The day my wire transfer got stuck in limbo for 11 days

I needed to send $2,400 to a contractor in Austin for a kitchen remodel, and my bank said it would take 2 business days. Somehow it got flagged for a random review and nobody could tell me why, not even the manager at my local branch. Day 11 rolls around and it finally goes through after I threatened to file a CFPB complaint. Has anyone else had a simple transfer turn into a two-week nightmare for no reason?

3 comments

3 Comments

lindag331mo ago

Oh wait, did your bank at least tell you what "random review" even means? I had something similar happen with a car payment once, it was only $500 but they held it for like three weeks because my name apparently matched someone on some list. The worst part is they won't even give you a straight answer, just a bunch of "we're looking into it" nonsense. I finally went to the branch and stood there until a manager came out, and that's when it magically got unstuck the next day. Honestly I think they just hope you'll give up and go away if they stall long enough.

olivia_moore1mo ago

Funny you mention the CFPB threat, because that's exactly what worked for me too. I had a $3,800 transfer to a roofer get stuck for almost two weeks and nobody at the bank would even look at it until I mentioned filing a complaint online. The next morning I got a call from someone in their escalations team who actually had answers and got it cleared within 48 hours. I honestly think some banks just wait for you to push hard enough before they bother checking the hold.

iris9271mo ago

Honestly, I gotta push back on that, @lindag33. I get why you'd think they're just stalling, but my experience was a little different. When my wire got stuck for 11 days, the manager at my branch actually called me back each time I checked in. She ran out of things to tell me but said the review was triggered by something in the system matching a pattern, not my name on a list. It still took forever, but they finally gave me a specific date when it would clear after I filed that CFPB threat. Maybe I just got lucky with my branch manager, but I don't think every bank is trying to make you give up.