Chase Holding My Funds?

[LSUmom4kids]

I just opened my Chase accounts & made a $1,100 deposit on 9/17/10 - using funds from another account I'm closing. I fully expected a three day hold.

Yesterday I received a letter dated 9/17/10 saying that my funds would be available on 9/25/10 because "the deposited check(s) are not consistent with the accounts normal deposit activity"!

Duh; that's because I opened a new account! I think an 8 day hold (that doesn't release my funds until a Saturday) is a little excessive! I can't pay bills or do anything really until Mon. 9/27 - 10 days after I made my deposit!

Is this going to happen every time my paycheck gets deposited? I have bills to pay (mortgage)!

I'm not too impressed with Chase so far. First, I had no access to my accounts for the first two days because of "maintenance issues"; now this!

Anyone with a similar story? Am I the only one?

 

[CLEO Z]

I am not a Chase fan. That said, I do have my Chase Disney Visa! When I used to deal with big financial institutions for clients when I was working, I found all of them to be horrible! Bad customer service, policy set from on high, and no decisions can be made from a local branch.

We use an awesome credit union that is based soley in Northern Alabama. I have used credit unions in Iowa and smaller banks in Iowa and Illinois. I always have better customer service at the credit unions and smaller/regional banks that I have used.

 

[H.E. Pennypacker]

Not a big Chase fan either (or any big commercial bank for that matter), but that's not entirely unreasonable to hold funds deposited via check for a certain amount of time. Fraud is rampant these days and they're just trying to protect themselves and their customers. (But mostly themselves.) I have an otherwise great credit union here in the Chicagoland area, but their policy is to hold anything over $1500 deposited as a check for 10 days. Not quite as bad as Chase, but if I were to deposit a check for $3000, $1500 of that would be locked up for 10 days. That said, payroll funds > $1500 deposited via direct deposit are not subject to the 10-day hold at my credit union. They're available immediately. Might be the same for Chase. You should probably just call Chase and ask them what their policy is for availabiliy of deposited checks.

 

[Ava]

I also don't think it's unreasonable to hold an initial check deposit for 10 days; however, they should've informed you when you opened the account what the hold time would be. I recently opened an account at a local bank using a check from another account, and I was told at the time that because I was using a check to open my account the funds would not be available for 10 days.

 

[MomToOne]

10 day holds for large checks on new accounts is fairly common. It sucks, but is common. It's not just Chase.

 

[hambirg]

We had a small business for years, so don't even get me started on check holds! It would be one thing if they were consistent, but they weren't. . .completely random whether it was going to be 3-day or 10-day. This is what many headaches have taught me. . .deposit cash! I don't think they will put a hold on your paycheck, but if they do, simply say you want to cash it. . .then turn around and deposit the cash.

10 day holds for large checks on new accounts is fairly common. It sucks, but is common. It's not just Chase.

This is true. When I opened my Chase checking account last spring, they were going to put a hold on my initial deposit. . .so I told the banker to sit tight while I ran out to the ATM and pulled out cash. So my initial deposit was only $200, but the next day I went to the other bank and pulled out the rest and deposited it with Chase.

 

[tinkerbelletreasure]

Unfortuntely it's not just Chase. I had to get rid of Bank of America because they used to do that to my business account! And all of our checks were fromt he same bank and bank account. For a while they would call the other bank to confirm the money was there and release my money right away, after they got tired of doing that, I changed banks. 10 days is a long time to hang onto another businesses money!

 

[wgwtgb]

We had a small business for years, so don't even get me started on check holds! It would be one thing if they were consistent, but they weren't. . .completely random whether it was going to be 3-day or 10-day. This is what many headaches have taught me. . .deposit cash! I don't think they will put a hold on your paycheck, but if they do, simply say you want to cash it. . .then turn around and deposit the cash.



But if you don't have that amount or over in your account already then they WONT let you cash it to deposit! Go figure...

 

[hambirg]

Unfortuntely it's not just Chase. I had to get rid of Bank of America because they used to do that to my business account! And all of our checks were fromt he same bank and bank account. For a while they would call the other bank to confirm the money was there and release my money right away, after they got tired of doing that, I changed banks. 10 days is a long time to hang onto another businesses money!

Been there, done that. It sucks!

 

[hambirg]

But if you don't have that amount or over in your account already then they WONT let you cash it to deposit! Go figure...

Not always. I've only actually run into that a few times, and then I just take it to the bank it's drawn on and cash it there.

ETA- You can always ask them to call the other bank. . .they may not want to. . .but they should.

 

[lovesmurfs]

Can you have your paycheck direct-deposited? We've been a Chase customer for years (after First Chicago and then Bank One were taken over), and we haven't ever had a problem with the direct deposits.

 

[Soon2B4]

I hate to say it, but they are in their legal rights to do so. I worked at the Federal Reserve in the check department. BUT, they should have told you the hold time when you deposited it. Also, given the dollar amount, they had the right to place a hold even if it wasn't a new account. Not saying all banks will, but they are allowed to.

I opened a new account with a bank and my initial deposit was a payroll check from the Federal Reserve, drawn on the Fed. It was my first check so I didn't have the option of direct deposit. They told me they had to hold my funds since it was a new account. Checks drawn on the FED are immediately available to banks, but they still had the right to place the hold due to it being a new account. It sucks, but it's legal.

 

[hopemax]

Not with Chase, but shortly after we set up our Wells Fargo savings account, we wrote a check from our Bank of America account for $500 to deposit in our WF account. We did this so we would have enough money to avoid the minimum deposit fee. We also received a "we have to hold your check for X period of time," letter in the mail. So that first month, we had to pay the $3 fee. And we weren't told about the possibility of the hold either.

So it's not just Chase.

 

[bumbershoot]

I'm not too impressed with Chase so far. First, I had no access to my accounts for the first two days because of "maintenance issues"; now this!

You could have called or gone into a branch during the online downtime...


I've actually liked Chase after they stole Wamu. Surprising to me, but there ya go. No holds beyond a day, no problems. But I was with Wamu from '97, so I was an existing customer, and maybe that's the difference.

 

[Leajess99]

10 day holds for large checks on new accounts is fairly common. It sucks, but is common. It's not just Chase.

It is also not just on new checks at many banks either. My credit union will hold a large check to make sure it clears unless I have the funds in that account to cover it. I learned earlier this year to place large checks in my extra savings account that is not used to make sure it clears prior to removing money. I learned that lesson thanks to my ex bouncing his CS payment.

 

[bettymae1121]

I've been with Chase for about 2 years now, and 99.9% of what I do with them is electronic and so far, no complaints at all. Both my and DH's payroll is direct deposited and it's available instantly, no hold at all. All the bills we pay through their online bill pay go out on time and always get there (no problems with whoever we are paying saying they never got the payment) and customer service in person at the bank (the few times I've had to go in) has been great.

They should have told you about the 10 day hold, but unfortunately these days that's not uncommon for any bank to do, especially for a new customer with a high $$$ check.