The holding checks have to do with canadian us bank probs plain and simple, yes they (a cu) hold my checks for 21 days. It sucks but if I need money I wire I mean if your wiring 20k or even 5 at that, whats a 40$ fee? nothin to me. It sucks but that has to do with canadian banks not being able to verify funds right away and vice versa
IB policy is to hold personal checks for 7 business days. Usually, takes two weeks to get my check clear once IB has received it. Another week to send, that's 3 weeks total wait time for me. Don't know why they'd hold your check for 21 days. That's around 3 weeks or 15 business days.
my feeling is that IB does not respond to hostile or overly ignorant posters but does respond to many issues which are beyond the capacity of customer service. these type of posters get their 15 minutes of fame and expose themselves for what they are. the negative dribble is exposed by its obviousness or by other posters. IB rightfully comes out ahead. the whiners get their day and everybody is satisfied. the responses usually include tidbits of info that turn out to be useful.
IB 's staff should participate in IB forums as the ET thread gives lot of answers to possible questions in the customers mind .As a new IB customer,I am getting faster info/quick fix answers in Et threads instead of me going thro their site or send email/chat!!! For getting a low commision & high interest on daily cash balance+ access to global markets-I will put up with any small in convenience!!
the reason that you are getting a better response through ET thread is that you are communicating with a higher level IB person + receiving input from other ET posters. ET staff are much more higher paid individuals with other high level responsibiities. their time on this board is limited. if they devoted full time to ET commissions would need to be higher. start with chat people, express yourself clearly, be persistent. if you don't succeed then post on ET.
"Szeven is a solid guy, and 21 business days is a VERY long hold on "certified" funds. I agree that it's too long. Hold a check for 365 days and your bad debts will go down even further." from mr NBBO that is an example of a reductio ad absurdum argument. if you held checks for 365 days you would eliminate fraud but nobody would do business with you.
As an update on this thread (not sure why it was bumped) I successfully managed to wire funds out of my IB account... havent had any money to put back in the other way, but I think i can figure that out too! hahaha
Sorry if this has been mentioned already, I just skimmed the posts. I saw someone mention "certified" funds. There is no such thing anymore. Hasn't been for a long long time. I remember when you could get a "certified check" which was the equivalent of cash. Now the best you can do is "cashiers check". Not only can cashiers checks involve fraud ( I had a bank employee empty my checking account using a cashiers check) it is possible to stop payment on a cashiers check. You'll get none of this info from the min wage idiots behind the counter at most banks. Speak to an officer and you'll learn a ton of amazing stuff.
I am not familiar with banking practices, but how long does it take to verify a check? I would assume not more than 10 mins... When I sent a check to IB from a US bank to NYC bank, took the same forever, I don't remember exactly but it was close to a month. I could understand if it takes longer between countries or if it is from some kind of unusual institution, but why does a simple check verification takes 21 days in the same country???
You can verify a check all you want but that doesn't mean fraud isn't involved and (surprisingly) it doesn't mean a "verified" (whatever that is) check can't have a stop pay placed on it. Two different bank presidents told me exactly the same thing. You can stop pay on a cashiers check, and it's not terribly hard to fake them either.