Banks inworld (Ginko, SL Bank, etc)... Currently, what are your thoughts?

I know this subject has been talked about before.

I'm curious to hear people's current thoughts on specific banks in SL. I understand that there is a risk involved in depositing, and also no protection... however, beyond that, are the people running the banks trustworthy? How long have you been using the bank you use? Any discrepancies or fowl play you've personally experienced?

I personally use Ginko Financial, and I am very pleased. Ginko has done absolutely nothing to make me suspicious.

... but what would stop the owners of the banks inworld to, at any given moment, just take everyone's money and run?

Absolutely nothing. But then that's the same with pretty much everything in SL, it's all based on reputation and trust.

Ok lemme hear some peoples personal thoughts and experiences with the reputation and trust of the banks inworld.

I don't trust them, period. Nothing is secured by any insurance so they can easily go bankrupt and not have to pay back a dime. Nothing is policed so they can easily take the money and run or simply make deniable "clerical errors" while countinuing to do business as usual.

I have no experience with the SL Bank, but I do with Ginko and I am not pleased with them what so ever. They have silently added "features" in the past to their ATMs with little to no warning with no actual opt out of those features. Two of these features that come to mind is the Ginko Lotto and their spyware plugin. I know of at least one casino owner who was not pleased a gambling machine was silently placed on his land without his authorization. I for one was appalled they'd stoop so low as to install spyware into their ATM machines. Yes, SPYWARE. They also apparently had no intention of letting anyone know about this because it was in their ATMs for almost a week and no one knew until a disgruntled ex-employee leaked the info. Now if all they wanted was keys, its more efficient to simply download W-Hat's Name2Key database once a week for updates then it is to waste sim resources by doing regular mass 96m radius scans for it. What they are doing is tracking you plane and simple. You can't tell me that gathering keywords in parcel descriptions or learning what sims you goto isn't valuable marketing data for thier WIP E-Commerce site they admited they're working on. Real world spyware does the same thing: records the URL and the META tag information of the sites you visit for marketing analyse.

On a side note, one of my close friends (who I know in real life) was finacially screwed over by Ginko when magicly L$20,000 (valued around $80 USD at the time) went missing and they denied the transaction ever occured. So be forwarned, avoid anyone claiming to be a reliable bank in SL. The only safe reliable bank is an alt you own with a personal ATM script.

Ron, not to play devils advocate... (because I truely appreciate your thoughts). I am hoping for direct 1st person personal experiences both positive and negative.

In relation to object spyware... I personally don't see a problem with someone's object recording market data. There are plenty of people that have shops that record who visits, etc. All ginko atms were asked for on the land. I personally dont see a problem with a ginko atm recording info on people that use their atms or fly by em. As long as it's not like RL spyware which causes popups, ads, slowdowns, and computer crashes.

I deposited some money in Ginko, then pulled it out. Probably doesn't give me real "first hand experience" but I will rant anyways. Banks in SL are not banks, they are people who accept fixed term loaned money from anyone. Except the terms aren't really fixed, they can and have changed. And it's not really a loan because there's no legal contract, just a vague Internet agreement that is very likely unenforceable. And there's definitely no reserve rate limitations, FDIC insurance, federal or state oversight, or any sort of safety measures in place. If someone posted a convincing enough troll about Ginko lets say, that caused everyone to panic and pull their money out, if you are last in line you are SOL.

Having said that, none of the above has happened yet that I am aware of. So if you are willing to accept the potential risks, they offer good return rates.

All true..... and what is also true is that they have over 5000 accounts (ginko as the example) .... all of these 5000+ people trust Ginko. There is absolutely nothing binding the banks of SL, however, if 5000+ people trust them, the risk does seem minimal.

I don't put my L$ in any of the SL banks. When the L$ is falling relative to the US$, I convert my holdings to US$ and leave it in my account. When the L$ rises against the US$, I buy L$. Works fine for me.

I have used Ginko for small amounts, usually if I'm away for a while. And the interest just keeps things ticking over. Wouldn't really use them for large amounts as they have a max withdrawal cap per day of about L$100,000 I think.

I prefer not to use banks for the same reasons as ron and alazarin. I feel much safer storing my cash on one of my alts. Sure theres no interest but i don't care.

I'me sure 5000+ people trusted Hitler was doing the right thing too.

On hundred fools do not a wise man make.

Time to enact Godwin's Law for this thread

Interestingly enough I think that that quote is from Adolf. Fitting, though.

Hehe. Just a law that governs Forum Threads when somebody mentions Hitler or the Third Reich with reagrds to the topic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law

Yeah but they also say 'if you are a furry you automatically lose'

those 'laws' are funny

Do you have any evidence of such a claim? Can you provide a name so I can check if what you are saying has any basis in reality whatsoever? I would like a chance to defend myself against an accusation of theft.

You are basicaly accusing a bank worth many many millions of L$ of having risked our reputation for 20k L$. Do you realize how insane that is?

How insane investing in a GAME bank is or how insane it is when msot of SL doesn't invest in you?

I'm not concerned with people not willing to accept the risks involved in investing in Ginko. They have the right to judge if the risk/reward is worth it. They even have the right to accuse my clients of being "crazy". What I am concerned with is the accusation that we stole 20k lindens.

Well I just gave you the negative, let someone else provide the positive if any. Spyware is Spyware, I don't visit the websites RL spyware collects data for and I don't want it in my coputer wasting my system's resources wich is the same reason I don't want spyware on my property in SL. I've actually searched Ginko's website, there is no TOS that I can find period meaning they can do whatever they want. Majority of people who requested an ATM expected just an ATM. Not a gambling machine and sim scanner.



The name was Walter Faddoul and when he can login later we'll dig through his archives for the logs. Not like it'll matter, you'll just claim our evidence is falsified and that once again the transaction never occured because its our word against yours. Even if it was a simple clerical error and the money was returned it shows how responsible you are with other people's money.

I'll wait for you to show me records that contradict the records I have. Until then I have to assume you are just confused. It wouldn't be the first time we are accused of theft for a client mistake. I would appreciate if you stopped calling me dishonest until you have reason to do so.

Confused? There's nothing confusing about depositing any amount of money into a ginko atm that people have been performing business transactions with for months, seeing the transaction in your account history and it showing up in your Ginko account balance, then coming back a week later to pull your money out to find the L$ you put in is not there and no record in your account history showing that you withdrew anything (in case you were hacked) just to be told the transaction never occured by the bank you showed trust in. There's nothing confusing about that.

I will only give details of this in public if I have his permission to disclose the information or if he himself accuses us of theft but our records contradict your story. He can easily check his Ginko account history by registering on the website. He could have used an ATM belonging to another institution, which would explain the confusion.

Why would we even do something like that? We have absolutely nothing to gain from stealing 20k from someone. Our daily interest cost alone is over twice that amount. If we were systematicaly stealing from people I am certain the forums would be full of "Ginko stole my money!" threads.

IF YOU RUN AN SL BANK YOU ARE A SCAMMER!


That's what I beleive and there's NOTHING you can do about it.


you'll never see L$1 of my money so dream on!


Buyer beware.. you give them money and lose it it's YOUR fault!


*hugs*
Sav

Accusing a customer of insanity on a public forum over a claim of a past transgression does not give me any confidence in your service.

'Its only 20k and we have millions and therefore its insane' really doesnt hold grounds in logic or trust, especially when in the real world it makes perfect sense to steal small amounts as they are the numbers that are overlooked.

I am NOT accusing you of theft of this money, i am merely pointing out the flaw in your logic.

heck. to me, 20k L$ is a lot of money =P Ive never had more than half of that.

I trust Ginko more then Lindenlab...