Euro Pacific bank is a Scam!

[Jav]

@Milky Moon
You Sir strike me as person who knows a lot , so if you have time please give me some advice on this:

I am contemplating opening a Euro pacific bank account , I would need it to receive payments form USA mostly but other parts of the world as well.. in a year I'd get about $50.ooo , that's the extra from my legal business that I so not wish declare to my EU country.

Can I simply open account there with my own real name and be relatively worry free as EPB is not a part of CRS and they do not share any info with EU ?

I would have my normal business like 70%~80% of it done legally with all taxes payed but just would like that 50k a year 'tax free' as I'm sick of paying ~45% to my home country.

btw my paypal still works with my payoneer but i'm afraid to use it as paypal also reports.. so i just stopped using paypal.

Thank you for your time!!!

From my experience go to Montenegro for a personal account.

I did search the forum whole week. I have been talking with an Estonian company for days and almost thought I had the solution. During the research I found out it's quite simple in my case. EU company with EU account. Pay corporate taxes and pay income tax in my country of residency. That way I keep my capital safely in Europe and not on a weak bank in my country of residency. Opening bankaccount preferably remote since traveling to Europe is quite expensive for me.

Bulgaria is your place.

 

[Dubsize]

Hi guys,

Did you see this link? New wire instruction from EPB. Page 15 seems like they have fed wire now.

Seems weird to me.. but that’s what they wrote.

https://files.europacbank.com/docs/EPB_MT103.pdf

 

[Martin Everson]

I think this client (link below) on trustpilot is putting out there what maybe true i.e that Euro Pacific Bank is a Ponzi scheme. The bank seems to do all it can to get inflows but tries so hard to stop outflows with different excuses. For a 100% reserve bank it should not be this way . It would not shock me if this is true as something is fishy with this bank as I have said all along.

Jason Chou gave Europacbank 1 star. Check out the full review...

-------------quote

"I feel ashamed to admit it although the speculation that Europacific Bank might be a Ponzi scheme and a scam because if you ask them the question around how they manage their non-fractional reserve banking status, they will give you no information and if you ask them if Peter Schiff is a director of the business, the client service associates will tell you they have never heard of him. If you ask them who their liquidity provider for their brokerage accounts, they will not tell you. The Europacific Team are constantly watching the offshore banking forums to stifle any rebellions from its clients because they don't want the truth to come out."

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p.s Some of the most trusted businesses turn out to be Ponzi schemes that have run for years i.e Bernard Madoff, Allen Stanford and even this new lessor known guy from UK (see below) who ran one from 2005 - 2017 . I just hope people ask more questions and push EPB to publish its financials and prove it is not a Ponzi scheme where your money is being misappropriated .

Wealth manager jailed over £14.5m Ponzi scheme

 

[KJK]

Did you see this link? New wire instruction from EPB. Page 15 seems like they have fed wire now.

How do you "bank with fed"? Can normal companies or individuals do it?
In my country the central bank deals only with stuff like inflation, regulation; they have some accounts but I think they are something like overnight accounts for other banks.

Why would you bank with fed? And how would you actually achieve that as a weird bank in Puerto Rico? I'm so confused

 

[Dubsize]

How do you "bank with fed"? Can normal companies or individuals do it?
In my country the central bank deals only with stuff like inflation, regulation; they have some accounts but I think they are something like overnight accounts for other banks.

Why would you bank with fed? And how would you actually achieve that as a weird bank in Puerto Rico? I'm so confused

Well that's a long story related to the USD currency.
Any dollar transaction must be cleared on US soil and must go through a clearing house that validates its regularity. So when a non-US bank wire money they do it through their USD correspondant.
Basically you can't deal in USD without the U.S to be involved.
When a bank is connected to fedwire (has an account with the FED) they can be this clearing agent, wire USD etc...

 

[KJK]

Yes I know, but that is a different thing. This clearing is common in other countries as well and I'm not surprised by it. In the process of the clearing (that you described) it is the bank itself sending money to the "Fed".

What I'm surprised by is that when you (as an individual) want to deposit money to this bank, technically you send to the Fed.
Okay I guess, at least the money is safe? I'm never seen this anywhere else.

Not that long ago it seemed like USA is the biggest enemy of this bank and now they can't get much closer than this.

 

[Dubsize]

Yes I know, but that is a different thing. This clearing is common in other countries as well and I'm not surprised by it. In the process of the clearing (that you described) it is the bank itself sending money to the "Fed".

What I'm surprised by is that when you (as an individual) want to deposit money to this bank, technically you send to the Fed.
Okay I guess, at least the money is safe? I'm never seen this anywhere else.

Not that long ago it seemed like USA is the biggest enemy of this bank and now they can't get much closer than this.

1) Well, clearing is not that common and that's not the case for EUROS for example. You don't have to respect EU law when dealing in EUROS outside of Europe while you need to respect U.S law when dealing in USD even if no U.S party are involved in facade. (c.f BNP world record fine for dealing with Cuba, Sudan and Iran in USD - which was completely fine in Europe but their huge "mistake" was to do those deals in USD)

2) Yes this allows them to instant clearing and to get an ABA routing number for domestic wire. Indeed it's safe

3) Not following, the U.S was the biggest ennemy of the FED ?

 

[Martin Everson]

Great explanation.

 

[Dorothy Atwater]

Euro Pacific Ban has a new (very unfriendly) web site. After getting an "appointment" with Devin for a phone call this morning, we navigated the form, and he wasn't familiar with some of the many "answers" to be given. After 1:40 minutes on the call, I was finally able to ask to close my account. However, the balance given did not indicate whether the "available balance" included their wiring fees, so Devin advised me to deduct $30 from the balance. With having already been charged $30 to originally wire the $4,500 that was returned to EPB, plus my bank's charges, that $4,500 has diminished considerably.
After I finalized the "close account" transaction, a message popped up that the transaction is pending approval! Devin claims this is "standard" for banks. Baloney! NO other bank requires their "permission" from the "compliance department"
to close an account!

So we will see what happens. Euro Pacific Bank has not heard the last from me about their fraudulent practices.

Oh, when Devin claimed that it's a 100% reserve bank, I asked him why the audit was not on their web site. He says it is something kept private but that they send it to clients who ask for it. I DID ask for it, and the promised to email it to me. We will see, won't we? If I get it, I will contact the named auditor to verify in fact that the audit was legitimate.

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Well, well...on November 8th, Devin Baldo had the the NERVE to send me the following email:
"I hope that your wire has arrived well and I want to ensure that you do not have any further questions of me related to the bank. I did notice that you left a very bad review of us on a blog Euro Pacific bank is a Scam! and yet we have not withheld your money and transferred this back to you. Please let me know if you could update this to at least leave a realistic review of the bank as you did not mention my service and how I helped you get the wire out after much difficulty."

His "service?" How he HELPED me? It took me forever to close my account--and I finally had to make an APPOINTMENT to skype with Devin in order to do so. He also advised me to leave $30 in the account to cover their "wiring fees." Well, the $30 (and a lot more) was deducted from the wire amount, and the $30 remained to be eaten up by their $5.00 per month charge. Additional money besides the "$30.00 wiring fee" always disappears somewhere along the way. All in all, it cost me almost $200 to get back my money from EPB.

Now I can't even log in. After I enter my username and password, a message suggesting "suspicious activity" pops up and they want to send me an SMS code. Forget it, jerks! It isn't worth my trouble. There's probably only about $10 left in the account by now anyway.

I've explored the governing pages in Puerto Rico.
Querellas y Consultas and it seems the only way they will accept complaints is either in person or by mail. Mail from Panama (where I live) is iffy, so I guess I'll have to be content to spread the word in as many places as possible about fraudulent Euro Pacific Bank and scam artist Peter Schiff.

 

[Martin Everson]

I am glad you got something back at least.

How a bank like Euro Pacific Bank can be allowed to run from St Vincent to Puerto Rico to avoid CRS I really don't know. Did the authorities in Puerto Rico bother to check the street reputation of the bank or examine its client base? Did the U.S Federal Government not check them out before allowing FEDWire access? I guess not, they were probably too busy investigating foreign banks that they missed what is right under their nose .

P.s The negative reviews continue to pile up on this joker bank

Europacbank is rated "Poor" with 3.6 / 10 on Trustpilot

 

[niggashit]

I am glad you got something back at least.

How a bank like Euro Pacific Bank can be allowed to run from St Vincent to Puerto Rico to avoid CRS I really don't know. Did the authorities in Puerto Rico bother to check the street reputation of the bank or examine its client base? Did the U.S Federal Government not check them out before allowing FEDWire access? I guess not, they were probably too busy investigating foreign banks that they missed what is right under their nose .

P.s The negative reviews continue to pile up on this joker bank

Europacbank is rated "Poor" with 3.6 / 10 on Trustpilot

Did the U.S Federal Government not check them out before allowing FEDWire access?

Very easy this one. One month to set up. EPB can garant State Foreign Bank Licence in CA within 1-2 weeks and EPB can contact CA Fed to set up FedReverse Account which is another two weeks.

No any on site visits. They only ask to show licence and any government website to verify licence.

Same goes to Mastercard but its another 3-4 months.

 

[niggashit]

Wires and ACH very cheaper in Fed.

Usually cost around 0.002 per trans.

 

[Dorothy Atwater]

Did the U.S Federal Government not check them out before allowing FEDWire access?

Very easy this one. One month to set up. EPB can garant State Foreign Bank Licence in CA within 1-2 weeks and EPB can contact CA Fed to set up FedReverse Account which is another two weeks.

No any on site visits. They only ask to show licence and any government website to verify licence.

Same goes to Mastercard but its another 3-4 months.

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Hummm....I don't understand. I am not a US citizen and I had to send proof that I'm not. Signing into their web site, one has to check "I'm not a citizen of the US or Puerto Rico." (I wonder what Puerto Rico has to do with it regarding citizenship there?)

I've never wired money from or to the US, only from/to my bank in Panama.

So are you saying EPB is licensed in CA? If so, does anyone know a contact there for complaints against EPB?

 

[niggashit]

--------------------------
Hummm....I don't understand. I am not a US citizen and I had to send proof that I'm not. Signing into their web site, one has to check "I'm not a citizen of the US or Puerto Rico." (I wonder what Puerto Rico has to do with it regarding citizenship there?)

I've never wired money from or to the US, only from/to my bank in Panama.

So are you saying EPB is licensed in CA? If so, does anyone know a contact there for complaints against EPB?

I do not know where are actually they licenced but you could technically go through states websites and lookup them.

 

[Dorothy Atwater]

It's probably coincides with the same reason that they will not release their financial statements.

Simple questions to ask Devin:

1. Where is their audited financial report and why is it held in secrecy?
2. Is your money held in overnight money market funds i.e invested?
3. Has Devin ever seen the banks financial statement?
4. Are their liens against client funds?
5. What are the banks outstanding liabilities other than client deposits?

I forget my bankers name...maybe called Vincent Le or something but last time I had an account with the bank he said the CEO did everything personally including approve wires, do client investments and FX conversion etc etc. All other staff were just window dressing and kept in dark and could approve or do nothing. This is huge red flag in dealing with a bank that operates like this i.e. where there is no separation of duty. Last person who acted this way and insisted on doing everything himself was Bernard Madoff and that did not end well folks .

Hopefully everything works out for you.

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There are glowing reviews of EPB here: Euro Pacific Bank reviews | Finance at 53 Palmeras St - San Juan PR They MUST be fake! I tried to post my own review, but the site wouldn't let me. The log-in process took me in an endless loop.

 

[Martin Everson]

There are glowing reviews of EPB here: Euro Pacific Bank reviews | Finance at 53 Palmeras St - San Juan PR They MUST be fake! I tried to post my own review, but the site wouldn't let me. The log-in process took me in an endless loop.

One of the reviewers (aka Peter Schiff cult member) on the above link says the below:


----------------begin quote ------------------------
"Antonio on Trustpilot

a month ago

The entire business of a bank is based on trust
The entire business of a bank is based on trust. Today most people use high street fractional banks simply because they have no choice but Euro Pacific Bank have put trust back into banking.
I was sceptical of the bank's relocation but under the guidance of Devin Baldo, customer service has taken the bank to a new level of excellence. With the IT upgrade and Devin's 'can-do' attitude, Euro Pacific, as one of the few non-fractional banks in the world, is finally realising Peter Schiff's dream largely thanks to Devin Baldo and his oversight of Customer Service. I would recommend everyone to sign up with Euro Pacific Bank and starve out the fractional banks that have become a blight on Western Civilisation. "
-----------------end quote-----------------

These Peter Schiff cult members that use his bank show complete blind faith and a disregard for commonsense and reality. They are no different to Elon Musk cult followers who are happy to lose all their money in Tesla stock because they have a wrong belief that this multi-billion high school science project he labels a business will change the world. In both cases you will consistently end up loosing money as you follow your heart and not your head. The bank is a bigger joke than the demo of Elon Musk's hyperloop.

 

[Martin Everson]

I know those wanting to avoid CRS and those with offshore companies feel they have no choice but to use Euro Pacific Bank but why put up with nonsense like this below? . Opening an account with EPB is like going raw with a prostitute. It may feel good at the time but a couple or weeks or months you will feel the burn.

EPB Corporate Client – 1 business reviews on Trustpilot

 

[Dorothy Atwater]

I know those wanting to avoid CRS and those with offshore companies feel they have no choice but to use Euro Pacific Bank but why put up with nonsense like this below? . Opening an account with EPB is like going raw with a prostitute. It may feel good at the time but a couple or weeks or months you will feel the burn.

EPB Corporate Client – 1 business reviews on Trustpilot

I read your review, and it's typical for EPB. My monetary losses weren't sufficient to hire a lawyer, but it sounds as if yours are. And if you need others testimony to bolster your lawsuit, I'm sure that people here on this forum would be happy to provide it. Count me in! Keep us posted.

 

[Martin Everson]

That review in the link I posted is by a third-party and not myself. I just wanted to highlight the struggles others are having working with that bank. I just can't believe there are still people willing take the chance of opening an account with that opaque bank that publishes no financial records and is potentially a long running ponzi .

 

[jojojo]

I got mixed feeling about this bank. Yes I know the reviews , but we also been with them 3 years now with a hk corp.

I never had problems with them?! Apart from the crap wiring instructions that change more frequently than my change of underwear.

However they are now with the fed direct and that works as well.

Puerto Rico is part of the USA , like Hawaii . Too small to be a state but part of it nonetheless. Hence therefore no csr but facta lol although technically there isn’t as they would
Not have any USA clients

Oh the one thing that been cancelled is our MasterCard as they state you need to be based
In Europe to have one due to new regs. Not sure if that is bs, anyone knows more about this????