Sirius and Gringotts - Banking Q & A; mostly Q

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 96410

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Geoff Bannister"
<gbannister10 at a...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <bboy_mn at y...> wrote:
> > --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "leb2323" <lbiles at f...> wrote:
> > > --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Jen Reese" <stevejjen at e...>
> > > wrote:
> > > 
> > > > Very interesting! I was thinking if vault 713 really is
> > > > Dumbledore's personal vault, and 711 the Black family vault,
> > > > perhaps that particular section of Gringotts is for old, 
> > > > pure-blood families? ...edited... 
> > 

> > 
> > bboy_mn:
> > 
> > Let me start with a question; has Harry's vault number ever been
> > mention in the books (or the movie)? 
> > 
> > It thought it was six hundred something.
> > 

> 
> Geoff:
> As far as I can see, it doesn't occur in the book. In the PS film, 
> Harry's vault is 687.
> 
> JKR seems to have worked closely with Steven Kloves over the 
> screenplay so whether this number came from her or not I wouldn't 
> know; one might assume that she OK'd it. If so, is there any 
> significance in the number?

bboy_mn:

I wondered about Harry's vault number, because I was considering the
possibility that higher vault numbers implied a higher levels of
security. Six hundred series vaults are key access walk-in vaults. We
could assume that the Weasley vault would be something like one
hundred something. Seven hundred series vaults are walk-ins that can
only be opened by a Goblin.

There may be something to that theory, but even I can see that it has
flaws. For one, it's not likely that vaults would be allocated in even
units of 100. In other words, is it likely that only 100 key access
walk-ins are sufficient to serve the wizard world? Logic would say
that there were many hundred lesser security 'bread box' vaults, and
only a hand full of ultra-high security Dragon protected vaults. 



Slightly off the immediate subject but on the general topic of Sirius
removing money from his vault, I think Molly is the fly in the
ointment here. She seems to have easy access to Harry's vault. So when
I try to resolve Sirius accessing his own gold in Harry's name, I have
to make whatever explanation I come up with 'square' with Molly taking
Harry's money. 

Given all that, the best I've been able to come up with is the Goblin
Magical Verification Theory that says the goblins have some way of
verifying the legitimacy (sounds like Legilimency) of a transaction. 

Beyond that verification, I don't think the goblins much care what
anyone does with their money. I speculate they are as keen on
protecting finacial privacy as they are on protecting money, and the
goblins really aren't on the most friendly and cooperative terms with
the Ministry.

I also have an equally unfounded theory that you can access your money
without accessing your vault, much like modern banking. For example,
when Sirius orders the Firebolt, I suspect that the Quidditch shop
simply took or sent the authorization for withdrawal from vault 711 to
Gringotts, and Gringotts transferred the money to the account of
'Quality Quidditch Supplies'. 

Extending this unfounded theory farther, if you needed money in a
hurry, the goblins would advance you cash without a trip to your
vault. You sign a reciept for the cash, and they use the reciept as an
authorization to remove that amount from you vault at a later time.


Other unanswer Gringotts questions-

-Does your money draw interest?
-Can the Goblins use the money in your vault to make loans or
investments? Or... do you have to transfer sums of money to a goblin
interest bearing investment account? 
-Is your money insured? As well as depositor's insurance, I can easily
see Gringotts involved in selling insurance of all types. That's
certainly a better gamble than backing Ludo Bagman.
-Do the goblins provide advance investment services? It's clear that
goblins aren't in the business of banking for benevolent reasons. They
want to make money. To make money, they have to engage in investments
of some sort.
-How big a return do you get on your investments? ...5%? ...10%?
...20%? How big a return do the Goblins get on your money?
-Do the Goblins have local authorization to take loot from cursed
tomes? Are they 'Tome Raiders' or are they working in cooperation with
local governments in return for a share of the treasure? ...or both?
-Do goblins allow their investments to spill over into the muggle
world? Are goblins investing on Wall Street? Goblins seem to have an
'anything for a buck' attitude about making money. If money is to be
made in the muggle world, would they take advantage of it?
-Do, as I very much suspect, the Goblins have muggle 'front'
businesses that they use to funnel money into and out of the muggle
world? 
-How shady are the Goblins investments? Would they be above
questionable business practices? Would the go so far as to manipulate
the stock or currency markets? Would they fan the flames of civil
unrest if they thought they could make it work to their finacial
advantage?
-Where do the Goblins get all those raw gems that are the size of
lumps of coal? ...old tomes? ...new mining?  ...unclaimed vaults?
-and many many more?

Enquiring minds want to know.

bboy_mn