After this was over, some retrospect. Why would a bank delay a cash payout?
After reading the one star reviews on five or six websites that Google brought up, I noticed a similar pattern of delay for other customers. Most brought it up as only a customer service problem. In thinking it over I wondered about what effect this "money float" would have on bank liquidity.
This in turn led to another search that brought up news on a recent SEC ruling about "
redemption gate"... Rules that have been instituted to try and avoid the 2008 meltdown in banks, when customers took cash out of their money market and other supposedly "liquid accounts". The SEC rule at this point provides for a 10 day hold on withdrawals. While not "new" as in yesterday, there are some newer proposals on the table to extend some form of "redemption" gate to government equities.
(2014)
The SEC’s new rules permit some money market mutual funds to limit redemptions under certain
conditions. In particular, if a fund’s weekly liquid assets were to fall below 30%, the board of directors
of a prime (general purpose) fund or a municipal fund may either charge a liquidity fee of up to 2% on
shareholder redemptions or impose a halt on all shareholder redemptions (known as a “gate”) for no longer
than 10 days. Additionally, if weekly liquid assets were to fall below 10%, a prime or municipal fund
must impose a liquidity fee of 1%, unless the fund’s board determines that such a fee is not in the fund’s
best interests. These liquidity fee and redemption gate requirements apply to both retail and institutional
funds. Government and U.S. Treasury money market mutual funds will not be subject to liquidity fees or
redemption gates.1
There are a number of current articles that have picked up on this, suggesting that a "cash" shortage could lead to more serious bank problems for the major banks, that are still highly leveraged with underwater mortgages not marked to market, derivatives that are not easily unwound, and other major loan categories, such as college loans.
For now, put this in the conspiracy theory category, but maybe something to keep in the back of your mind. Sometimes Google can lead us astray.
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If you have a few minutes, try this Better Business Bureau website from Kettering Ohio... Just one of many, many rating websites...
http://www.bbb.org/dayton/business-reviews/credit-cards-and-plans/synchrony-bank-formerly-ge-capital-retail-bank-in-kettering-oh-5001136/customer-reviews
Instead of reading them all, try just the recent ones, from April until now.
Lends new meaning to customer service... and these complaints are only for credit card problems...
.... and your own credit card could be financed by Synchrony Bank... ie.
Sams, Walmart, JC Penney, HHGregg, Lowes, or PayPal and many others.....