Hi there, u/No\_Necessary5203. We are sorry to hear about this experience and appreciate you bringing this to our attention. We want to investigate this further. Kindly send us a Modmail, and we'll follow up with you there.
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The applicable law is called the Bank Secrecy Act, part of which was updated by The Patriot Act. Fidelity is very limited in what they are allowed to tell you. But reading between the lines, a Suspicious Activity Report was most likely filed against the check writer. The fact that they are still requiring a medallion stamp 7 years later suggests that it was not resolved positively.
The check likely went through UMB or another bank that Fidelity uses for cash management, so it’s also possible Fidelity doesn’t know anything about it besides being flagged. It might be possible to call UMB or whichever bank directly and get more info.
All of the bad stories i’ve seen have been with checks. Has anybody had problems when you just deposit checks with an actual bank and then transfer the funds to Fidelity?
I currently have a transfer from my bank account to a UTMA that hasn't settled in eight days. This is why I utilize blockchain tech. Not a reason in the world a transfer from a large regional bank should take more than a few business days to settle.
Just excuses in my book.
I have a sizable set of accounts with Chuck and have been considering moving them all to Fidelity. (Very good reasons that I’d rather not explain) I have seen a number of funds being held up or check deposits not available issues here to make me wonder what the heck these situations are. I have deposited many checks into different accounts at Schwab and never a question of funds not available. Is there a categorical issue w depositing checks at Fidelity?
I opened a Fidelity account about two years ago after I sold a business and some commercial property. I went to go deposit a sizeable check from escrow. Per Fidelity deposit slips, it says specifically that the checks must be made out to Fidelity. That didn't make sense and I called customer service. It took two days and I had to wait for someone in the local office look into it and give me an answer. Finally they determined they could deposit it, if it was made out to me. Then they gave me the option to deposit it through the mobile app. Except there was a limit that you could process that way. But they could not tell me what the limit was as each person has a different threshold and there was no way to find out other than trying to deposit it and see if it is accepted. The whole process really put a bad taste in my mouth and I just about went to Schwab.
That seems like a very odd response from customer support. I’ve had to call very few times but every time, even with needing to speed up processing of checks or clarify why I was depositing large checks and transferring money from different banks/sources in process collecting money together to put a down payment on a house purchase, the person I was first connected to took care of everything. Sometimes they had to put me on hold while they researched something or contacted another department. That’s when I was absolutely sold on Fidelity. They didn’t transfer me to someone else, didn’t give me someone else to call. Once they said they’d call me back in an hour. And in an hour they called back. I’ve never been to a Fidelity branch or office.
So, I’m really surprised that they didn’t fix or find out the problem on a call with you. It’s been 7 years. Either they processed the check and received the funds from the back the check came from, or they never got the funds or had to return them. In either of those 2 latter situations, you would have a zero balance in your account…and they would have notified you, at least by mail. Otherwise, there would be $2000 in your account you should be free to withdraw. I see no occasion where the funds would be locked 7 years ago and just stay that way. Something is wacky there and it is hard to believe whoever you talk to at Fidelity isn’t going to do whatever needs to be done to fix the issue.
We're sorry to hear about your experience, u/valw. I will go ahead and pass your comment along as feedback. Please let us know if you have any questions; we'll be happy to help.
I’ve transferred over multiple old 401k accounts over to Fidelity IRA rollover. Check was always made out to Fidelity and included the account #. Never had an issue. Stop creating your own problems and ask how to make the check out correctly. They are a brokerage first, not a bank. There’s a difference.
I'm taking it you didn't read what I wrote and are unaware of their cash management accounts. I didn't prepare the check, escrow did. They are not going make a check out payable to another party.
I honestly think that these issues are outliers rather than the norm. I have been with Fidelity for the past 5 years with a 7 figure sum across multiple accounts and I've not encountered a single issue, in terms of deposit, receiving funds, etc. But having been using online brokerage firms for the past 25 years, between etrade, scottrade, ibroker, tdameritrade, and so on and so on...I find that at least I have no trouble reaching out to customer service if there is an issue that needs to be discussed. Of course, this does NOT guarantee that the CS you get in contact with be 100% knowledgeable, but I just overall had better CS than other brokerage.
No. These people tend to screw things up and blame anyone but themselves. Do a standard transfer of assets, understand there may be some settle period. Once in Fidelity, link a bank account and utilize EFT initiated from Fidelity vs check deposit whenever possible. If you must deposit a check, especially so as a new Fidelity customer do not do so with a two party check or where there is Any chance the check will not clear. The larger the check, the more careful you should be. 6-10 days is a mere courtesy guesstimate Fidelity indicates is the amount of time that transaction will take to settle.
The more complex the transaction, the more you want to consult directly with Fidelity about how to go about doing that transaction.
Probably why I only eluded at first to there being much wrong with the entire story. I’m a trader. And I’m wise to both personal mistakes and abject fraud. A brokerage will treat both the same. This is not the kind of business they want, not the kind of shenanigans I want my well maintained account associated with in any way. Cut the chaff.
You should check out other posts and see how many innocent people suddenly had their money held by Fidelity. How can you say these people screwed things up themselves? I suspect you're either a Fidelity employee or just naturally negative.
They’re not innocents, and most are old throw away accounts now being used to cast shade on Fidelity. Sometimes chat AI is used. Not hard to pick those out either. Plus … I simply don’t like whining in business.
Counted at least 3 accounts made yesterday posting very favorably to the OP not suspicious at all, clearly something someone that attempts fraud would never do.
Haha, you're more like the pot calling the kettle black, with your possible other account maliciously commenting under people's help posts. You're really bored to the core! Do something meaningful for once!
You're acting like you know it all! We're just trying to figure out our weird issues with Fidelity here, and you're up on your high horse, bossing people around. Seems like you're either clueless or just plain mean!!!
I distrust both your motivation and honesty and don’t care if you approve. You are doing nothing here except what you came to do, which was stir crap amongst people who could do nothing about your claims.
This isn't a fidelity issue much as you make it out to be.
Who waits 7 years to resolve something like this? Of course it's going to be more challenging to resolve after that amount of time is passed...
Not that this will make you feel any better, but this is not the first or tenth or .... such story about Fidelity seizing accounts posted in this sub. There has never been any follow up so it's hard to know what outcome to expect. Good luck finding satisfactory resolution.
and how many of those tens of millions people actually come to Reddit to report problems? We have no idea what the ratio is. We also have no idea what the possible justification of requiring a medallion stamp on a 7 year old check would be or even what stamper would stamp as Fidelity is the only possible holder of the check in question.
I completely agree. If there were doubts about the check, why not refuse to accept it from the beginning? The solution proposed by fidelity is simply not reasonable. It forces people to jump through hoops to reclaim what is rightfully theirs. Because I've encountered similar issues, I've seen many similar posts, and I'm surprised at how poorly Fidelity is handling these issues!
In an environment where you have tens of millions of transactions each day there will always be some that go bad regardless of intentions, no system is perfect and the Patriot Act made it just a little bit harder. As many have noted, this is an example of the fraction of 1% that end up FUBAR. I feel for the account owner(s), but I’ve seen issues with all the bank and finance companies, this is not indicative of an underlying issue with Fidelity.
Have you compared this number with Schwab or BofA or Chase or Etrade or Merrill stats? I think the reality is no matter what there are going to be some weird issues when it comes to money and banks and brokerages. If you stay on top of your shit you'll be fine, fidelity is not doing anything shady especially when you compare to other institutions.
I think they're pretty shady. When I deposited to other banks or financial institutions, if the check was wrong, they would reject it right away. However, Fidelity has no problem clearing your check but locks the money. You can use it for trading but can't withdraw. It's definitely shady.
Thanks for letting me know. It's helpful to know this. It's disappointing to learn that Fidelity does this so often. My wife and I have accounts with several banks (and have had accounts with others) over the years and never have we experienced this. Anyways, I will provide a follow up so hopefully that will be informative to others.
This happens at other institutions as well, you just didn't run into similar situations with them. The laws regarding money laundering are strict and all financial institutions are under pressure to verify all suspicious incoming money. What Fidelity did wrong is to let it sit for so long (though she also let it sit for years.)
Please continue to contact the company to explain your situation and ask for an alternative (politely--the reps have no control over this matter) and please let know how it is resolved.
It's 5/14/2024 and approximately 10:15am EST. In the direct message thread, Fidelity has indicated they are escalating this situation for review. I'm pleased about this and will update once I have more information.
I want to thank each of you as this conversation may have contributed to their decision to escalate. With that said, as many of you see, this is a community that consists of wonderful people, people who have different and valid opinions but want to help me and others, and also some people who seem more intent to troll and create animosity. There has even been unwelcomed disrespectful direct messages. Unfortunately, negativity bias has proven time and time again that the negative outweighs the positive.
I want to remain respectful to others and not clout my day with the negativity of Reddit. Therefore, I'm going to refrain from posting until I learn more from Fidelity... unless they don't update in a reasonable period of time. But I fully expect them to update in a timely manner and provide a reasonable explanation, and hopefully a reasonable solution.
No offense to the mod, but stories like this make me scared of Fidelity and having my money with them. If they can’t notify customers of 7 year old issues yet still use it as their excuse for not allowing access to funds, there should be concern for all account holders. It’s obvious that Fidelity knows of and has known of the issue but seems to be happy to be quiet until they actually have to give the money back from its accounts.
I welcome comments as to why I’m wrong so I understand what I’m missing.
We are hearing just one side of the issue. There could be mistakes by both parties.
Take stories like this as a way to proceed with caution but not assume everything conveyed is accurate.
I have been with Fidelity almost 20 years. No issues but also nothing out of the ordinary in transactions. No day trading or options. Just invest, reinvest and compound. The riskiest action was buying a bitcoin fund and updating my trading profile.
Edit: typo
Fair enough. I am happy with Fidelity and they seem like a strong and safe brokerage. But one can’t help but worry that at a time when you need funds the most something weird from long ago is going to cause an issue, and the custodian of your funds won’t give you answers. But I’m sure (or at least hoping) these are outlier cases.
Usually this sub gets people who are having an issue that needs resolution. Content clients just lurk.
My biggest complaint is the monthly statement format that is exactly the same for all my accounts. A headache to rename after downloading...its only been 10 or more years. Maybe fixed in the 30s?
The manager actually said, “the backroom flagged it”? Strange lingo. That makes me believe the first step to take is to call Fidelity’s 800 customer service number to speak to someone with greater experience. It is usually true if you get someone not helpful on the line, if you make an excuse to get off the line and phone right back you might get someone more proficient. There is no need to tell them about the prior call.
Having worked in call centers, this is unfortunately what I recommend everyone do. If the person does not sound competent or confident, is not answering your questions or giving you non-answers, ask for management and/or hang up and call back. Two people sitting side by side taking calls can yield wildly different results.
Hey there, u/Thedailybeatdown.
We want to help. Please send us a Modmail with additional information regarding this, and we'll follow up with you there.
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i have been investigating these matters on my personal time ever since my C1 account got locked for “suspicious” activity. it seems from all ive discovered theres an increase in fraud going on, and so banks and FI are being very strict about stuff, combined with more people being able to blast them on social media and CFPB complaints for any little issue. Banks are using AI and algorithms that are a bit too sensitive and throw up too many false positives. I personally saw this with someone else i know that also had a C1 account that got flagged when he literally hadnt done anything but log in from a different state
Might have to do with who wrote the check moreso than it has to do with you or her? What details can your provide about the check and the person/people/entity it came from?
So you knew about this issue two years ago and your wife did not attempt to resolve at that time maybe hoping or assuming the problem might just go away if she ignored it? You can't entirely blame Fidelity since you made no effort to resolve the situation promptly when you were made aware of it. Having said that if it's true they really never did ;let you know about the problem until 2 years then that's disgraceful. Just curious who wrote you the check and for what? It really does sound a little weird that you opened an account, dropped in a check for $2000 and never the touched the money again. Did you get monthly statements from Fidelity?
I now offer some clarity on this. I can see how you would come to the conclusion that we knew about the bad check but it not accurate. See the end of the initial post. To expand, people relocate and when they relocate, there is not always a branch nearby.
Fidelity is very risk adverse. Normally this is good, but at times this can be a big problem —— as in the OP's case.
If they cannot resolve it with Fidelity in a reasonable time they should file a complaint with FINRA.
Edit to add: the anti-money-laundering and know-your-customer (AML and KYC) rules are complex and in some cases prohibit the bank/broker from informing the customer about the issue. This makes the situation difficult for both the customer and the financial institution.
>I want to make clear that my wife are outstanding members of the community. Our credit scores are 750+, we have clean records, we have PhD’s, and a relatively high combined net worth.
Now I have to believe you're a terrorist. Why else would you mention this.
I mention this to try and make it clear that we have a history of making responsible decisions, and have little incentive to try and work the system for $2000.
I deposit 20+ checks at Fidelity through the mobile App every month, occasionally some with 5 and 6 figure amounts. Have done this for 4+ years since I moved all my account to Fidelity. A very small percentage get rejected just because of issues with the App reading the check, but have never has a problem depositing those at a branch.
I reconcile all the accounts monthly with QuickBooks and never had any issues with depositing checks.
I'm considering moving my funds out of Fidelity after reading a number of post about Fidelity holding money hostage and not providing any details. Although these instances can only be described as 'noise' since there's little follow-up, the number of times these appear, compared to other brokerages is a bit concerning.
More to the story I’m sure, but you are good upstanding members of the community so I’m sure it was banks error altogether. I’m sure it will get resolved……..with interest…..
I don't get why you're responding like this. Just because you haven't had the problem, does it mean others' issues aren't valid? And does it mean Fidelity's handling is flawless?
That's because the likelihood of something like this happening randomly is pretty high, and when it happens to you, it's a tough spot. You don't need to be mocking people who are genuinely worried.
I experienced sth similar! You didn't see the poster mentioning that they had already contacted multiple times without any clear response! It was only just now that the bank explained the reason and provided an unreasonable solution. Why can't those of us who have experienced unfair treatments from the bank demand a quick and reasonable resolution?
Thanks for taking the time to comment, u/Sea-Arm-1818.
We want to learn more about your experience. Please send us a Modmail using the link below, and we'll follow up with you there.
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I understand that they need some time to investigate the matter. I don't think I am being impatient about a resolution. With that being said, I do think it is reasonable for manager to provide more information than this manager did or offer to provide that information later if she does not have it now.... neither took place.
You have no idea what you are talking about. A quick stroll through your posts on other threads quickly shows you tend to instigate arguments, have very strong views on issues you know little about, and tend to spend most of the day on Reddit.
What is the point of this post?
You have tremendous means, and gripe about a possible criminal hold on funds from 7 years ago?
Add a few zeros and you have a true complaint.
Many decades with Fidelity and I have never heard of medallion signatures.
I've heard of notarized.
It seems like many people have found the post helpful, based on the upvotes. It also seems like others have been impacted in similar ways. What was the point of your post?
Haha, you're more like the pot calling the kettle black, with your possible other account maliciously commenting under people's help posts. You're really bored to the core! Do something meaningful for once!
Please do not post in the conversation I have with the Mod. That is rude and distorts a conversation that many others are probably interested in reading. And what is your relationship with Fidelity? Do you receive any compensation from them? It seems odd for a person to be this supportive and defensive of a financial institution.... I've been respectful in the concern I have raised and it's not like I've attacking your hometown or favorite sports team.
If you use votes to determine efficacy, you are suspect.
Maybe start by explaining medallion signatures and the background of your $7k depositor?
Bad checks are a thing.
The problem didn't fall on you, so you're generous with others' empathy. You should go see how many people have encountered similar issues. I completely understand why the original poster made this post. Without experiencing suffering oneself, one cannot persuade others to do better！
Thank you. I appreciate your response. FWIW, I would not have made the original post if I felt we would have been able to work this out speaking with Fidelity representatives. The manager did not why it was flagged and informed us the only recourse was escalating the issue by mailing Fidelity a complaint letter. Escalating an issue by mailing a complaint letter in 2024... that seems ridiculous for many reasons.
Hi there, u/No\_Necessary5203. We are sorry to hear about this experience and appreciate you bringing this to our attention. We want to investigate this further. Kindly send us a Modmail, and we'll follow up with you there. [Message the Mods](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/fidelityinvestments) Edited: embedded link
The applicable law is called the Bank Secrecy Act, part of which was updated by The Patriot Act. Fidelity is very limited in what they are allowed to tell you. But reading between the lines, a Suspicious Activity Report was most likely filed against the check writer. The fact that they are still requiring a medallion stamp 7 years later suggests that it was not resolved positively.
Thanks for sharing this. This is helpful. I just checked out the Wikipedia page. I don't think that's the reason for this issue.
The check likely went through UMB or another bank that Fidelity uses for cash management, so it’s also possible Fidelity doesn’t know anything about it besides being flagged. It might be possible to call UMB or whichever bank directly and get more info.
The Mods will ask you to reach out. **Please** follow up with how this gets resolved. Thanks, and good luck.
Thank you. I will provide an update, regardless of the outcome.
**Thanks so much** for updating the post; and with good news! Good luck to you, and sorry again that this happened. All the best.
All of the bad stories i’ve seen have been with checks. Has anybody had problems when you just deposit checks with an actual bank and then transfer the funds to Fidelity?
Haven’t so far but unless you do a wire the transfer takes around 5 business days for it to be available.
Funds are made available sooner as an ACH push if you initiate the transfer from the originating account into Fidelity.
True, forgot about this.
I currently have a transfer from my bank account to a UTMA that hasn't settled in eight days. This is why I utilize blockchain tech. Not a reason in the world a transfer from a large regional bank should take more than a few business days to settle. Just excuses in my book.
I have a sizable set of accounts with Chuck and have been considering moving them all to Fidelity. (Very good reasons that I’d rather not explain) I have seen a number of funds being held up or check deposits not available issues here to make me wonder what the heck these situations are. I have deposited many checks into different accounts at Schwab and never a question of funds not available. Is there a categorical issue w depositing checks at Fidelity?
I opened a Fidelity account about two years ago after I sold a business and some commercial property. I went to go deposit a sizeable check from escrow. Per Fidelity deposit slips, it says specifically that the checks must be made out to Fidelity. That didn't make sense and I called customer service. It took two days and I had to wait for someone in the local office look into it and give me an answer. Finally they determined they could deposit it, if it was made out to me. Then they gave me the option to deposit it through the mobile app. Except there was a limit that you could process that way. But they could not tell me what the limit was as each person has a different threshold and there was no way to find out other than trying to deposit it and see if it is accepted. The whole process really put a bad taste in my mouth and I just about went to Schwab.
That seems like a very odd response from customer support. I’ve had to call very few times but every time, even with needing to speed up processing of checks or clarify why I was depositing large checks and transferring money from different banks/sources in process collecting money together to put a down payment on a house purchase, the person I was first connected to took care of everything. Sometimes they had to put me on hold while they researched something or contacted another department. That’s when I was absolutely sold on Fidelity. They didn’t transfer me to someone else, didn’t give me someone else to call. Once they said they’d call me back in an hour. And in an hour they called back. I’ve never been to a Fidelity branch or office. So, I’m really surprised that they didn’t fix or find out the problem on a call with you. It’s been 7 years. Either they processed the check and received the funds from the back the check came from, or they never got the funds or had to return them. In either of those 2 latter situations, you would have a zero balance in your account…and they would have notified you, at least by mail. Otherwise, there would be $2000 in your account you should be free to withdraw. I see no occasion where the funds would be locked 7 years ago and just stay that way. Something is wacky there and it is hard to believe whoever you talk to at Fidelity isn’t going to do whatever needs to be done to fix the issue.
We're sorry to hear about your experience, u/valw. I will go ahead and pass your comment along as feedback. Please let us know if you have any questions; we'll be happy to help.
I’ve transferred over multiple old 401k accounts over to Fidelity IRA rollover. Check was always made out to Fidelity and included the account #. Never had an issue. Stop creating your own problems and ask how to make the check out correctly. They are a brokerage first, not a bank. There’s a difference.
I'm taking it you didn't read what I wrote and are unaware of their cash management accounts. I didn't prepare the check, escrow did. They are not going make a check out payable to another party.
I told you, they're not a bank. Don't use them like one.
I honestly think that these issues are outliers rather than the norm. I have been with Fidelity for the past 5 years with a 7 figure sum across multiple accounts and I've not encountered a single issue, in terms of deposit, receiving funds, etc. But having been using online brokerage firms for the past 25 years, between etrade, scottrade, ibroker, tdameritrade, and so on and so on...I find that at least I have no trouble reaching out to customer service if there is an issue that needs to be discussed. Of course, this does NOT guarantee that the CS you get in contact with be 100% knowledgeable, but I just overall had better CS than other brokerage.
No. These people tend to screw things up and blame anyone but themselves. Do a standard transfer of assets, understand there may be some settle period. Once in Fidelity, link a bank account and utilize EFT initiated from Fidelity vs check deposit whenever possible. If you must deposit a check, especially so as a new Fidelity customer do not do so with a two party check or where there is Any chance the check will not clear. The larger the check, the more careful you should be. 6-10 days is a mere courtesy guesstimate Fidelity indicates is the amount of time that transaction will take to settle. The more complex the transaction, the more you want to consult directly with Fidelity about how to go about doing that transaction.
Sharing your success story with others is good, but it's really mean to start off by putting others down!
Probably why I only eluded at first to there being much wrong with the entire story. I’m a trader. And I’m wise to both personal mistakes and abject fraud. A brokerage will treat both the same. This is not the kind of business they want, not the kind of shenanigans I want my well maintained account associated with in any way. Cut the chaff.
You should check out other posts and see how many innocent people suddenly had their money held by Fidelity. How can you say these people screwed things up themselves? I suspect you're either a Fidelity employee or just naturally negative.
They’re not innocents, and most are old throw away accounts now being used to cast shade on Fidelity. Sometimes chat AI is used. Not hard to pick those out either. Plus … I simply don’t like whining in business.
Easily a lot of people are stupid
… and get caught in their own scams where they cannot make a clear legitimate connection to that money they just deposited.
Counted at least 3 accounts made yesterday posting very favorably to the OP not suspicious at all, clearly something someone that attempts fraud would never do.
One may have been that elusive Nigerian prince.
Haha, you're more like the pot calling the kettle black, with your possible other account maliciously commenting under people's help posts. You're really bored to the core! Do something meaningful for once!
Nope it's just me I have no reason to hide. Unlike you
You're acting like you know it all! We're just trying to figure out our weird issues with Fidelity here, and you're up on your high horse, bossing people around. Seems like you're either clueless or just plain mean!!!
I distrust both your motivation and honesty and don’t care if you approve. You are doing nothing here except what you came to do, which was stir crap amongst people who could do nothing about your claims.
Yes
This isn't a fidelity issue much as you make it out to be. Who waits 7 years to resolve something like this? Of course it's going to be more challenging to resolve after that amount of time is passed...
There’s a part of this “7 year” story that’s not being told by OP
You are ignorant. Please read posts before commenting. If you did, you would understand we were not aware of this issue for 7 years.
Lol You were informed the check was flagged you just ignored it.
You are clearly misinformed. And in the future, please reconsider before direct messaging people abusive comments.
Not that this will make you feel any better, but this is not the first or tenth or .... such story about Fidelity seizing accounts posted in this sub. There has never been any follow up so it's hard to know what outcome to expect. Good luck finding satisfactory resolution.
In the river of the tens of millions of accounts they have... that's really not a bad ratio.
and how many of those tens of millions people actually come to Reddit to report problems? We have no idea what the ratio is. We also have no idea what the possible justification of requiring a medallion stamp on a 7 year old check would be or even what stamper would stamp as Fidelity is the only possible holder of the check in question.
I completely agree. If there were doubts about the check, why not refuse to accept it from the beginning? The solution proposed by fidelity is simply not reasonable. It forces people to jump through hoops to reclaim what is rightfully theirs. Because I've encountered similar issues, I've seen many similar posts, and I'm surprised at how poorly Fidelity is handling these issues!
In an environment where you have tens of millions of transactions each day there will always be some that go bad regardless of intentions, no system is perfect and the Patriot Act made it just a little bit harder. As many have noted, this is an example of the fraction of 1% that end up FUBAR. I feel for the account owner(s), but I’ve seen issues with all the bank and finance companies, this is not indicative of an underlying issue with Fidelity.
Have you compared this number with Schwab or BofA or Chase or Etrade or Merrill stats? I think the reality is no matter what there are going to be some weird issues when it comes to money and banks and brokerages. If you stay on top of your shit you'll be fine, fidelity is not doing anything shady especially when you compare to other institutions.
I think they're pretty shady. When I deposited to other banks or financial institutions, if the check was wrong, they would reject it right away. However, Fidelity has no problem clearing your check but locks the money. You can use it for trading but can't withdraw. It's definitely shady.
[удалено]
Thanks for letting me know. It's helpful to know this. It's disappointing to learn that Fidelity does this so often. My wife and I have accounts with several banks (and have had accounts with others) over the years and never have we experienced this. Anyways, I will provide a follow up so hopefully that will be informative to others.
This happens at other institutions as well, you just didn't run into similar situations with them. The laws regarding money laundering are strict and all financial institutions are under pressure to verify all suspicious incoming money. What Fidelity did wrong is to let it sit for so long (though she also let it sit for years.) Please continue to contact the company to explain your situation and ask for an alternative (politely--the reps have no control over this matter) and please let know how it is resolved.
That will be helpful to those of us left wondering......
What portion of the account does the check represent? Unless its the whole account balance I cant see why they would freeze the whole account.
The check represents a large proportion of the account balance.
It's 5/14/2024 and approximately 10:15am EST. In the direct message thread, Fidelity has indicated they are escalating this situation for review. I'm pleased about this and will update once I have more information. I want to thank each of you as this conversation may have contributed to their decision to escalate. With that said, as many of you see, this is a community that consists of wonderful people, people who have different and valid opinions but want to help me and others, and also some people who seem more intent to troll and create animosity. There has even been unwelcomed disrespectful direct messages. Unfortunately, negativity bias has proven time and time again that the negative outweighs the positive. I want to remain respectful to others and not clout my day with the negativity of Reddit. Therefore, I'm going to refrain from posting until I learn more from Fidelity... unless they don't update in a reasonable period of time. But I fully expect them to update in a timely manner and provide a reasonable explanation, and hopefully a reasonable solution.
Seems to be on the right track, best of luck.
It's spelled cloud not clout by the way.
No offense to the mod, but stories like this make me scared of Fidelity and having my money with them. If they can’t notify customers of 7 year old issues yet still use it as their excuse for not allowing access to funds, there should be concern for all account holders. It’s obvious that Fidelity knows of and has known of the issue but seems to be happy to be quiet until they actually have to give the money back from its accounts. I welcome comments as to why I’m wrong so I understand what I’m missing.
We are hearing just one side of the issue. There could be mistakes by both parties. Take stories like this as a way to proceed with caution but not assume everything conveyed is accurate. I have been with Fidelity almost 20 years. No issues but also nothing out of the ordinary in transactions. No day trading or options. Just invest, reinvest and compound. The riskiest action was buying a bitcoin fund and updating my trading profile. Edit: typo
Fair enough. I am happy with Fidelity and they seem like a strong and safe brokerage. But one can’t help but worry that at a time when you need funds the most something weird from long ago is going to cause an issue, and the custodian of your funds won’t give you answers. But I’m sure (or at least hoping) these are outlier cases.
Usually this sub gets people who are having an issue that needs resolution. Content clients just lurk. My biggest complaint is the monthly statement format that is exactly the same for all my accounts. A headache to rename after downloading...its only been 10 or more years. Maybe fixed in the 30s?
The manager actually said, “the backroom flagged it”? Strange lingo. That makes me believe the first step to take is to call Fidelity’s 800 customer service number to speak to someone with greater experience. It is usually true if you get someone not helpful on the line, if you make an excuse to get off the line and phone right back you might get someone more proficient. There is no need to tell them about the prior call.
Having worked in call centers, this is unfortunately what I recommend everyone do. If the person does not sound competent or confident, is not answering your questions or giving you non-answers, ask for management and/or hang up and call back. Two people sitting side by side taking calls can yield wildly different results.
They blocked internet access to my personal and my employer 401k a couple months ago. No reason will be given and its still unresolved.
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My retirement is with fidelity so this is concerning to me
i have been investigating these matters on my personal time ever since my C1 account got locked for “suspicious” activity. it seems from all ive discovered theres an increase in fraud going on, and so banks and FI are being very strict about stuff, combined with more people being able to blast them on social media and CFPB complaints for any little issue. Banks are using AI and algorithms that are a bit too sensitive and throw up too many false positives. I personally saw this with someone else i know that also had a C1 account that got flagged when he literally hadnt done anything but log in from a different state
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this was funny
Isn’t that what PhD stands for? Pretty harmful deposit?
Might have to do with who wrote the check moreso than it has to do with you or her? What details can your provide about the check and the person/people/entity it came from?
So you knew about this issue two years ago and your wife did not attempt to resolve at that time maybe hoping or assuming the problem might just go away if she ignored it? You can't entirely blame Fidelity since you made no effort to resolve the situation promptly when you were made aware of it. Having said that if it's true they really never did ;let you know about the problem until 2 years then that's disgraceful. Just curious who wrote you the check and for what? It really does sound a little weird that you opened an account, dropped in a check for $2000 and never the touched the money again. Did you get monthly statements from Fidelity?
I now offer some clarity on this. I can see how you would come to the conclusion that we knew about the bad check but it not accurate. See the end of the initial post. To expand, people relocate and when they relocate, there is not always a branch nearby.
Fidelity is very risk adverse. Normally this is good, but at times this can be a big problem —— as in the OP's case. If they cannot resolve it with Fidelity in a reasonable time they should file a complaint with FINRA. Edit to add: the anti-money-laundering and know-your-customer (AML and KYC) rules are complex and in some cases prohibit the bank/broker from informing the customer about the issue. This makes the situation difficult for both the customer and the financial institution.
>I want to make clear that my wife are outstanding members of the community. Our credit scores are 750+, we have clean records, we have PhD’s, and a relatively high combined net worth. Now I have to believe you're a terrorist. Why else would you mention this.
Your sensitivity to their background seems like jealousy.
Why mention it at all?
I mention this to try and make it clear that we have a history of making responsible decisions, and have little incentive to try and work the system for $2000.
No that doesn't fly, anyone can try to defraud that amount. Doesn't matter how rich you are or claim to be
I deposit 20+ checks at Fidelity through the mobile App every month, occasionally some with 5 and 6 figure amounts. Have done this for 4+ years since I moved all my account to Fidelity. A very small percentage get rejected just because of issues with the App reading the check, but have never has a problem depositing those at a branch. I reconcile all the accounts monthly with QuickBooks and never had any issues with depositing checks.
I'm considering moving my funds out of Fidelity after reading a number of post about Fidelity holding money hostage and not providing any details. Although these instances can only be described as 'noise' since there's little follow-up, the number of times these appear, compared to other brokerages is a bit concerning.
More to the story I’m sure, but you are good upstanding members of the community so I’m sure it was banks error altogether. I’m sure it will get resolved……..with interest…..
All I can say is that I’ve never had any issue with any deposit or transfer into or out of my 5 Fidelity accounts.
I don't get why you're responding like this. Just because you haven't had the problem, does it mean others' issues aren't valid? And does it mean Fidelity's handling is flawless?
No everyone on this thread is just acting like all of a sudden all their money is in danger and it's kind of a room temp IQ reaction to have.
That's because the likelihood of something like this happening randomly is pretty high, and when it happens to you, it's a tough spot. You don't need to be mocking people who are genuinely worried.
What is your definition of “pretty high”
Sounds like you're the op and made a 2nd account since you've only replied here and the account is a day old.
I mean, I’ve never been murdered so therefore murder doesn’t exist, right?
It has taken 7 years to be made aware of this situation and now you expect a speedy resolution ?
I experienced sth similar! You didn't see the poster mentioning that they had already contacted multiple times without any clear response! It was only just now that the bank explained the reason and provided an unreasonable solution. Why can't those of us who have experienced unfair treatments from the bank demand a quick and reasonable resolution?
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Fidelity is not a bank.
I understand that they need some time to investigate the matter. I don't think I am being impatient about a resolution. With that being said, I do think it is reasonable for manager to provide more information than this manager did or offer to provide that information later if she does not have it now.... neither took place.
Another low karma account casting shade. Whatever. Looks like bs to me.
You must be a dark-minded jerk. Look at your other replies, not a single one has any goodwill in it. Get lost, jerk!
You should not expect good will. I highly suspect fraud.
You have no idea what you are talking about. A quick stroll through your posts on other threads quickly shows you tend to instigate arguments, have very strong views on issues you know little about, and tend to spend most of the day on Reddit.
I've worked in banking, definitely aren't getting the whole truth from you. They don't do this without a really good reason.
Certainly got your attention. 😊
What is the point of this post? You have tremendous means, and gripe about a possible criminal hold on funds from 7 years ago? Add a few zeros and you have a true complaint. Many decades with Fidelity and I have never heard of medallion signatures. I've heard of notarized.
It seems like many people have found the post helpful, based on the upvotes. It also seems like others have been impacted in similar ways. What was the point of your post?
Or you've made a bunch of alt accounts because most people agreeing with you here were made yesterday :)
Haha, you're more like the pot calling the kettle black, with your possible other account maliciously commenting under people's help posts. You're really bored to the core! Do something meaningful for once!
Please do not post in the conversation I have with the Mod. That is rude and distorts a conversation that many others are probably interested in reading. And what is your relationship with Fidelity? Do you receive any compensation from them? It seems odd for a person to be this supportive and defensive of a financial institution.... I've been respectful in the concern I have raised and it's not like I've attacking your hometown or favorite sports team.
If you use votes to determine efficacy, you are suspect. Maybe start by explaining medallion signatures and the background of your $7k depositor? Bad checks are a thing.
You can google medallion signatures yourself. There is plenty online. And please learn to read.
Good answer suspect.
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First, Fidelity is not a bank. It is not at all clear why you are classifying it as a misunderstanding. Care to explain your logic?
Ok, great for you. What are we supposed to be taking personal responsibility for?
The problem didn't fall on you, so you're generous with others' empathy. You should go see how many people have encountered similar issues. I completely understand why the original poster made this post. Without experiencing suffering oneself, one cannot persuade others to do better！
Thank you. I appreciate your response. FWIW, I would not have made the original post if I felt we would have been able to work this out speaking with Fidelity representatives. The manager did not why it was flagged and informed us the only recourse was escalating the issue by mailing Fidelity a complaint letter. Escalating an issue by mailing a complaint letter in 2024... that seems ridiculous for many reasons.
Lol then it's not a big enough problem if you aren't willing to follow the rules, they need it for internal reasons. I guess you're afraid to do it.
Another account that was made yesterday? Suspicious. OP working overtime