Borkerage long delays processing inward transfers

[lovinglive 30]

My spouse is a naturalized US citizen and is having a problem with a new brokerage account.  When they first set it up, the brokerage took a long time to allow funds transferred in from a US bank to be transferred internally to an IRA account from the main account.  It was like almost three weeks.

 

Now they want to do the same thing, and again it is now the 7th working day and the funds are still not "available" to be transferred internally (within the brokerage) to the IRA account.

 

We're not talking about huge amounts of money here, I can't quite get why this takes so long.  The first time, maybe they still needed to clear my spouse or were unclear as they are a new customer.  The second time?  I don't get it.  Does anyone have any idea what the issue may be?  We have never used this brokerage before and are wondering if it is just this particular broker (and so maybe we should look at another provider) or whether this is a common occurence? 

 

Another related problem is from USAA.  My spouse tried to set up a USAA account as my spouse. Somehow they messed up the account establishment process and misplaced the password or wrote the temporary password down incorrectly.  Now I can't apply for car insurance from them because USAA doesn't recognize my spouse. I called them to fix this and they sent a link to complete some information saying someone would call to verify and resolve the problem, but no one ever called back.  Does anyone have any idea why there is such a runaround or poor service on this issue with USAA?

 

Thanks in advance for any insights you may have.    

[OldUser 9,861]

~ This is not an immigration issue. Moved to Off-Topic ~

[lovinglive 30]

20 minutes ago, OldUser said:

~ This is not an immigration issue. Moved to Off-Topic ~

Well, from my view it seems related since the reason we may be having difficulty is because my spouse went through immigration and naturalization.  I'm not aware of other people facing this kind of issue.

 

Isn't this the tax and finances forum?

Edited July 2 by lovinglive

[Lemonslice 5,237]

18 minutes ago, lovinglive said:

Well, from my view it seems related since the reason we may be having difficulty is because my spouse went through immigration and naturalization.  I'm not aware of other people facing this kind of issue.

 

Isn't this the tax and finances forum?

It seems to be a problem with your financial institution.  Why do you think it's related to their citizenship status? 

[lovinglive 30]

8 hours ago, Lemonslice said:

It seems to be a problem with your financial institution.  Why do you think it's related to their citizenship status? 

Hi Thank you for your reply.

 

I use a different broker, and I have nver had a similar problem.  For this brokerage, they have a method that you can apply online, but when my spouse tried it, it did not recognize her identity and we had to call in and then fill out a paper form.

 

Similarly, my spouse recently tried to set up a social security account online.  It did not allow them to do that and then SSA sent soething in the mail.  Unfortunately my spouse was extremely busy and missed the deadline for that.  now they tried again and SSA doesn;t allow to set up a profile (includinghaving a letter mailed again).  It said they'll have to go to the Post Office to show an ID.

 

So it seems that, for my spouse, there may be a problem with these online systems that are able to verify one's identity.  Although I'm not sure, that's why I'm asking.

[Lemonslice 5,237]

13 minutes ago, lovinglive said:

Hi Thank you for your reply.

 

I use a different broker, and I have nver had a similar problem.  For this brokerage, they have a method that you can apply online, but when my spouse tried it, it did not recognize her identity and we had to call in and then fill out a paper form.

 

Similarly, my spouse recently tried to set up a social security account online.  It did not allow them to do that and then SSA sent soething in the mail.  Unfortunately my spouse was extremely busy and missed the deadline for that.  now they tried again and SSA doesn;t allow to set up a profile (includinghaving a letter mailed again).  It said they'll have to go to the Post Office to show an ID.

 

So it seems that, for my spouse, there may be a problem with these online systems that are able to verify one's identity.  Although I'm not sure, that's why I'm asking.

Oh ok.  So they just have to follow the instructions and meet the deadlines.  Would be the same if they were born here. 

 

Best of luck.

[lovinglive 30]

37 minutes ago, Lemonslice said:

Oh ok.  So they just have to follow the instructions and meet the deadlines.  Would be the same if they were born here. 

 

Best of luck.

Yeah, I'm not convinced that's it.  I've read other people on here indicate that they had trouble with financial institutions.

 

Also, not sure if you noticed, but many websites access your personal identity online.  For example, when I applied for car insurance, it "found" me and knew where I had lived.

 

In contrast, the brokerage could not "find" my spouse's identity.

[Lemonslice 5,237]

1 minute ago, lovinglive said:

Yeah, I'm not convinced that's it.  I've read other people on here indicate that they had trouble with financial institutions.

 

Also, not sure if you noticed, but many websites access your personal identity online.  For example, when I applied for car insurance, it "found" me and knew where I had lived.

 

In contrast, the brokerage could not "find" my spouse's identity.

I'm a permanent resident.  I've never had trouble confirming my identity with brokers and financial institutions, or the SSA.

 

I'm not saying your spouse isn't experiencing trouble, I'm just saying that I doubt it's because of their status as a new(ish) citizen.  

[lovinglive 30]

19 minutes ago, Lemonslice said:

I'm a permanent resident.  I've never had trouble confirming my identity with brokers and financial institutions, or the SSA.

 

I'm not saying your spouse isn't experiencing trouble, I'm just saying that I doubt it's because of their status as a new(ish) citizen.  

Hmmm, that's interesting.  This is useful information.  That could imply that it's something wrong with the brokerage's online system.

 

Did you set up an online account with the SSA?

[mam521 2,507]

Did your spouse ever go into the SSA after obtaining citizenship, certificate in hand, and update their citizenship status?  That's something that has to be done in person and cannot be done online.  

 

That said, I had created an online SSA account prior to obtaining citizenship and had no issues.  They mailed a security document to complete online sign up.  Yes, it does have an expiration on it because it is a security verification document.  

 

[OldUser 9,861]

10 hours ago, lovinglive said:

Yeah, I'm not convinced that's it.  I've read other people on here indicate that they had trouble with financial institutions.

 

Also, not sure if you noticed, but many websites access your personal identity online.  For example, when I applied for car insurance, it "found" me and knew where I had lived.

 

In contrast, the brokerage could not "find" my spouse's identity.

Few things:

1) Did she ever have any line of credit? E.g. loan in her name, credit card, mortgage etc?

If not, websites like LexisNexis may not have info on her. This is one of the websites which collects data on people for banks etc to use

2) Did she recently move?

2) More importantly, did she change her name as part of naturalization?

 

Otherwise, I agree with @Lemonslice, I opened bank accounts, credit cards, brokerage accounts as LPR and citizen without any issue.

 

The only time I had some trouble verifying identity online when I just arrived in the US on work visa and had 0 history in the country.

 

Edited July 3 by OldUser

[Lemonslice 5,237]

11 hours ago, lovinglive said:

Hmmm, that's interesting.  This is useful information.  That could imply that it's something wrong with the brokerage's online system.

 

Did you set up an online account with the SSA?

Yes, I had to do quarterly tax payments when I did some contracts.  

 

There might be a name, DOB, or other detail, mismatch.  Probably not your fault, but you might have to escalate a bit to find someone who understands where the hiccup is happening.

[lovinglive 30]

2 hours ago, mam521 said:

Did your spouse ever go into the SSA after obtaining citizenship, certificate in hand, and update their citizenship status?  That's something that has to be done in person and cannot be done online.  

 

That said, I had created an online SSA account prior to obtaining citizenship and had no issues.  They mailed a security document to complete online sign up.  Yes, it does have an expiration on it because it is a security verification document.  

 

No, they never did that.  That's actually why we are doing this.  We received some kind of warning from social media that we need to update their status to a citizen, especialy in the current context with people being detained. I wasn't aware that it needs to be done in person.

 

Re: the online SSA account, yes, that's exactly the problem.  They mailed a security document, but my spouse was so overwhelmed with other things that they failed to do it by the deadline.  Now their website/login.gov seems to be saying they need to go to a post office, i.e. cannot get another document mailed.  

[Lemonslice 5,237]

4 minutes ago, lovinglive said:

No, they never did that.  That's actually why we are doing this.  We received some kind of warning from social media that we need to update their status to a citizen, especialy in the current context with people being detained. I wasn't aware that it needs to be done in person.

 

Re: the online SSA account, yes, that's exactly the problem.  They mailed a security document, but my spouse was so overwhelmed with other things that they failed to do it by the deadline.  Now their website/login.gov seems to be saying they need to go to a post office, i.e. cannot get another document mailed.  

Follow their instructions then. 

Go to a post office OR take an appointment to the SSA office.  

They won't deliver it again to prevent fraud. 

 

Since they'll need to go in person to update their citizenship status, I'd just do everything in person at the SSA.

Edited July 3 by Lemonslice

[lovinglive 30]

1 hour ago, OldUser said:

Few things:

1) Did she ever have any line of credit? E.g. loan in her name, credit card, mortgage etc?

If not, websites like LexisNexis may not have info on her. This is one of the websites which collects data on people for banks etc to use

2) Did she recently move?

2) More importantly, did she change her name as part of naturalization?

 

Otherwise, I agree with @Lemonslice, I opened bank accounts, credit cards, brokerage accounts as LPR and citizen without any issue.

 

The only time I had some trouble verifying identity online when I just arrived in the US on work visa and had 0 history in the country.

 

Thanks for your reply:

 

1) she never set up any line of credit, except I have a credit card and she was added to it as a second user.  She's satisfied with that.  Would it help for her to apply for a credit card?

 

2) No

 

3) Did not change name.

 

Thanks for your feedback.  It's good to compare to others to see whether this is out of the ordinary.  It sounds like it is.