Santander bank notified Brazil Bitcoin platform on Friday (17) of the closing of its current account. The communication was made through a call from the manager of the agency where the cryptocurrency company is an account holder. Closing this account can represent a 10% loss on monthly deposits made on the platform.
Jorge Alves, Brazil Bitcoin Marketing Manager, told the Bitcoin Portal that the bank initially said the closure would be immediate. The manager didn't even give the cryptocurrency company a deadline to prepare to resolve pending issues like the remaining balance in the account.
It only changed, however, when Marco Castellari, a partner at the company, questioned the manager's attitude. According to Alves, after that, the bank informed that the closure would actually take place on February 7. A representative of the company, however, should appear, next Monday (20), in the agency to sign the closing document.
“When the partner said he would be at the agency in early February, the manager requested that it be done on January 20 to sign the closing document. And the closure will in fact take place on February 5th ”.
The manager even said to the company, through this phone call, that he tried to communicate about the closure before giving the 30-day deadline. Alves, however, said that if there was such an attempt it was made by other phone calls, as there was no document received by the post office or in the emails of Brasil Bitcoin.
Problems with Santander
This is not the first time that the bitcoin platform has problems with Santander. About three years ago, the company had R $ 2 million blocked from its account. According to Alves, this block was “due to an allegedly fraudulent transaction in the amount of R $ 100. The account was blocked for one month and was only released after a complaint at the Central Bank”.
Alves said that this fraudulent transaction came from a Santander customer to the Brasil Plural do Brasil Bitcoin account. The company detected before the funds were released, but Santander decided to block the balance of R $ 2 million until the company paid the loss of R $ 100.
“A few months ago, we received fraudulent transactions in our Brasil Plural account, originating from Banco Santander customers, which we detected before the funds were released”.
He also narrated that later the company had to retain a series of transfers that originally came from Santander accounts. A total of R $ 100 thousand that reached Brasil Bitcoin accounts in Brasil Plural, were retained by the company on suspicion of fraud.
Alves said that shortly after the platform had retained the amounts, she was contacted by the GOE (Special Operations Management of Banco Santander) to have the amount refunded. The company then returned the amount immediately.
In addition to Santander, the company has already had its account closed by Banco do Brasil. Alves said that closing the account at Santander may represent one million reais less in the movement of deposits.
“The monthly volume of deposits represented around 10% of bank transactions. About one million reais a month ”.
He, however, stated that Brazil Bitcoin does not intend to initiate legal action against the financial institution. The path, according to Alves, will be another: “untying as a partner bank and following the operations”.
Expert words
For the lawyer Felipe Porto, from the Pereira, Porto and Penedo lawyers office, the bank must inform the client by means of a written document about the account closure. According to the lawyer, this is so that this client can resolve possible pending issues such as remaining balance and debts.
"If the financial institution wishes to terminate the contract, it must mandatorily communicate the customer by correspondence or electronic means in advance stating the deadline so that the person can take steps to withdraw the balance in the account and return checks".
Porto explained that these rules are dictated by the Central Bank. The lack of any of these elements, according to the lawyer, may give rise to an action for damages for breach of contract by the client.
New Bacen rule
Also according to the new resolution of the Central Bank, which began to take effect this month, the bank must grant 30 days to formalize the closing of its client's current account. The new rule repeals the old resolution 2.025 / 93 that did not mention deadlines for account closings.
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