In the world of social media, there are a few issues or charges that get the attention of a lot of people, one of them being that the government is trying to outlaw guns or "take your guns away from you." Recently, a pawn shop owner in Brooksville recently received a letter from SunTrust Bank, who notified him that they were closing his accounts with the bank.
Steve Champion, the owner of American Gun & Pawn, took to social media to protest the bank's actions. The story was picked up by the online service FloridaNewsFlash.com, who used this headline for the story:
"Suntrust Bank cancels account because company sells guns."
Our partners at PolitiFact took a look at this claim to see if it was accurate. PolitiFact reporter Joshua Gillin says that the headline rates MOSTLY FALSE on the Truth-O-Meter. Gillin says that accounts are being cancelled, but they aren't targeting gun shops.
"We checked with SunTrust, and while it's true that they are cancelling accounts of some businesses, it's not because they are owners of gun shops," said Gillin. "SunTrust told us that the accounts that are being phased out are actually those of pawn shops, payday lenders, and dedicated check-cashers. SunTrust decided that they wanted to distance themselves from those kind of operations."
Gillin notes that there is no regulation mandating SunTrust take this action. "Guidelines were issued by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation - the FDIC - that state that pawn shops are considered 'high-risk businesses'," said Gillin. "That doesn't mean, by any stretch, that the FDIC is prohibiting banks from engaging pawn shops. It's merely a case of SunTrust deciding on their own that they are declining the opportunity to offer accounts to pawn shop businesses."
Gillin says that the headline misses the mark by a pretty significant margin, focusing on people who sell guns rather than those who operate pawn shops (which may or may not sell guns). For that reason, PolitiFact rated FloridaNewsFlash.com's headline as MOSTLY FALSE.
SOURCES: SunTrust Bank closing gun shop accounts?
- PolitiFact ruling
- FloridaFlashNews.com, "Suntrust Bank Cancels Account Because Company Sells Guns,"March 29, 2015
- Scribd via FloridaNewsFlash.com, "Suntrust Letter to American Gun & Pawn," accessed April 6, 2015
- Facebook, American Gun & Pawn post, March 27, 2015
- Wall Street Journal, "Probe Turns Up Heat on Banks," Aug. 7, 2013
- U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Letter from Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., to Attorney General Eric Holder, January 8, 2014
- New York Times, "Justice Department Inquiry Takes Aim at Banks’ Business With Payday Lenders," Jan. 26, 2014
- Washington Post Wonkblog, "Operation Choke Point: The battle over financial data between the government and banks," April 16, 2014
- U.S. Department of Justice, "Holding accountable financial institutions that knowingly participate in consumer fraud," May 7, 2014
- Washington Times, "‘High risk’ label from feds puts gun sellers in banks’ crosshairs, hurts business," May 18, 2014
- U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, "The Department of Justice’s "Operation Choke Point": Illegally Choking Off Legitimate Businesses?," May 29, 2014
- U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, "Report: DOJ’s Operation Choke Point Secretly Pressured Banks to Cut Ties with Legal Business," May 29, 2014
- Wall Street Journal, "U.S. Has Opened at Least 15 Probes Into Bank-Processing Activities," May 29, 2014
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- Media Matters For America, "How Conservative Media's Conspiracy Targeted An Anti-Fraud Program," June 4, 2014
- Mother Jones, "Issa's New Scandal: An Obama Plot Against Gun Dealers," June 10, 2014
- Wall Street Journal MoneyTalk blog, "DOJ: ‘Choke Point’ Isn’t Targeting Legal Gun Dealers, Payday Lenders," July 15, 2014
- American Banker, "SunTrust Won't Lend to Payday Lenders," July 22, 2014
- American Banker, "FDIC Withdraws Alleged 'Hit List' of High-Risk Merchants," July 28, 2014
- WHNS, "Gun, pawn shop owner says bank targeted business," Aug. 6, 2014
- SunTrust, "SunTrust Statement on Certain Account Closures," Aug. 8 , 2014
- Spartanburg Herald Journal, "Owner believes his pawn shop was dropped by bank for selling guns," Aug. 9, 2014
- Daily Signal, "Bank Admits Choking Off 3 Legal Enterprises at Government Behest," Aug. 26, 2014
- Fox News, "DOJ accused of blocking legal gun shops, other businesses from banking," Jan. 16, 2015
- Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, "Statement on Providing Banking Services," Jan. 28, 2015
- Washington Times, "FDIC attempts to end Operation Choke Point with letter, action," Jan. 28, 2015
- Forbes, "FDIC Admits To Strangling Legal Gun Stores Banking Relationships," Jan. 30, 2015
- Daily Signal, "Justice Department Takes Credit for Second Operation Choke Point Settlement," March 12, 2015
- Real News Real Fast, "Gun shop owner’s bank account closed, feds say ‘high risk’ business," March 30, 2015
- WFLA, "Bank closes Brooksville pawn, gun shop owner's account," March 30, 2015
- Daily Caller, "‘Gun Letter’ Informs Pawn And Gun Shop Owner His Bank Accounts Are Being Closed," April 5, 2015
- Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, "Managing Risks in Third-Party Payment Processor Relationships (Revised July 2014)," accessed April 6, 2015
- Interview with Samuel McCall, FloridaNewsFlash.com blogger, April 6, 2015
- Interview with Steve Champion, American Gun & Pawn owner, April 6, 2015
- Interview with Michael McCoy, SunTrust spokesman, April 6, 2015
- Interview with Patrick Rodenbush, Justice Department spokesman, April 6, 2015
- Interview with Meghan French, American Bankers Association spokeswoman, April 6, 2015
- Interview with Brian Wise, U.S. Consumer Coalition senior adviser, April 6, 2015