Budget Freak

My two 0% balance transfer checks came in the mail over the weekend. $16,800. My mind was racing thinking about what I could buy with all this money, but luckily, I had a little self control. The plan was to deposit the checks to my WaMu checking account, and then transfer over to ING to start earning interest. I went to the WaMu yesterday to make the deposit, and ran into a bit trouble. The funds wouldn’t be available for 11 business days!! I couldn’t believe it. I’d never heard of a check taking 11 days to clear.

They gave me a whole list of reasons for this: the balance of my account (I only had $150 or so since I switched over to ING checking), I’d never deposited this much money before, the checks were out of state (Citi is based in South Dakota), all checks over $5,000 have to be put on hold. Needless to say, I was a bit upset. I could maybe understand a 48 hour delay while they check with Citi Bank, but 11 days?? This is 2007, is it not?? I felt like they were treating me like a criminal trying to cash bogus checks.

I talked to a supervisor at the branch, and then called their customer service line when I got home, but both gave me the same story. The only hope I have to getting the money any earlier is to plead with the branch manager. They told me to call back in 2 days to check on the status of the checks, and then they could possibly expedite things.

I think my mistake was trying to go through Washington Mutual. I should have just mailed the checks direct to ING to cash. Even if they had to hold the checks, the money would be in the right place. I guess that is the problem with an online bank: there’s no easy way to deposit money. By my calculations, I’m losing just over $2.00 a day waiting for the checks to clear.

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