A Swiss Bank Refuses to Hand Over an American Depositor’s Gold.

http://teapartyeconomist.com/2013/0...ses-to-hand-over-an-american-depositors-gold/

 

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Just like folks saw with MF Global, even fully allocated accounts held by a counterparty carries risk. IMO, it's the same dynamic with safety deposit boxes at your local bank. If the facility is controlled / managed by a counterparty, you can be denied access.

 

This is why I keep all of my gold hidden under the floorboards.

 

I bet the bank had no problem charging storage fees for the gold that isn't there.

If you don't hold it you don't own it.

 

Great reporting. How about fact checking with the Swiss concerning the nature of the laws they quoted? How about actually talking to the person this supposedly happened to and not relying on hearsay? How about reviewing the contract to see if it really was physical storage and not simply a commingled account with a clear cash offset? How about a lot of things, you know, called facts? I didn't see a single one in the entire piece, just a lot of vague inferences or third party hearsay.

You know, my cousin's sister's friend saw Bigfoot once, true story.......

 

Yeah, need to get the facts. I wouldn’t trust anything I see on that website. Yet, I do believe the only way to hold pm is physical because, when/if there’s a major collapse, you can’t trust Wall St. to deliver anything.

 

Not disagreeing with you or Inflexion on that point sir. I simply dislike articles like this one, written without one real fact, just a ton of people's inferences and hearsay. I would hate the article just as much if it were saying how PM is overpriced today. Bad reporting is bad reporting, and useless for making decisions.

 

You make a valid point. It's all whether you want to take Jim Sinclair's word for it or not. I consider him credible, but there is a level of trust required there and that's not the same as proof or facts.

P.S. Bigfoot is hanging around here in the Pacific NW

 

IMHO that is really just a false sense of security. The fact is your home safe is just not a very secure place to keep your valuables, worse yet, the possibility exists it could get actually you killed. If may not seem it but but just for an example, if you are a silver owner who elected to keep their silver in a Comex warehouse, that silver is MUCH more secure than in your home.

 

No doubt, very secure, when it's actually there. What's not secure is the promise that it will be there when you need it.

 

I'm sure the story is probably true, I saw the reports on the Dutch bank informing their depositors that they would no longer be able to get physical delivery of their gold over three weeks ago. They sent letters to the depositors informing them that as of April 1st they could no longer receive gold but would receive currency based on the amount of gold they requested from their account at the current bid price. The bank would still continue to accept physical gold deposits though. And they timed these letters to arrive on Friday March 29th.

I do have to admit I was somewhat skeptical myself at first because of the April 1st date that the policy was to go into effect. but the earliest report I can find on it was Mar 25th. the bank was ABN AMRO the largest bank in the Netherlands

 

See, but the same can be said for your home safe. No problem if it is there, but if it is stolen, not so much. It always comes downs to odds. How many people do you know who have lost all their gold and silver in a Comex warehouse? Probably none since I don't think it has ever happened. How many people do you know that lost all their gold and silver when it was stored at home? I personally know three.

The odds are your friend.......

 

But that one was a commingled account situation where they were simply changing the terms people had already agreed to. I believe the account was paying interest in gold accounts, above and beyond principal appreciation. Kind of hard to do if they were only physically holding it.

I do not like this story, if true, about Switzerland either. If this bank only was physically holding an asset and refuse to turn it over, I view it like a bank impounding my SDB. I would be mad as heck too. I simply feel the story is too incomplete, too based upon hearsay, to draw any real conclusions.

My opinion at least. If someone would track down facts around the situation, and it DOES say they had no right but still physically refuse to turn over the gold, I am right there with everyone here being mad as heck about it.

 

The difference is that you are the steward of your own safe, not someone else. It's a matter of risk ownership. How about we rephrase your question - How many people do you know who have lost all their gold and silver holdings to a Federal Reserve primary dealer such as MF Global? It has happened before. The point is not that the exchanges are less safe or less secure. The point is that you have to trust somebody else is honest instead of knowing that you yourself are honest.

 

Very true, I'd never keep anything where there's a huge "sign" saying here it is come and get it, and shoot me too, if I don't (or do) open it for you.

 

Right, and when you want to take delivery they'll ask you to settle in cash.

 

Ahh, the old bait-n-switch, I hate when that happens.

 

Do you know a single case when that happened? Even if you do, you are arguing the wrong point anyway. The point is NOT, Nothing can ever ever in a million years go wrong if you valuables are held outside you home in a financial institution. I really don't know why the stacker crowd loves to argue that point

I mean really, if Jupiter aligns with Mars on a Saturday, when the moon is full, in a leap year and it is raining out. C'mon. All things may be possible, but so what? It just is not rational thought to believe your valuables are more secure in your home. Facts and history are just not on your side. Hey, but if you know better, knock yourself out.

 

I don't think you understand Comex. They do not sell PMs or fractional interests, etc... It is strictly a warehouse operation that is audited and insured. You won't find one case where anyone was unable to retrieve a bar that matched the weight, serial number and refiner stated on the warehouse certificate. Nobody has ever had to settle in cash -- that is strictly a function of futures trading, not Comex storage.

 

My point was really quite simple, if you trust somebody else with your valuables, it's your risk. Yes, there is a risk holding them yourself, but that's a chance I'm willing to take versus giving them to anything or anybody connected to Wall Street and big banks in any way shape or form....