Soooo frustrated with bank - holding a deposit

[CathyA]

We are lending my son money to pay off his VISAs. Well, I guess they thought it was very strange for him to receive such a large amount of money (not THAT large), and put a hold on the money. They are holding it for a total of 9 days (including a weekend).
DS has real problems understanding this stuff and the bank wouldn't talk to me........even in very generic terms. I would ask "Okay, hypothetically speaking....why do you hold a check so long?" They had the supervisor talk to me, who put me on hold (hahaha.........just like they did the check!).
After about 10 minutes of waiting, someone else answers the phone "can we help you?" And I have to start all over.
DS called them and they told him that I had to call my bank and ask them to call their bank and okay shortening the hold. When I tried to do that, my bank said they had absolutely nothing to do with the hold and no one would have said that to my son.
Then DS called a different number (the "Holds department), and once again, they said I needed to call my bank and have them call his bank...........
AAAACCCCHHHHHHHH!!!! :devil:
In the meantime, DS has bounced a few checks......even though he insists that some of the deposit that DID clear, was marked as "available" when he wrote the checks.
I'm so frustrated with DS AND the bank!
Isn't there a better way to do this?

In the future, if we loan DS money........would it help to deposit a smaller amount every day until the amount is up to what we want to lend???

[benhyr]

Deposits over $10k are held for 10 days. Banks also generally hold deposits of $5k for over 5 days. It's to keep the terrorists from winning. As I understand it, depositing checks under $5k every day may not hit that hold issue, but I wonder if that's just a technology limit with the banks I've talked to about this.

[fidgiegirl]

I used to work at a credit union and the issue was generally with personal checks. It wasn't a set amount, but if a young kid had a personal check for a larger-than-normal amount they might hold it in case it turned out he had forged it or something. Was it a personal check? Perhaps a cashiers check in the future would work out better.

Sorry this has happened to you! Frustrating! And mostly, bank rules are meant to benefit the bank not the consumer.

[Reyes]

You can deposit cash directly into his account, providing whichever bank he banks with has a branch near you.

[freein05]

A bank will not generally put a hold a cashiers check it is the same as cash. Banks put hold on checks to prevent losses. You could deposit a check to your account and withdrawal the money at another branch before the check clears. Checks do generally clear fast 1 to 3 days.

[CathyA]

I think someone dropped the ball at DS's bank. There's no reason to make a person wait 9 days for a check to clear.

[Mrs. Hermit]

Try using electronic bill pay to move money into his account, and use smaller denominations.

[loosechickens]

when we have to send a large amount of money (such as when we made a business loan to a relative), we do it with an electronic transfer, bank to bank. The money arrives in just a few minutes, and within the hour is available to the person for withdrawal. I wouldn't do that for ordinary transactions, but for checks up into the thousands, especially if the money is needed in a timely fashion by the recipient, the ease and convenience is well worth the cost (which can be about $25, although our brokerage firm has always waived the charge. It shows as charged, and is then waived. maybe if we did it often, they would charge us, but allow a few as "customer service", I don't know.)

All you need to have is his bank account number and the routing number of his bank, and then it's easy peasy. All over in a few minutes, and available to the other person, literally in minutes all the way across the country.

[CathyA]

I usually do use electronic transfers, but this was out of our home equity loan, and they don't let you do that. But maybe it would all go faster if I wrote myself a check from our home equity and then transferred it from my checking account to DS's account. I think that would work, since my bank is used to seeing bigger deposits than my son's bank is.
I don't understand why our home equity loan (online) doesn't let us pay bills online. Maybe its a security thing since its a loan, rather than a checking account?

[herisf]

Banks look at each individual depositor's pattern of deposits and withdrawals, monitoring for fraudulent activity. When I moved to my current location and therefore a new local bank, they apologized that my first large deposit/withdrawal would have something like a 10-day hold. It didn't matter to me as I always allow at least a week for big items to pass through the system. They are now used to my very erratic but large transfers of money as I move things from place to place. Your son probably has not established a habit of moving around large amounts of money, so this transaction would send up a big red flag. I'm sure you told them that you're his parent, but how are they to know you really are? You could be his conspirator in a crime. But if they just wait for the regular holding period to pass, then all safety measures can take place.

If you need to do this again, just make sure to allow for a long holding period (and your son not to time everything so closely) and things should be fine.

[CathyA]

Thanks everyone.
DS's bank (VISA) is used to seeing him take out large amounts..........just not putting any in! :(
Just when you think your kids are finally getting responsible............they regress!

[dado potato]

I would check with the specific bank in question. No doubt there is a formal policy about the number of BUSINESS days a deposit will be held, varying with the amount. As others have said above, if the hold increases at $5000 or $10,000, one can consider breaking the transfer into smaller packets. Plan ahead!

[leslieann]

Hi, dado! sorry to be off topic, but HELLO! Good to see you!

[freein05]

Breaking down deposits may not work. Since the US Patriot Act banks have installed suffocated software to detect such transactions. It is used to catch structured deposits. Such software and US Patriot Act are suppose to catch terrorist type deposits.

[johnny5]

I think the banks are borrowing our money for the alleged “hold,” period and earning interest on it. Don’t laugh, read my story:.

I had a customer give me a materials deposit check for 1000.00 for a small renovation and we agreed work would commence when the check cleared through my bank, which is usually 5 business days. I deposited it through the teller and figured I’d start the job the next week.

Two days later, the customer calls, “the check cleared, are you going to start today?” I went online and saw that it had not cleared, yet. He was annoyed, “the money is in your hands… check #XXXX has been debited from my account” (Yes, BTW I gave him the options of cash, email transfer, certified check to start the job asap, or Mastercard for the deposit but that generation still prefers good ol’ paper checks)

I told him its my policy not to start a job until the deposit has cleared. (Sorry, for every scam-artist contractor out there I can assure you there is a scamming customer)

Finally 7 days later incl the weekend the check cleared and I showed up to start the job. Just to prove a point the customer showed me his online acct which clearly had -$1000.00 from the week prior. We both agreed the banks are up to something. The job went ahead as planned without a hitch.

So, where did the money go for 5 days? Are we to believe that with all this computer technology it sits in cyberspace waiting for someone to hit <enter>?

Its only a thousand dollars, so, 5 days interest on that isn’t much. When banks do it millions of times a day, to millions of people for billions of dollars, where does the interest go?

Think about it, banks make money no matter how we choose to pay for something whether it be credit card, email transfer, debit, or check certification fees, so why would checks be any different? Is heading towards a cashless society based on consumer demand or has it been fabricated by the banks?

Thanks for reading!

[Blackdog Lin]

loosechickens: where have you been?!!! Good to hear from you again.

[lhamo]

Why not just make a payment directly to Visa?

[iris lily]

loosechickens: where have you been?!!! Good to hear from you again.

hey, this thread started two years ago, loosechickens is long gone.

[Blackdog Lin]

For pete's sake.

I need to pay more attention.

[CathyA]

LOL Blackdog Lin..........I've done the same thing in other old threads! But..........you've reminded me..............where is Loose Chickens???