mfong

Charles Schwab shut my account down while on business overseas. I actually need to use my account, haha FML.

I've been hitting it hard with them. They increased my mobile deposits to $10,000/day. I think I had a total of $220,000 to manufacture, I have $100,000 left but my job had to send me overseas for 2 months.

Before going overseas for work I went to Canada for my cousin's wedding. I withdrew $300 and $700 USD from an ATM twice within 2 minutes of each other. I got a fraud alert, I replied that it wasn't fraud.

Then I went overseas. I paid off all of my CC's and left a balance of $500 on the account just in case I need to pull money out while I'm on travel. My mag stripe stops working and I ask them to send a replacement to a military base.

Coincidentally Chuck sent me a UPS letter in the mail. I called them and said I won't be home for another 5 weeks. They said they're closing my account and I have 1 month to move my assets, if I don't they'll send me a check in the mail. I'm bummed out because:

1. Where do I dump all of my MO's? I opened up a local TDBank account earlier in 2017 for their $100 bonus. Should I go there now?
2. I actually use Charles Schwab when I travel for work

I asked if I can apply again. They said "yeah you can, but we don't know if you're going to be denied or approved."

I was thinking for the last $100k. 50% at my local TDBank and 50% on a Serve Card?

Any suggestions? Thank you.

pharmawalk

I would suggest looking into some other alternatives to purely buying MOs.

gsxsilver

Don't .... where you eat.

mfong

What are other methods? I'm thinking about opening up a new Serve account and depositing 50% there and 50% into my bank account that I opened.

And yes... I learned that now. =( Sucks because I actually do use my Charles Schwab account.

an mec

I think Schwabe is actually known to be a bit adverse to MOs.

It's late to be imparting this, but having several bank accounts that have gotten some history from you is a way to mitigate account closures. I also think it's not a good idea to deposit MOs in an account you value that you don't see a ready replacement for on the market.

That said, there are plenty of other fish in the sea. Go get a few.

mfong

Thanks for your reply.

Here's my story:

I got word from my employer that travel maybe limited for FY2017. I started to freak out. My coworker told me to MS.

I started in March 2017. MS'ed about $10k/week until mid June because my employer sent me overseas. At first I split my deposits among 3 banks. Then I got lazy and went for the fastest solution, which was Chuck.

Anyways. I'm a noob that went ham. After reading all the pages in FT, I now know what to do.

Actually. How many banks should I have if I'm doing $10k/week?

Right now here's my line up:
- Serve
- TDBank
- Everbank (I still need to apply)
- Capital One (need to apply) or a CU that I kept opened after I paid off my car

Also. When do you think I should apply back to Chuck? 6 months? A year?

Thank you.

an mec

I don't think the number of banks per dollar is set in stone. I do suspect that drastic changes in the dollar amounts deposited can be triggering. New bank accounts usually have restrictions for 30 days on funds availability and sometimes on ACH daily limits. It makes sense to me to slowly increase activity so neither party feels surprised by the other. I would think that if the prospect of loosing a particular bank account seems like a big problem then you have too few.

I also think it's not a good idea to deposit MOs into accounts with the institution who issues the card(s) used to manufacture... since they can't tell how you got your MOs that means you probably shouldn't MS cards from banks where you make deposits.

I would also think that exclusively depositing MOs and ACHing them away to another bank is a bad practice. It makes sense to mix in other banking activity and pay credit card bills from the deposit account.

I don't know of any data points for getting back with Schwabe. Just research it and apply when you want to take a shot with them.

Mamibear

with Serve, the most flexible and easiest one to load is 1VIP which you can only apply for online. This card can be loaded not just at WM but at Dollar Gen and Family Dollar, too.

I suggest you read the Serve and Bluebird threads to find more techniques in using them and ways to dodge the hammer. As long as you don't get shutdown, you can load UP to $5000 on one card. You can also apply for a Bluebird card if you wish. Good luck!

Prometheus77

IME TD Bank is very MO friendly. Last year I put over $100K in MOs through them across different branches and never heard a peep from them. There are similar DPs on other forums from people do that much or more with them as well. Additionally, there is a DP from a user who claims he was contacted by a TD Bank compliance officer only after he had done more than $450K in MO deposits and according to them it still didn't result in an negative account interaction.

an mec

One other thing I should add is that I prefer banks with local branches so I can deposit MOs face to face. I want them to see me and know I'm not hiding anything. Also I think deposits with a teller can speed up funds clearance times.

mfong

Interesting. I'm really glad to hear this.

When I opened up the account I deposited $10k right away like an idiot. It cleared within a week. I stopped because Chuck cleared in just a few days. Now the account has been opened for more than 60 days.

Can you tell me what DP means please?

I completely think about it in an opposite way. I always thought face to face interactions would bring more unwanted attention. For example I get nervous about rejection whenever I visit a WM to change my GC to an MO because the person may reject me for whatever reason.

ChrisFlyer66

Data point.

mfong

I'm still overseas and won't return for another 5 weeks. I'm going to research how to reload the Serve card and what Bluebird is. I see Bluebird ads in my WM's, that's all I know about it.

This is what I know about the Serve Card. I can load the Serve card directly from the 5back card?

Sigh... *Michael Jordan crying meme* I miss Chuck already. I need $$$ over here. Now I need to bug my employer to pay me back for transaction fees.

Carl Christensen

Find a local credit union and deposit MOs face to face.

zitsky

Can someone ELI5? MO=money order? How are you manufacturing spending with MO's?