Bumblefucked by Wachovia holding an out-of-state check deposit

I have had a checking account since I was 16 and I have worked at two different banks in the past. I am well aware of the fact that sometimes when you deposit an out of state check that it can get held up a few extra days. What I was not aware of was that Wachovia takes advantage of this in an extreme way.

You see, yesterday we went to the bank to deposit a check for a few thousand that Riley had won in a contest. A contest done by a major magazine. The check was directly from said magazine. Well, as soon as the teller started asking questions I knew the check was going to be subject to a hold policy. The teller, or Sally Do-Gooder as I like to call her, just couldn’t wrap her mind around the fact that the check had “prize winner” listed and wanted to know if we had actually entered a contest and such. She told us that she did not know how long of a hold would be put on it.

After getting home I pulled up the account on the Wachovia website to see the funds release date listed as 12/03/09. And yes, I deposited it before the cut-off time yesterday, which was 11/17/09. I hoped that it was just a fluke and that the date would change after midnight processing.

Not only did I get up today to find that 12/03/09 is still the release date, but they have not even made the $100 available from it, which federal law dictates that they do.

We are taking a little trip to speak with the branch manager after lunch and hoping to at least get the hold time shortened.

UPDATE: A calm, friendly conversation with the branch manager got the entire amount of the check available immediately today.