Victoria D.
Schwab Living Trust fiasco!!!
So, recently, I opened two accounts with Schwab (regular type investments) and could not have been more pleased. Enter, beginning of July when I went in to open a Family Living Trust. I had told them from start that I have to pay bills, like yesterday. We had to close our account with Citibank in early June and they literally blocked us from taking out our money "for at least a month," 'cause they're backed up." So, need access tout de suite to keep everything working as it should. Granted, Schwab Rep didn't tell me how long it might take to open account but she knew my situation. A week and a half goes by ... crickets. I contact the Rep who said "she'll put in a request for a rush." I don't hear anything back so I call their Corporate offices and finally got my account number (yaay)! So, at some point, I applied to use their High Yield Checking Account with the Living Trust because, well, why the hell not, right? I give it a week and call back to see what is happening with that app and I'm told it was declined (credit check) and I should be receiving a letter stating as much. No problem, I thought it weird that no one mentioned a credit check was necessary for a Trust but, they're the experts, right? I call back later that day saying I understand about the declination of High Yield but is there an option for a regular checking/debit card option? Again, told Rep I am desperate to pay bills. Rep has me fill out/fax back paperwork to add a "Bill Pay" option to the Trust. Whooo ... we're getting somewhere! Yeahhhh no. I called this week to ask about the Bill Pay option getting enabled (explaining the whole situation about the High Yield declination, etc.) and Rep asks me if I received the declination letter yet? Told her I hadn't and she put me on hold to talk to colleagues. She comes back and says that the declination I was told about WASN'T for the Living Trust account, it was for one of the investment accounts. Wat de fook??? She 'splained that whomever waves the magic approval wand just got the paperwork on July 23, I should be hearing something soon (and she doesn't think credit check will be an issue ... 'cause it's a trust). She recommends to keep calling back to check status. I call today in hopes of having some way to pay a freaking bill. Today's Rep puts me on hold for me to speak with the Review Team; I'm waiting for almost 10 minutes. She comes back and explains that the Review team is backed up and it COULD take another couple of weeks to hear back. I asked her how they could make a decision to decline in just a few days but it will take weeks to approve a way to USE MY OWN DAMN MONEY!!! Oh, the cherry on the top... There is a daily cap of $25K for deposting checks, that's it. If you have over that amount, you have to either go to a branch or mail the checks in. I have two branches "close" to me, nearest is about 20 minutes away.