Rabobank shutting doors to non-U.S. citizens

A major change for people who do business in the valley: Rabobank announced it’s closing the accounts of anyone who’s not a U.S. citizen or official resident.

“Everyone is up in arms, they’re upset, not one person has said no big deal we’ll just open another account,” said Bette King, who organizes the annual Canada/Snow Bird fest and is a go-to contact for Canadians in the valley.

King says the surprising move affects a lot of Canadians who make the valley their part-time home. She’s been fielding calls from them ever since the announcement went out.

“The first thing is the notice the short notice is very disheartening to them,” King said.

Rabobank customers only have until October 21 to pull out their money and find somewhere else to invest. King says she worries for those who have taken out car loans or mortgages, and those with direct deposits.

“Many of them have their pensions transferred here to their bank accounts and we know if we get a check from IRS and if it goes astray how long it takes you to get that back,” King said.

She adds that the change could also impact other valley businesses who rely on these customers.

“If you’re upset what’s the first thing you do? You retaliate and say that’s the way you want to treat me? Then I’m not going to spend my money here. And that’s going to affect the stores,” King said.

As for a reason for the change, Rabobank’s corporate communications director told us:
“The costs of managing business and compliance risk for this type of account have become extraordinarily high. After a thorough evaluation, we regrettably concluded there are no viable alternatives for these individuals or the bank.”

Not affected are resident aliens who have a Social Security Number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, individuals with permanent legal residency in the United States, and customers who are W-9 certified.

Rabobank urges customers to contact their local branches with questions.