Question about that insane week I had with Chase and Fidelity

Last Tuesday I moved $12,000 from my Chase savings into a Fidelity taxable account to buy some ETFs. The next day Chase locked my account for 4 days because they flagged the transfer as suspicious. By the time it unlocked, the ETF I wanted had jumped 3%. Has anyone else had a bank go full lockdown just from moving your own money?

2 comments

2 Comments

oscarmurphy14d ago

Honestly the way banks treat your own money like it's their security risk is getting ridiculous. I had a similar thing happen with my credit union last year when I moved $5k for a car down payment. They froze everything and I had to go in person with ID and a printout of the transfer just to prove I wasn't laundering money. It feels like the whole system is designed to protect them from liability, not to help you. Tbh it makes me wonder if they're just using security as an excuse to slow down people moving money to competitors like Fidelity. Ngl I'm about ready to just keep cash under my mattress at this point.

angelapalmer13d ago

Definitely look into how banks handle flagged transactions vs actual fraud. I had a buddy who lost almost $2k when his bank declined a legit Amazon purchase but let a $1.50 foreign transaction go through, then denied his claim cause "we flagged suspicious activity already." They're basically playing a numbers game - low-risk stuff gets auto-approved for data collection, high-risk moves get red tape because they can profit off the hold or charge fees. And yeah the cash under mattress thing? My old landlord did that for 30 years, but then a fire insurance adjuster told him if he ever claimed loss without bank records they'd flag it as potential arson fraud. It's a lose-lose trap honestly.