Ameritrade Policy on Returning Funds- wait 60 days

H

himself

I am posting this because often we participants in the markets need quick access to our funds whether for a margin call or for an emergency or opportunity in the rest of our lives.

Until I encountered Ameritrade I was completely unaware that a broker could withhold my funds for 60 days, but Ameritrade says that is their policy.

The facts are these:
I made a deposit by ACH on October 15, 2013 into an account I had opened the day before.

But, six weeks later, on November 25th, having found their system incompatible for trading future contracts with either NinjaTrader or QuoteTracker, I requested that Ameritrade send back most of those funds to my same bank account that had been the source of the ACH six weeks before.

They refused to do so but I subsequently received a check which they claim was ex gratia, and an exception to their firm’s policy.

I complained to them on November 26th and pressed them to tell me what their policy was. Finally, on December 10th they responded with what their policy is which is set forth below in its entirety:

“From: Message Center Client Services Date: 12/10/13 12:02 PM.

To [Himself],

The account was funded on 10/15/2013. You have to wait until 12/15/2013 to remove the funds. If you have further questions please respond to this e-mail and I will be happy to help you. Thank you for choosing TD Ameritrade.

Sincerely,

Ben Houston
Client Services, TD Ameritrade
 
If it were AML they would not issued the check, plus I don't see how it could possibly concern money laundering regulations because the money is going back where it came from initially.
 
Yeah, that's a crock of shit. I can understand limiting it to the original ACH source, but to limit any w/d for 60-days? F you Ricketts.
 
According to https://www.tdameritrade.com/funding.page#2

Within the first 60 days that the account is open, funds deposited electronically may be withdrawn three business days after deposit settlement date if they are returned to the originating bank account via wire (subject to fee) or ACH. All electronic deposits are subject to review and may be restricted for 60 days.....
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Were there any uncommon aspects about the original transfer (e.g. foreign country, multiple people on the account, an account in the name of a business, multiple bank accounts involved, etc)?
 
Nothing unusual at all.
Personal account, big NYC bank, no one else on account, natural born US citizen, no disputes with the broker.
 
Quote from himself:

Nothing unusual at all.
Personal account, big NYC bank, no one else on account, natural born US citizen, no disputes with the broker.
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I'm not sure I understand. Let me ask you this. Say you opened an account with 25k. And you wanted to withdraw 24,500 today. Are you saying you can't do that. Because I do ACH withdrawals all the time and the money hits my bank within 24 hours and sometimes the same day if the request is early enough. There might be some issue with "closing" the account that fast but a withdrawal? No way. We're missing some information here.
 
I think all the big brokers have a waiting period right after the account is opened. Once your account has been open a few weeks, you get a 2-3 day ACH.
 
IB has a 40 business day hold on ACH, but it can be w/d to the ACH source bank any time after the initial 4-5 day hold (no access to funds while en route).
 
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