E-Trade – Transfer Delays Due to Their Eagle Eyes
Posted 14 May 2007 by Mr. B
Last week I decided to move a nice chunk of money electronically from E-Trade to FNBO Direct due to the latter’s 6% savings offer. So, I set up FNBO as a recipient from within E-Trade and verified my trial deposits, which only took about one day to show up.
Why did I decide to “push” from E-Trade rather than “pull” from FNBO? Simple: they both use the “Cashedge” system for transferring money, but E-Trade averages about 1-2 business days per transfer rather than 3-4, like FNBO and HSBC.
Using my trusty laptop, I decided to initiate this transfer from work instead of at home, as I usually do. All seemed well, but when I logged in the next morning, no activity had occurred. “No problem,” I thought, “I’ll see it show up tomorrow.”
The plot thickens
Tomorrow came and went, and still no activity had transpired. Nothing had posted to FNBO, and nothing had left E-Trade. Bizarre. Even more bizarre, I noticed a message on my answering machine from a representative of the E-Trade Security Center.
Then it dawned on me. By transferring money from work, the origin of transfer from a different IP address had triggered an alarm at E-Trade, and they had put a hold on that transfer. I tried returning their call that day, but because I called after 5 PM, I could only leave a message.
Long story short, I called them back this morning. After waiting on hold for about twenty minutes, I spoke with a real person and told him my situation. He asked me a lot of questions to verify my identity and then had me describe the transaction. When everything verified, he approved the transfer.
Am I mad?
My initial reaction was one of confusion and irritation, but then began to appreciate just what had happened. I even grew quite comfortable with the idea. E-Trade was looking out for me, and even lost I lost some of my time and some potential interest, I’m glad their security team is that diligent.
Had the transfer originated from an IP address in an area of the country (or world) far from me, I would have fully expected E-Trade to flag the transfer as a potential security breach. In my case, the transfer originated within the same town, and E-Trade still questioned it. I applaud their efforts despite the minor inconvenience for me.
Now I know: always initiate transfers from your place of residence, or at least contact them first if you plan to log in and transfer money from elsewhere!
