That time I paid $35 for a wire transfer and it got held up for 3 days

Back in 2019 I was helping my sister move to Portland and needed to send her $2,000 fast for a security deposit. The bank charged me $35 for the wire transfer and it still took 3 business days to clear because they flagged it as suspicious. Now I just use Zelle for anything under $5,000 and it hits in minutes. Has anyone else had a bank hold up a wire for something that seemed straightforward?

2 comments

2 Comments

claire6412d ago

My buddy runs a small landscaping crew and last year he wired $1,200 to a supplier in Ohio for some special mulch they don't carry local. Bank flagged it too, held it up for four days, and then charged him an extra $15 for a "manual review" fee on top of the $30 wire fee. He almost lost the whole job because the mulch showed up late and the homeowners were ticked. Now he just Venmos the guy and picks it up on his own truck, but my sister learned the hard way that $2,000 even between family members can get stuck in the system. Your mileage may vary, but I've had better luck with Zelle too, though once it did take about an hour to ping when I was sending rent money on a Friday afternoon.

elizabeth_king12d agoTop Commenter

Boy, I can't even send myself money from my checking to savings without my bank sending a "suspicious activity" alert. I've had $50 lunch Venmos stuck in review for two days, so I figure the system just likes to remind us who's really in charge. It's like banks think we're all running some kind of mulch laundering operation by accident.