I finally got hit with a weird international transfer hold last Thursday

I sent a payment to a supplier in Germany for about $2,300 through my usual online banking portal. The money left my account immediately, but the recipient's bank flagged it and held the funds for five full business days. My bank said it was a new automated fraud check on their end, not mine. Has anyone else had a routine business payment get stuck like this recently?

3 comments

3 Comments

noran213mo ago

Ugh, my Venmo got frozen last week too.

samward3mo ago

Seriously, it's happening to everyone lately. Mine was locked for like three days over a dumb small payment.

grant.luna1mo ago

Oh man, I feel your pain on this one. I had almost the exact same thing happen last month with a payment to a UK vendor for about $1,800. It was stuck for four days and I was pulling my hair out. What finally worked for me was calling my bank's international wire transfer department directly - not the regular customer service line. They could see the hold on their end and manually release it after I answered a few security questions and provided the supplier's invoice. Also, I learned that sending a quick email to the recipient's bank contact with the payment reference number speeds things up on their side too.