Of Banks, Risk, Porn Stars and Irony

by Coleen Singer at  Sssh.com

Teagan Presley'a Chase Account Closed For Moral Reasons!

You might have noticed some rumbles in the news about Chase Bank canceling hundreds of accounts that belonging to Chase customers who also happen to be porn stars. While Chase didn't deem it necessary to explain the closures to the jilted account-holders, apparently it all has to do with porn being a "high risk" industry.

That's an interesting explanation, because if memory serves, it wasn't the porn industry that the American people had to fork over $700 billion to in order to rescue it from the high risk practices. In fact, I'm fairly certain it was the banks themselves that needed the quick fix – and a no-strings-attached, zero accountability fix, at that.

Granted, JPMorgan Chase received a paltry $25,000,000,000 of that total, but it still seems to me that they should be showing more appreciation to ALL their customers than an arbitrary account closure communicates.

I could understand Chase's policy if it were directed solely at online adult businesses, because for a variety of reasons, adult entertainment-related purchases made online are subject to a relatively high rate of chargebacks, credits and refunds. Shutting down the accounts of porn stars in light of that fact, however, makes about as much sense as shutting down the bank account of a pharmacist who works at a Walgreens because a lot of online pharmacies are scams.

What is it, really, that Chase is worried about here? It is a public health concern of some kind? Are acronym-confused male porn stars depositing something other than money into ATM machines? Is it a PR concern, and they want all those God-fearing, porn-hating Americans to know that Chase will never be the porn industry's bank of choice?

To be fair to those who are being decidedly unfair, Chase is not alone in this. Bank of America historically has been hostile to adult industry clients, as well. PayPal and American Express long ago nixed adult companies from the list of unsavory people they will do business with – unless of course you are an entirely unregulated entity selling something of real value on eBay, like "Bull Thunder Sexual Pleasure Enhancement Porn Mega Formula", for example – that is A-OK as far as PayPal is concerned, evidently.

While I'm sure that Chase also avoids association with various other folks who are considered undesirable by the American public, like drug dealers, pimps, NBA basketball team owners and Congressmen, I wonder how vigilant they are when it comes to individual account-holders.

If you have a membership to a subscription porn site that you purchased using a Chase-issued credit card card, does that render you a "high risk" customer? After all, you could infect your PC with a virus, then log in to Chase's site and give the entire place herpes. I mean, I'm not a doctor or an IT expert, but I think that risk assessment scenario is on pretty solid footing, at least from the perspective of Unaccountable Banker Logic.

I also wonder how equitably this policy has been and will be applied. If Larry Flynt had millions on deposit with Chase, would they cancel his account? Or is Larry too big to fail Chase's scrutiny?

Ultimately, the biggest irony here is this: I've been working in the adult industry for almost 20 years, but I've never had sex with a porn star. My bank, on the other hand, fucks me at least once a month!

About Coleen Singer
Coleen Singer is a writer, photographer, film editor and all-around geeky gal at Sssh.com, where she often waxes eloquent about sex, porn, sex toys, censorship, the literary and pandering evils of Fifty Shades of Grey and other topics not likely to be found on the Pulitzer Prize shortlist. She is also the editor and curator of EroticScribes.com. When she is not doing all of the above, Singer is an amateur stock-car racer and enjoys modifying vintage 1970s cars for the racetrack. Oh, she also likes porn.

Visit Coleen at Sssh.com for more sex news, commentary and hot entertainment for women and couples!