Credit Union refused to Open account for NFA Trust

Credit unions often have a "field of membership" requirement, such as people working for a particular employer, etc. Maybe your trust fell outside the required class of membership.

Name them

For sure ask for that rule in writing.

I'm interested to know what credit union said this.

I grew up in Midland

Mike

Your MI NFA trust does not need to be funded with actual money. It may need a list of assets, but no actual money.

As I understand it, credit unions, unlike banks, are considered private and can pretty much make their own rules. Since they clearly don't like you, your hobby, or your membership, why beg them to allow you to stay with them?

Jim

I funded my trust with $1,000 and used that money to buy postal money orders for stamps. You can add funds to the trust at any time. The only advantage of a bank account is you can absolutely tell when the check is cashed, if you don't like waiting.

been getting in arguments a lot lately about actually needing a trust bank account.

i guess this is one more reason why i dont feel like i need one. No one can point me to any laws or statutes requiring one.

My Chase bank notarized the trust documents then called me two days later and asked if I could destroy them and have the trust notarized elsewhere! That is to say, start over.

You can open an account at a small local savings bank or simply list other property as held in trust. The bank account I finally used was closed as soon as I assembled an SBR Uzi and listed it on the asset list. Checked with my lawyer who said that was fine.

How do you "un-notarize" legal documents already notarized? I didn't, sent them along with the forms to obtain tax stamped form 4.

Take care and shoot safe. Jim

W5BYR said:

My Chase bank notarized the trust documents then called me two days later and asked if I could destroy them and have the trust notarized elsewhere! That is to say, start over.

You can open an account at a small local savings bank or simply list other property as held in trust. The bank account I finally used was closed as soon as I assembled an SBR Uzi and listed it on the asset list. Checked with my lawyer who said that was fine.

How do you "un-notarize" legal documents already notarized? I didn't, sent them along with the forms to obtain tax stamped form 4.

Take care and shoot safe. Jim

Click to expand...

Wow, this is just insane.

You can't un-notarize a document. You would have draw up the documents fresh and have someone else notarize them.

I would ignore their plea and use the docs you have already signed.

Neither my bank nor my credit union would open an account for my trust

Talked to my attny who did the trust and her opinion was as long as the check is from a trustee then the check is from the "trust"

Why do you need a bank account for the trust?

@ Lichter

You need to "fund" a trust. Easiest way is to open a bank account in the trust's name.

My credit union opened an account for my trust. Was not the easiest but I just had to have my paperwork and had to explain to the bottom level CSR at the bank what I needed. We had to get on the phone and talk to someone who knew what they were doing.

The easiest is to get a postal money order for $200 and on the money order in the "From" field you list your Trust name. To fund the trust I added $10 to my schedule "A". No bank involved and my form approved w/o issue.
If your Trust's bank account earns interest, your Trust will have to pay taxes on the earnings.

Looks like it would be easier to do the Form 4 as a individual...

There is no requirement for the Trust or LLC to have its own bank account, get a cashiers check use your trust or llc as a memo and be done with it.

I work for a financial institution and I'd wager being declined has nothing to do with firearms. In my particular case, when we have trust documents come in, we send it to an employee who's rather well versed in trust and estate documents. But that employee is not a lawyer, rather, they've just been told by the lawyers what to look for. I can't imagine this kind of trust is all that common, especially for someone in a smaller bank or a credit union. The credit union probably had never seen anything like it before and instead of having the real lawyer review it, they erred on the side of covering their own butts.

Of course, it could be some anti-gun lawyer being a jerk. But, as the saying goes, never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.

This is not the "easiest way to fund the trust". It seems quite difficult. The easiest is for the Grantor to add some piece of property to the trust, via the "schedule A". This can be a collection of books, coins, some socks your grandmother made, etc.

Why in the world would you put the word "firearm" in your trust name? It's just extra stuff that has to be engraved when you file a Form 1, which costs you space on the firearm plus increased engraving costs since most charge by the letter. "Smith NFA Trust" is short, clean, and doesn't raise eyebrows.

It's the same reason FFL's don't have the word "firearm" in the name, whenever packages get shipped, guess which ones get swiped by a dishonest employee from the courier? Something going to/from "Bob's Gun Emporium, LLC" is at more risk than one labelled "BGE, LLC"

The trust can have any name; it does not need to have 'firearm', 'NFA', 'SBR', or any other revealing noun or adjective in the name.

When you have the trust drawn up, you can fund it with a single dollar (on Schedule A. Neither BATFE or anyone else requires that the payment for the tax stamp come from an account with the trust's name.

You can pay by money order or personal check. Put the trust's name in the memo field, and you're done.

mbogo