Don't get me wrong, I think it's abhorrent, but it's something you should think about.
I once tried to open a new bank account with my bank of 10y, and set up direct debit to it. The point was that I was going to pay my rent from that new account (both me and a roommate would pay into the account, and a direct-debit would go to the landlord).
I filed the paperwork, in person, and heard nothing, a week passed, I phoned the bank, they said call back tomorrow.
I did, "please call in a week".
Waited a week, "please call back next week"..
So I go in person to the bank, and I refuse to leave until they fix it- I was being pressured by the landlord, I couldn't take the keys of the new property until proof of direct debit was handed over.
I waited for 5hrs in the lobby, basically from a few minutes after the branch opened until the mid-afternoon. Eventually a teller decided to help me because none of the bank managers were going to look at it.
What was the problem? apparently because I had claimed to have an income on one of the forms they wanted proof. I had never been asked to delclare proof before; and bearing in mind that previously I had never declared any income on any account _and_ I had standing orders/direct debits coming from the account; this was also the account that was where my salary landed, the only account I'd had since I was 13.
I tried to give proof, I showed bank statements and payslips... contracts etc; but because the payslips were on my phone they didn't accept them, I asked if I could use a printer and they said no.
So, I walked across the street to Barclays, opened 3 accounts with my passport and a proof-of-address, set up all my direct debits in 1hr, transferred all my money and that was the end of it.
What pissed me off most was the lack of transparency on exactly /why/ they decided not to move forward, expecting me to just sit on my hands forever is not good.
Fuck you HSBC, that was nearly 10 years ago and I still fucking hate you.
er... my point is that corps can be fickle and you shouldn't trust any of them. Especially the ones that implore you to trust them.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hsbc-probe/hsbc-to-pay-1-...
From what I understand, the fine was much less than what they made from that money laundering. People should have gone to prison for it. The fine was only a slap on the wrist.
If they had been up front and said "we need payslips in A4 printed format" I would have provided them..
Ironically HSBC at the time had adverts plastered at airports all over the world bragging at how good they are for international businesses...
With long established institutions (like banks) you still have lots of competitors to choose from, and legal recourse if you are wronged. There is no recourse when PayPals, Amazons and Apples of the world decide to scrub you.
In my case it was Apple refusing to work with a bank because they don't have branches, apparently. It's a well known private bank, with a gazillion businesses banking with them, a subsidiary of a rather large multinational bank. For ten years my company has been paid by, and paid out to, numerous entities in the UK and abroad, with no problems. But now Apple comes around, all arrogant as they are, telling me to switch banks because they have enacted a rule that doesn't exist in any laws, just because they can? I am not willing to go down that route.
Which is the same as my example.
Legal recourse for your bank to lock down your account is actually very limited. But I agree that banks are at least more competitive so they're less likely.
If there were two banks (a duo culture, like google/apple in phones) then you can be very sure it would be the same.
Excellent example of short-term thinking. If everyone followed your advice, Google and Apple would be able to extort any bank in the world, until in addition to their software and ad near-monopolies, they'd also have a banking near-monopoly.
How about Apple telling me they don't like my business bank (a well known UK bank I've been with for 10 years) and simply refusing to set up the account. In a very cold, "go away already", manner. I wasn't going to kill the relationship with my business bank just because Apple told me to, so the app never got onto App Store and I shut down my dev account.