the same issue) and then when satisfied the request was indeed made by me, simply ignoring it and continue to block my transfer.
And yes, I'm aware of the the scam tactics used to victimize Debit card holders but that's not an excuse to ignore the requests of valid card holders.
I have updated my May 2nd article with this information as its important that our 200,000+ readers be informed. If you continue to block my transfers when you have confirmation that I'm the originator, THERE WILL BE ADDITIONAL PUBLICATIONS about security bank policies and practices.
Consider it free advertising.
Update May 2018
Sometime beginning around March of this year, I began to experience increased difficulty logging into my Security Bank account using Tor. At first, I thought it was just their goofy system as it's always been clunky and now they were upgrading it. When I complained, i was told that Security was having software issues. However my logging in difficulty continued to worsen, sometimes I could only view my account for a minute or so and then suddenly I was logged out. Other times, their system would cycle me around from the login screen to the security questions and then to a different login screen before letting me into the system. I would then get to view one or two entrres in my account before getting dumped out.
Then somewhere towards the end of April, I found that I could no longer get into my account using Tor despite always using the latest software version. I checked the browser list on their site that Security claims to support and Firefox was on it. I then logged into my account using a conventional version of Firefox and got right in without further trouble. At this point I realized that the bank was deliberately sabotaging my use of the Tor browser.
Entering their internal memo communication block I advised the bank on line that if they continued to block access to my own account after I have provided both the correct login information as well as correctly answering their secuity questions that I would be filing a formal complaint with the Kansas Attorney General's Office along with whatever federal agency regulates them, e.g. the office of thrift management or whomever, etc. I obviously got their attention because one of their executives called me a couple minutes later and I reiterated what I had said in the written correspondece plus advised them that both my complaint and an article detailing the events would be published for our quarter million readers.
Keep in mind that banks will promptly take advantage of you if you're unaware of your rights as a depositor. Hopefully, this review will benefit some of you in your own circumstances. Thus far I haven't had any more trouble using Tor to view my Security Bank account, but I'll be watching.
If Security Bank was truly concerned about security and not simply collecting data they wouldn't have been blocking the Tor browser in the first place.
A. Williams