# Need help US Bank ASAP



## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

I'm running into a brick wall to get US Bank to approve a wire transfer from my account to my title company for my house closing on Friday. Since there are no US Bank locations in Alaska I can't just go in to get my funds. When I called the branch that I set up my account the manager said since she didn't personally know me and neither did anybody who worked at the location, she wouldn't approve the transfer without me physically there...

Any chance anybody here works at a US Bank and can help me out? Otherwise it's looking like I'm going to have to buy a plane ticket to Seattle just to get a cashier's check in person and hop right back on the plane.


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## CAExpat (Oct 27, 2013)

Not sure if it helps but i've banked with USAA and a few other smaller credit unions that had partnerships of some sort with other banks. Perhaps call US Bank and see if there is a location in AK that they partner with, being that there isn't a branch up there they might have somewhere that you can walk into in person. That or tell them because they don't you're no longer going to bank with them.


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

Thank CAExpat, been trying both of those routes and so far nothing. Unless I can figure out something with a branch manager in the next few hours, I'll be buying a plane ticket for tomorrow. This is just absolutely absurd.


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## KineKilla (Jan 28, 2011)

I hate US Bank!

Actually, I hate most banks in general. They love to take your deposits but throw a fit and do everything possible to screw you once you want it back.

Surely, you could get a hold of someone at corporate and get your money transferred or have the title company submit the request on your behalf, then confirm the transfer over the phone...with some verification questions of course.

Unfortunately, you do often times have to physically sign for a transfer of funds so I'm not sure what your results will be but even hours of frustration on a phone would be worth not making a trip to Seattle.

IF you do end up in Seattle, I'd hope your withdrawal includes ALL of your money being transferred into a bank you can actually walk into in the future.


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

Any luck getting a solution?


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

I know a nice nigerian gentleman that seems helpful with banking information.




-DallanC


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

Well, I got a solution without needing to fly (but it was VERY close as in flights in the checkout cart hovering over the purchase button while the closing officer got the approval close) in that the title company was willing to take a personal check from me from my out of state bank and ram it through to get it to clear before our closing Friday. US Bank was literally zero help. The frustrating thing was the various branch managers who all admitted that they had the power to do the wire transfer I was requesting without the account holder there--but that they only did that if they personally know the individual. So even if I have the national bank who is underwriting the mortgage, or the nation wide title company send a rep to a branch to confirm that I am me (even though US Bank has no trouble acknowledging that I am "me" over the phone/online via my security info etc...) they still wouldn't do it. 

I called all of their customer service hotlines, working through manager after supervisor on and on up. Burnt through that set of permutations by 2 am AK time this morning, crashed for an hour until the east coast corporate offices opened and tried them. Then switched at 4:30 am to the wire transfer department when they opened in the Central time zone. Then back to my "home" branch in PG (the one inside Smith's btw, so if any of you go in there and see Kristen or Consuelo send them my worst), then onto my wife's home branch in Salem, OR. 

I tried offering to execute a notarized power of attorney for my dad to act on my behalf and overnight it so he could then do the transfer in person Thurs/Fri...no dice. Tried to add somebody as an authorized user on the account...but they wouldn't allow it without me in person either. They refused to send a cashier's check over $5k, but I could do one of those per day...but by the time the second one would have showed up, it probably would have delayed my closing 1 day and if anything else came up I would have been tapped out for cash in state. With the weekend, getting the third check would have delayed my closing 4 days (costing me ~$600/day) and so there I was ready to fly! 

The most over the top, absurd part of it all: If I were in Canada, or pretty much any other foreign country, US Bank has no problem with me using and being at just about any bank to initiate a transfer out of my US Bank account to wherever I was. But in Alaska? Psh, impossible. Unless you're friends with a branch manager.

And yes, if I had had to fly, my withdrawal was going to include the immediate shut down of the accounts.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

johnnycake said:


> my withdrawal was going to include the immediate shut down of the accounts.


I have done that to 2 banks that refused to work with me on one thing or another. When they asked why I was closing out my account with them I told them the reason and then they were more than willing to help me out after what I was after was taken care of as I walked out the door with my money.

I have also found that insurance companies are just as bad as banks are. They will take your money for 30 years and then cancel your policy at a beat of the heart for no reason. But then that is another story.

Glad you got it taken care of even if it did put a lot of gray hairs on the top of your head. Now close out your US Bank accounts and hopefully you can reopen a account somewhere that will actually help a person out.


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## JuddCT (Sep 7, 2007)

I'm a big bad banker and our policy is to take the wiring information from the customer and then call them back on the number we have on file and verify them with security questions we have on file. If that is all clear we would have sent the wire. 

That being said wire fraud is an uncontrolled wildfire right now in the financial industry so just be careful with your emails and account numbers as thieves are looking for any way to steal your money.

It wasn't long ago that I refused to send a wire for a very good customer (and they were in the office in person) that ended up being fraudulent and it saved them a very large amount of money and thankfully the thief is now in jail. It is unfortunate but you almost have to be suspicious now for no reason at all.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

A lot of this is fraud and a lot is this Patriot Act crap, but mostly it is dealing with a way too large to fail bank IMHO. I would always deal with someone local personally. They can all make it happen and unfortunately none of them have any motivation to provide good customer service as there is no relationship there. 
Glad that they made it happen, need to me to like an annual inspection? I am an experienced property manager and I can even provide a detailed fishing report for your honey hole for very reasonable rates.


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

Lol thanks Huge, but we're living in one of the units at least for the time being. We'll see in the future. 

Boom, top of the page


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

Fine, I'll go for free, which part?


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

Huge29 said:


> Fine, I'll go for free, which part?


We're in Anchorage, and whenever you come up let me know! I'll try and make time to run out fishing with ya!


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Wow.... I just realized. I've been to Alaska 16 times... and as of this summer, it will have been 16 years since I was last there. That is sad. I better book a trip!


-DallanC


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

johnnycake said:


> We're in Anchorage, and whenever you come up let me know! I'll try and make time to run out fishing with ya!


Ill be a little ways away in Ketchikan here in 3 months, just walk on over :mrgreen:
Good to hear that you got it all resolved. Be sure to move all of your accounts immediately and be sure they know exactly, not as if they will care being such a ridiculously large institution.


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## Molelaner (Aug 28, 2021)

Yes, these are the rules in American banks. Without your physical presence, you will not be able to withdraw money from your account in any way, so you will have to fly to Seattle  But for example, because of this, I decided to transfer all my money to a German bank, because if you appeared there once, then to withdraw money from your account, you do not need to fly to them and do such an operation. You call them, tell them your details, and they transfer money to your card. By the way, I also use a German service for viewing a bank account. I like it when everything is done efficiently and conveniently for the client.


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

A soul and a real identity, which you bots will never have.


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

Man there's a blast from the past. So glad to be done banking with those leaches


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