tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5227064496185547313.post7346531610996552742..comments2024-03-29T12:14:57.086+00:00Comments on Magnon's Meanderings: Unclaimed Dosh (A Cautionary Tale).Cro Magnonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06840670227576695352noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5227064496185547313.post-74807817996760283292013-03-30T20:23:21.135+00:002013-03-30T20:23:21.135+00:00Very interesting stories. Recently I've had r...Very interesting stories. Recently I've had reason to remind myself a number of times that banks are just businesses, like any other. Except that there's not really any alternative - we have to use them - and of course that teeny tiny difference that they get given money when THEY make a loss...Katehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12453125929159161583noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5227064496185547313.post-48749339474930268042013-03-30T13:30:04.118+00:002013-03-30T13:30:04.118+00:00In a bank vault somewhere in London, a small fortu...In a bank vault somewhere in London, a small fortune resides after a distant relative of mine (also a sculptor) died intestate in the 17th century. I have not bothered to try to make the connection, even before the banks disgraced themselves in the latest set of scandals.Tom Stephensonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05979590950587415840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5227064496185547313.post-60459521878465558872013-03-30T11:30:47.966+00:002013-03-30T11:30:47.966+00:00Good god. Whenever I now want a lump sum of cash f...Good god. Whenever I now want a lump sum of cash from the UK, I send someone a cheque, and they bring me the Euro equivalent. Even that I find frustrating!Cro Magnonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06840670227576695352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5227064496185547313.post-30661195532293523922013-03-30T10:47:56.246+00:002013-03-30T10:47:56.246+00:00Getting money out of Angola is a nightmare but it ...Getting money out of Angola is a nightmare but it used to be worse. In order to transfer money abroad it had to be supported by an invoice. You are allowed now to take out up to $10,000 but to get the cash you need valid airtickets. Banks hang on to money, it once took me 4 months to make a transfer to my UK account. Even though I have a dollar account, the bank never has dollars so, in order to transfer money abroad, I recive the money out of my dollar account in local currency, Kwanzas being charged the usual bank commission to change dollars into kwanzas. I then take the kwanzas to an illegal money changer and pay a horrible rate to change them back into dollars. I then go to Western Union and Moneygram over the next few days and send the money to my brother in Germany who has to make several trips to the WU and Moneygram offices to collect the transfers. Naturally I pay a fee for that service too. To ensure my brother gets 5000, it costs me nearly six grand. <br /><br />When I sold a house here back in 98 I received the money in cash dollars. I took the briefcase full of money back to my office, stripped off and had a mate bandage the 10,000 dollar bundles to my body and then bribed my way onto the docks so that I could visit 'my German uncle' who was captain of a freighter so please, please, could the Fiscal Police please escort me to his ship and let me have a few drinks on board with him before he sailed? All I want to do, I said, is see him as I hadn't seen him in years and give him a present. I then held up my rucksack which they searched and found inside an Angola Artisan carving.<br /><br />'You haven't paid the tax at the Ministry of Culture' they pointed out. Back then, if you bought a souvenir, you had to take it to the Ministry of Culture, pay the tax and then they would stick a stamp on it. Thus distracted, they gleefully accepted another bribe and I was allowed on board whereupon I stripped off and dumped the cash on the Captain's bunk.<br /><br />My only concerns had been whether the fact I was clad all in jeans, including a jeans shirt AND jacket in all that heat and sweating like a pig would arouse suspicion and whether the Fiscal Police who were escorting me would notice my sudden drastic weight loss after leaving the vessel.Hippohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09468795398813061897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5227064496185547313.post-41962956824758363052013-03-30T08:33:14.871+00:002013-03-30T08:33:14.871+00:00It's a dream, isn't it - the idea that som...It's a dream, isn't it - the idea that some relative has left money in an account somewhere and suddenly we find it and it is ours! I think the government here in UK has decided after a certain amount of time, money unclaimed in a bank goes to charity. (Though I think it can also be reclaimed, somehow or other, later.) Not a very precise comment this!Lucy Corrander Now in Halifax!https://www.blogger.com/profile/14685242329129914772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5227064496185547313.post-23785319183296982872013-03-30T06:04:27.010+00:002013-03-30T06:04:27.010+00:00Back in the 60's most banks were happy to acce...Back in the 60's most banks were happy to accept your money, in no matter what country. Nowadays I can't even get my own bank in the UK to credit my bank in France with money unless I actually go there to sign papers. They are petrified of anyone doing anything dodgy... unless, of course, you're Russian.Cro Magnonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06840670227576695352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5227064496185547313.post-59354743469352509002013-03-30T05:56:20.547+00:002013-03-30T05:56:20.547+00:00For a while now I've been wondering how diffic...For a while now I've been wondering how difficult it would be to open a bank account overseas. It's almost impossible to open one in the UK I'm told so I wonder about France. Trying to transfer money from Australia to pay for holiday rentals costs a fortune in bank charges and the correct amount never arrives causing further trouble. Big time criminals as well as people like your father don't seem to have any trouble opening accounts!Helsiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15136273834165751276noreply@blogger.com