More followup: PenFed's hypersecurity measures continue to [-]ambush[/-] surprise me.
This is ludicrous. I feel as if I'm on random double-secret probation. I wouldn't mind these extra security precautions if I'd been notified of them when they were implemented, but I'm only learning about them when they pop up to tell me that I can't complete a transaction.
Frankly, they're dragging their feet and making it as difficult as possible for "my" money to leave their hands.
On 12 May, another $23K CD matured. (It didn't actually get to my PenFed share savings account until 13 May, but that's their rule.) I'm back home on Oahu, with my local phone number, and I wanted to do the usual transfer to my NFCU checking account. That ACH account link has been established for at least five years.
We've been home for almost a month, and I've logged on to my PenFed account at least a dozen time since then. But when I logged in yet again on 13 May to finally get this transfer started, the first thing I had to do was answer a security question and register my desktop computer. Maybe my IP address changed? Maybe my ISP did something? Maybe PenFed pops it up on every 13 logins? Anyway, my home PC is registered with PenFed's website. Again.
When I started the ACH transfer process, I knew I'd be limited to $5000. But sonofagun, when I clicked to confirm the transfer I was told to enter their security code from the text that they'd send me. In March I thought that was just a precaution for fund transfers from foreign countries, but maybe it applies to customers outside CONUS. My phone number in their records was correct, I clicked the "Get code" button, got the text, and did the transfer.
On 14 May I returned to do the next day's $5000 transfer. Here's the screen that tells you your limits:
Step 1 of 3:
Daily ACH Limit: $5,000.00
ACH Processed Today: $0.00
Max. Transfer Amt: $5,000.00
So I entered in the $5000 amount and got to the next step:
Step 2 of 3 (titled "Review the transaction details and confirm your request by clicking SUBMIT)
I clicked, but instead of Step 3 I got a new window. I'll use the same text and color that PenFed uses. Because, you know, you might not be able to read it, let alone understand it, unless they're shouting at you in big red letters.
YOUR REQUEST CANNOT BE PROCESSED. THERE IS A MAXIMUM LIMIT OF $5000.00 FOR AGGREGATE OUTBOUND ELECTRONIC (ACH) TRANSACTIONS IN A ROLLING 3 CALENDAR DAY PERIOD. OUR RECORDS INDICATE THAT THIS TRANSACTION EXCEEDS THAT LIMIT. PLEASE TRY YOUR TRANSACTION AGAIN LATER. (50538)
Yeah, I'd never heard of that limit before either. I've never had an e-mail or any other alert about it until I actually tried to touch my own money.
Just to be sure that I wasn't subject to some glitch from another limit, I tried doing a transfer on the 15th. Nope, same warning.
Fine, PenFed. I came back on this morning (the 16th, and day #3 since the last transfer) and put in the second $5000 transfer. That went through.
Since we're limited to one transfer every three days, I set up the rest of the $5K transfers and put them on their calendar in three-day increments. Ideally they'll do the ACH transfers on the 19th, 22nd, and 25th. (Even though the 25th is a federal holiday.) At least I could set them up all at once instead of logging in on each of those days.
But the process of transferring a $23K CD has now been stretched from its 12 May maturity to 25 May (plus a couple of ACH business days).
Security? Minimal cash reserves? They're not trying to upsell me a wire transfer fee, so that doesn't seem to be it.
I've had enough. Our final two CDs are maturing over the next 12 months. When they mature, I'm moving them to NFCU (or another high-yield credit union) and closing my PenFed account.
In retrospect, I'm really glad that I was never able to set up a PenFed conservator's account for my father. I have his CD ladders (at NFCU and USAA) set up to mature as his payments are due at his full-care facility, and these two-week delays in obtaining the funds would have been painful.
