Mercury Bank Verification after 3 years

[cristiansilva33as]

hi i have a US LLC + mercury acocunt for the past 2 years, and today i received an email about closure, i do not understand how mercury can just close my account without any warning, it was one of my favorite banks, i am lost can someone please guide what wrong did i do, or how to best use the mercury account, since they closed my LLC account, can i make a new LLC under the same principal holder and open a new mercury account?

the email received:
We’re writing to inform you that we can no longer offer you services at Mercury.

Periodically we conduct additional reviews on accounts. After a review of your account, due to the nature of your activity, we will be closing your account.

Please proceed with moving the funds in your account to another bank through wire or ACH by December 15, 2023. Scheduled and expected incoming funds may still process, however we encourage you to reach out to clients and vendors with new payment instructions as soon as possible.

You may also provide us with details of a U.S. bank account in your name or your company's name and we will send the remaining funds to you. If this is not done by the date specified above, our bank will mail a physical check to the U.S. address we have on file (which you can confirm or change via your settings page) for any funds remaining in your account at that time.

We’re sorry for any inconvenience that this may cause.

@JohnnyDoe really need your 2 cents.

Thank you

Can you detail your operation a little, so we can try to identify the reason for closing the account? Did you receive local or international inbound/outbound transfers? What is the monthly average?

 

[AutoKing]

Can you detail your operation a little, so we can try to identify the reason for closing the account? Did you receive local or international inbound/outbound transfers? What is the monthly average?

WE are a legitimate company, we sell surgical instruments, and we only used mercury this month to pay salary to one of our employee in south asia. we also passed the compliance , where they asked for several documents, and we provided everything. Monthly is 30k $

 

[cristiansilva33as]

WE are a legitimate company, we sell surgical instruments, and we only used mercury this month to pay salary to one of our employee in south asia. we also passed the compliance , where they asked for several documents, and we provided everything. Monthly is 30k $

Did you receive the questionnaire a few months ago, whether you had operations within the US? Did you answer yes or no?

 

[JohnnyDoe]

WE are a legitimate company, we sell surgical instruments, and we only used mercury this month to pay salary to one of our employee in south asia. we also passed the compliance , where they asked for several documents, and we provided everything. Monthly is 30k $

how did you use the account in the past?
Where do you pay taxes?

 

[AutoKing]

how did you use the account in the past?
Where do you pay taxes?

our income was coming from Amazon in 2021, we use to sell on amazon at the time, and after that, it was pretty much unused, as we were using other bank account, (business wise) until only a couple ofmonths ago we started using Mercury, to pay employees outside usa, since wise does not allow transfer to those countries.

source of funding the account was CEO himself, +Amazon income. (directly from Amazon)

 

[JohnnyDoe]

pay employees outside usa

This might be a reason: payments to physical persons are not well viewed, especially when sent abroad.
Did you try to talk with customers support?

 

[AutoKing]

This might be a reason: payments to physical persons are not well viewed, especially when sent abroad.
Did you try to talk with customers support?

yes, i did, i even asked if i violated any TnC , which i dont think i did,
this is their reply:

We review each account thoroughly and take a holistic view of your account and business information. Closure decisions are based on a variety of internal factors.

I know this may be frustrating, but we are unable to provide more detailed information regarding the reason your account was closed and we aren't able to reconsider.

We are sorry for any inconvenience that this may cause.

=========

I am really bummed out, i really dont understand why they did it, can you recommennd any similar bank that charges almost no fee for transfers?

 

[JohnnyDoe]

yes, i did, i even asked if i violated any TnC , which i dont think i did,
this is their reply:

We review each account thoroughly and take a holistic view of your account and business information. Closure decisions are based on a variety of internal factors.

I know this may be frustrating, but we are unable to provide more detailed information regarding the reason your account was closed and we aren't able to reconsider.

We are sorry for any inconvenience that this may cause.

=========

I am really bummed out, i really dont understand why they did it, can you recommennd any similar bank that charges almost no fee for transfers?

That’s very unfortunate and annoying.
I think your best bet is to open the account with a high street bank, for which you need to show up in person at a suitable branch. Chase in NY and BMO in Chicago worked well for me, someone here suggested a specific branch of a bank in Miami, I guess there are many other options.

 

[AutoKing]

That’s very unfortunate and annoying.
I think your best bet is to open the account with a high street bank, for which you need to show up in person at a suitable branch. Chase in NY and BMO in Chicago worked well for me, someone here suggested a specific branch of a bank in Miami, I guess there are many other options.

Banks Like Wells Fargo charge 50usd for a wire transfer, do the bank mentioned above also charge this exhorbitant amounts of fee?

 

[JohnnyDoe]

Banks Like Wells Fargo charge 50usd for a wire transfer, do the bank mentioned above also charge this exhorbitant amounts of fee?

You can always bargain, they might also offer some type of account that is good for you. But for sure you will pay more than with Mercury.

 

[AutoKing]

If we make a new LLC under the same CEO , can we then make a new mercury account.

Also can you please provide a blueprint how to properly use a business bank account, to avoid such situations.

You are experienced, perhaps you can give me some pointers.

Thanks.

@JohnnyDoe

 

[cristiansilva33as]

wise does not allow transfer to those countries

Which countries were your employees from? If wise didn't allow transfers to these countries, Mercury probably wouldn't have been satisfied with them either, that could have been the problem.

 

[Alexmorgan]

This might be a reason: payments to physical persons are not well viewed, especially when sent abroad.
Did you try to talk with customers support?

This is scary

I pay salaries for emplyees abroad but they are in UK and EU but i may hire people from Saudi Arabia and India and this is allowed with Mercury so why they may close it?

That’s very unfortunate and annoying.
I think your best bet is to open the account with a high street bank, for which you need to show up in person at a suitable branch. Chase in NY and BMO in Chicago worked well for me, someone here suggested a specific branch of a bank in Miami, I guess there are many other options.

Yes big banks are great but bad User Interface and some times they require you to come in person for transactions to be approved besides they close accounts some times but for sure not like EMIs

As you are a partner in Mercury its good if you ask them why they may close accounts for legit companies that have SOF and invoices and contracts?

Which countries were your employees from? If wise didn't allow transfers to these countries, Mercury probably wouldn't have been satisfied with them either, that could have been the problem.

Thats the different between Mercury and Wise

Wise clearly says its not allowed to transfer to these accounts but mercury make it open then you surprise from the actions they make later

One day i made a payment to a company in Oman then i triggered compliance to provide them everything

 

[JohnnyDoe]

If we make a new LLC under the same CEO , can we then make a new mercury account.

No if the business is the same

Also can you please provide a blueprint how to properly use a business bank account, to avoid such situations.

You can use it for legit business expenses, just be careful with payments to private individuals outside the US, especially if located in unusual countries.

One day i made a payment to a company in Oman then i triggered compliance to provide them everything

if your account remains dormant for 2 years then suddenly you send money to Oman this doesn’t look good.

 

[Alexmorgan]

if your account remains dormant for 2 years then suddenly you send money to Oman this doesn’t look good.

It was active movement since beginning but EU customers mostly

 

[cristiansilva33as]

It was active movement since beginning but EU customers mostly

You can make 500 transfers to the EU and just 1 worth $10 to Oman. This will raise a flag anyway

 

[AutoKing]

Which countries were your employees from? If wise didn't allow transfers to these countries, Mercury probably wouldn't have been satisfied with them either, that could have been the problem.

india, pakistan, bangladesh

Did you receive the questionnaire a few months ago, whether you had operations within the US? Did you answer yes or no?

no i did not receive any questionnaire

 

[JohnnyDoe]

india, pakistan, bangladesh

Do you have any customer or partner in the USA?

no i did not receive any questionnaire

You must have missed it. Everyone is supposed to have answered it.

 

[AutoKing]

Do you have any customer or partner in the USA?

You must have missed it. Everyone is supposed to have answered it.

i did answer it at the time of creating the account, n yes we use to sell on amazon usa,

 

[ivan1911]

Relay closed my account after I sent $50 to my mercury account . Same llc .. Wanted ti test the wire as I never sent using relay before . After that I got a similar email .
Told the rep I can provide invoice for transactions I had . Provide tracking numbers , chats with customers and they reply basically similar … internal policy bla bla and now I don’t have that account any more .