tl;dr American citizen, moved to Australia semi-permanently (multi-year contract). Changed my address with Charles Schwab. Checking account suddenly and without warning or notification was removed. I have no access to my funds for weeks. This is causing hardship and would like suggestions about what to do.
I signed up for a Charles Schwab bank account several years ago because it touted a good exchange on foreign currency and no fees or transaction costs on using anyone's ATM. It was my secondary bank account when living in the US but anytime I was abroad it would become my primary.
I recently made a semi-permanent move to Australia and updated my account information with my new address and phone number. I did this only because I didn't want my debit card to be rejected if I had to use it - I could inform them of "travel" to Australia but Charles Schwab limits it to 6 months at a time, and I was prone to forgetting to "renew" this travel advisory so I thought it would be best to just have an Australian address on file to reduce problems.
I logged in to check my balance late last week and was surprised to see my checking account gone completely from my account view. There was a brokerage account that I don't use with $0.01 on the balance (this is correct) and that's it. I assumed it was a glitch, especially since the day before I logged in and my checking account was there, but just in case I reached out to their chat on-line service to talk with customer service.
Long story short, customer service said they closed my account because I had a foreign address. I told her I did not see why that mattered, and she copied something from the agreement that it is for domestic US customers only (I still don't know why they have this restriction but whatever). She said someone was supposed to contact me, but she saw no evidence of anyone making an attempt on my account. So she doesn't know. I asked where my money was. She said she didn't know. I asked why they didn't just sweep the money into my brokerage account. She said she didn't know. I'm surprised she didn't use the shrugging girl emoji during our conversation.
She did eventually take the initiative to follow up. I received an email the next day saying that a cashier's check will be sent to my Australian address with my funds within 2 weeks. Mail from the US can take an additional couple of weeks.
Even when I receive my check, I have no idea if I will be able to deposit a US-based check into my Australian bank account.
So I basically have no access to my money that was in my Schwab account. Without warning, this money was taken from me, and will remain inaccessible for 3 or 4 weeks. Needless to say, I'm pretty pissed. I have obligations in the US to attend to, including a mortgage. These missing funds are causing my hardship.
What can I do, if anything?
Also I have to say the customer service was indifferent and disinterested, and while they acknowledged that someone should have contacted me (and didn't), they didn't seem particularly interested in righting their wrong. I would recommend against anyone in a situation involving easy-access of funds abroad to find another service (there are many) and avoid Charles Schwab.
EDIT: Forgot to add - they have another checking account geared towards people just like me, and they have pushed me on two occasions to sign up with this new type of account with them. I declined their generous offer.
Submitted September 24, 2018 at 07:30AM by CharlesSchwabSucks2 https://ift.tt/2pwkSCj
