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It appears Frost Bank closed our account because we are an immigrant family.

On Thursday, we received a letter stating the following: Dear ,

The mission of Frost is to establish long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with customers. Unfortunately, there are times when we are unable to achieve this goal.

Accordingly, as provided in our Deposit Account Agreement in the Account Termination clause that states โ€œYou and we agree that either of us may close your Account and terminate this Agreement any time with or without causeโ€, please accept this letter as notice that effective thirty days from the above date, we shall be closing your accounts. (A copy of the Deposit Account Agreement is enclosed.)

This decision was made after careful consideration of recent wire activity in your account. After (October 1, 2015) any checks, drafts or any other charges to the accounts will be returned โ€œAccounts Closedโ€. If you desire, you may come in immediately and close the account. If you take no action by the 30th day October 1, 2015, we will close the account and send you a check for any remaining funds on deposit.

If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact me at 210-220-****. Sincerely, Loretta Bernhard, Assistant Vice President.

We mistakenly assumed the bank had misinterpreted the two overseas origin wire transfers as possible indication of criminal or nefarious activity. So we called to clear up what we thought was a misunderstanding. We were unable to talk with Loretta Bernhard at the above listed phone number. After being repeatedly transferred, we spoke with Tricia Richardson who assured us they are not accusing us of any crime and told us that the volume of wire transfers was a concern. There were two.

This explanation, of course, seemed disingenuous. So we continued to push for an explanation and the rep continued to repeat that this is a "relationship bank" which does not mean anything coherent. What specific detail of the relationship have we violated? And how do the two wire transfers from overseas play into that?

There was no contact prior to this letter. No warning that we had done something inappropriate with our account. And there remains no clear explanation for what we've done except the above legalese which amounts to "because we can."

The rep said because our bank activity is not "normal." What does that mean? What is normal? How are we supposed to comply with this "normal?"

The rep asked why the second wire transfer was moved to another bank in two installments. I explained that my husband said Frost bank's website had some limitation on transfer amounts. So the money had to moved in two installments.

I further explained that we did not intend to have more than 1 wire transfer per year for my husband's parents pension, but that a death in the family required additional funds from overseas family to cover funeral costs. There is nothing criminal happening. I have documents, receipts, a death certificate that I can provide.

The rep wanted to know why the money was transferred to another US bank. I explained that we are new to Frost and we still don't know how to use their website. We simply needed a method to pay the funeral home and the most obvious method to us was to pay it with a credit card. We don't have a credit card with Frost bank. So we transferred the money to the other bank where we do have a credit card.

We certainly were not thinking in the middle of funeral arrangements how not to offend our "relationship bank" Frost Bank.

I asked if there is any kind of review process. She assured me there is and that the staff had discussed our account at length. No, by review process, I mean, any method to explain to decision makers WHY our "bank activity" is not "normal" aka we had a death in the family and needed to pay for a funeral.

At this point, the rep seemed to be making it up. Well, you could send me an email with the explanation, but thereโ€™s no guarantee it would have any effect on the outcome.

Thatโ€™s not a review process. It doesnโ€™t allow us to engage with decision makers about our banking account and its status.

The letter is replete with grammatical errors and logic failures. The overall professionalism of this bank is seriously in doubt at this point.

Reason of review: Poor customer service.

Monetary Loss: $1000.

Preferred solution: A coherent explanation for unprofessional condition, an apology and a cease action on account closure..

Frost Bank Pros: Clerks.

Frost Bank Cons: Management.

Location: San Antonio, Texas

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I don't understand why anyone utilizes banks for any account, other than possibly credit cards or auto loans, when there are so many credit union choices available. Banks have only one real mission: to generate profits.

Credit unions are "owned" by the members, and in my experience, always have little to no "user fees", far better customer service, and treat members better than banks treat their customers. Since you live in San Antonio, Texas, you have access to a fantastic credit union: Security Service Federal Credit Union.

If sounds like Frost Bank is being over zealous in applying the regulations enacted after 9/11 to combat terrorist funding and money laundering. I'm no fan of Frost, but they are within their legal rights to close your account, however arbitrary it may seem, especially since you agreed to those terms upon opening the account.

Part of their reasoning I'm sure also had to do with the fact that the account was relatively new, one of the factors that contributes to an account getting flagged for review for any "unusual activity", such as wire transfers over certain amounts, from certain countries. Good luck.

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