Money Gram

I needed to wire money to Africa, so I went to money gram. I misspelled the name and asked for a correction. They refused to do the correction and send the money simply because I refused to tell them why I wanted to send it. I don't believe any business needs to know my personal business and this was an invasion of my privacy. I signed the form that money gram would not be held responsible in case of a scam. Is there any legal action I can take to force them to change this policy? They just assumed it's a scam without any evidence.

Sillynuttyme said:

I needed to wire money to Africa, so I went to money gram. I misspelled the name and asked for a correction. They refused to do the correction and send the money simply because I refused to tell them why I wanted to send it. I don't believe any business needs to know my personal business and this was an invasion of my privacy. I signed the form that money gram would not be held responsible in case of a scam. Is there any legal action I can take to force them to change this policy? They just assumed it's a scam without any evidence.

Click to expand...

You are free to visit or call a couple lawyers to discuss your concerns.

Sillynuttyme said:

I needed to wire money to Africa, so I went to money gram. I misspelled the name and asked for a correction. They refused to do the correction and send the money simply because I refused to tell them why I wanted to send it. I don't believe any business needs to know my personal business and this was an invasion of my privacy. I signed the form that money gram would not be held responsible in case of a scam. Is there any legal action I can take to force them to change this policy? They just assumed it's a scam without any evidence.

Click to expand...

You can't force a private business to bend to your will.

Zigner said:

You can't force a private business to bend to your will.

Click to expand...

Actually you can. It happens all the time.

Sillynuttyme said:

Actually you can. It happens all the time.

Click to expand...

Ha! No, it really doesn't. You can't force them to send the money for you.

Sillynuttyme said:

I needed to wire money to Africa

Click to expand...

Africa is a pretty big place. Second largest continent on Earth with about 54 different countries. Depending on how much money you were sending and the specific country where you were sending it, it's entirely possible that the wire transfer company was legally obligated to find out why you wanted to send it.

Sillynuttyme said:

Is there any legal action I can take to force them to change this policy?

Click to expand...

Even if the the information was not legally required, the answer is no.

Sillynuttyme said:

Zigner said:

You can't force a private business to bend to your will.

Click to expand...

Actually you can. It happens all the time.

Click to expand...

If you have enough negotiating leverage, you might be able to "force" a change, but you don't have anywhere near enough leverage to "force" a multi-million dollar company to change its policies.

Sillynuttyme said:

I needed to wire money to Africa, so I went to money gram. I misspelled the name and asked for a correction. They refused to do the correction and send the money simply because I refused to tell them why I wanted to send it. I don't believe any business needs to know my personal business and this was an invasion of my privacy. I signed the form that money gram would not be held responsible in case of a scam. Is there any legal action I can take to force them to change this policy? They just assumed it's a scam without any evidence.

Click to expand...

I'll address your question even though it's a late reply. Monetary remittances services are subject to strict regulations, commonly referred to as know your customer (KYC) or Customer Identity and Verification (CIV). They are often subject to great scrutiny because of anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regulation too. If they engage in a transaction which they might suspect the possibility of ML or FT, they certainly have it within their right not to take the risk. Moneygram, Western Union and other remittances services will look terrible if a transaction they processed resulted in some nefarious activity which the news media may report them as a facilitator.

So I'm not entitled to any privacy. I don't see why I have to tell someone why I'm sending money to someone without proof that I'm actually doing something illegal. It's no different than saying a committed a crime that I didn't do just because someone said I did it. I don't want to tell you so you refuse to conduct business with me because there's a chance you may look bad in the news. Your guilty by news association.

Sillynuttyme said:

I don't want to tell you so you refuse to conduct business with me

Click to expand...

Any business has a right to do business on its own terms as long as it doesn't violate any anti-discrimination laws. You have a right not to do business with that business if you don't like the terms.

Sillynuttyme said:

So I'm not entitled to any privacy.

Click to expand...

You chose to do business with them. If you don't like their policies then do business elsewhere.
I think you may five similar policies elsewhere for the reasons explained above.

There are certainly more private ways to send money, but maybe not to certain locations.

Sillynuttyme said:

So I'm not entitled to any privacy.

Click to expand...

That's an absurd conclusion based on the things you've been told in this thread.

Sillynuttyme said:

I don't see why I have to tell someone why I'm sending money to someone without proof that I'm actually doing something illegal.

Click to expand...

You asked a company to provide you a service. As a general matter, that company is entitled to put whatever conditions it wants on it's willingness to provide that service, as long as the conditions don't violate any law. Multiple people already explained to you why the company in question might be required to obtain the requested info from you. At the end of the day, however, it's entirely up to you: you can provide the information and do business with the company or you can choose not to provide the information and decline to do business.

Sillynuttyme said:

So I'm not entitled to any privacy. I don't see why I have to tell someone why I'm sending money to someone without proof that I'm actually doing something illegal. It's no different than saying a committed a crime that I didn't do just because someone said I did it. I don't want to tell you so you refuse to conduct business with me because there's a chance you may look bad in the news. Your guilty by news association.

Click to expand...

Of course it's different. Once you ask someone else to do something for you, they have a right to protect themselves from potential harm which may be related to you. And yes, you must bear the burden of people making decisions as a result of your potential associations. If you're a close relative or friend of Osama bin Laden, then people going to be hesitant to conduct business with you for obvious reasons. The world does not revolve around anyone's desire for privacy.

Here is another example - you want a loan but your credit history presents a very high likelihood that you will not pay the money back on time and your poor record of employment suggests the same. Is a bank required to give you a loan?

Now there are laws which DO protect you from discrimination and rights of privacy. But what you are describing does not seem to fall within those laws. If a money transmitter has some valid reason to suspect that you present an unreasonable risk to them, they can refuse to transmit the funds. In fact, they are required to submit suspicious activity reports (SARs) and I'll provide for you a link as an example: Money Services Business (MSB) Suspicious Activity Reporting | FinCEN.gov

I don't know all the details of your transaction but my goal is to enlighten you on what the laws are, why they reasonably exist and what you should consider if you wish to send money with a money transmitter or "Money Service Business" or MSB such as Western Union, MoneyGram, etc.