What excuse do they give you?
Of course it is infuriating. Money is a very sensitive issue and nobody likes it when they think they are being treated unfairly.
Sometimes it helps to look at it from another angle. I don't know your particular situation, but perhaps it is like so many others that wind up here on the forum. Perhaps you deposited a check via Deposit @ Mobile. You may have done this numerous times in the past and never had a hold placed on your check deposits. Then, one time, a hold hits. You were not expecting that and it caused cash flow to come to a ten-day halt. You, like anybody else would have been, were annoyed. You called customer service and got a half-baked or what sounded like a half-baked answer. From annoyed it went to downright angry. Am I far off the mark?
Another way to look at this is that you got customer service representatives who themselves downt completely understand the mechanics of how remote deposit capture works. The answers they gave you were garbage because, as we know, GIGO. They were not properly trained. I doubt even their managers understand things. USAA dropped the ball in not giving their representatives the knowledge and skills they need to handle this situation.
Now, why was your check placed on hold? Ok, you know there are regulations on when banks must clear checks, right? The principal regulation is called Regulation CC and it lays down check clearance times. You deposited a check, right?
Well, actually, no, you didn't deposit a check. The check is still in your possession. You deposited an image -- that image is called a "substitute check" and doesn't fall under Regulation CC. The funds from that substitute check can be held per the terms of the Depository Agreement -- which 99.9% of customers never have read.
So why the long hold? Why are substitute checks dealt with differently than normal checks? It only takes the bank one day to clear checks and substitute checks so by now they have your money, right? Not exactly.
The Federal Reserve has talked a lot about RDC and how great it is. But, the Fed also warns that it is by far riskier for banks than accepting normal checks. Why? Think about this for a minute. When you hand a check to a cashier their are a number of risk mitigation points. They can see you. They have your photo. They can see the check. They examine the signature to see if it appears signed by the account owner. They see the security features of the check to make sure it is "probably" not counterfeit.
On the other hand, nobody looks at the substitute check you deposit. The system just scans the amount, routing code and account number and runs it through FedWire electronically much the same as a merchant runs a credit card. Except with this substitute check there is no CCV2 code, no expiration date and not even a name attached.
To give you a very real example, you could copy the account number and routing code from any check given to you by anybody. Use your computer and MS Word and draw up a check using those numbers. Stick a dollar amount in and scribble a signature and then successfully deposit it using RDC. Make the check out for, say, $10,000 and immediately the funds are in your account without hold. Lather, rinse and repeat.
The check "writer's" bank just debits the account and the account owner is none the wiser maybe even until they get their statement a month later. Meanwhile a reasonably industrious crook can get away with several hundred grand. You see, there is a security hole with RDC that I could march a regiment through. The only defense USAA has is placing the funds on hold. And even that might not prevent them from taking a bath.
Now some would say "USAA knows me. I've been a member for 100 years. I'd never do that." I'm sure USAA knows you would never do that. They know you are as honest as Ole Abe. But what scares USAA the most is when Honest Abe gets screwed by someone else and in falling victim to some of the zillions of scams floating around gets suckered into depositing a counterfeit check in USAA. It happens. It happens a LOT.
They can't examine every RDC check that gets deposited. They put holds, believe it or not, for our own good.
But you should be upset at the lame excuses they are giving you. They shouldn't be so dumb and unable to properly explain things.
A way to avoid holds in the future is by having a USAA credit card. They generally allow cardholders a daily no-hold check deposit limit. The limit can be quite large if you also have a lot of accounts / assets with the bank.
