Moving Money Via Schwab

[kaneohe]

Wondering what practical experience this group has with moving money via Schwab money-link (ACH).

1) If I bring in a personal check to a branch, the receipt says available same day. If I call the toll free number , they say 5 day hold or ask for early release (which I have never done) I suppose reality may depend on the size of the check but curious what others have experienced.

2) What about an ACH transactions. If I place moneylink order to pull funds in on day 1, the funds are there on day 2 as margin credit, and then on day 3 as cash. If on day 2 when the funds arrive, I place an order to push funds out, they will appear as margin debit on day 2 (making margin balance 0) , and then pushed out on day 3 (the same day the pulled funds appear as cash.
With normal amounts, I have not had any margin charges but am not sure what happens for larger amounts.

If you call the toll free line, they will tell you that ACH amounts are (or may be?) subject to a 3 day hold so I am having trouble reconciling the rules w/ reality. Aren't ACH funds real and available immediately to the recipient (Schwab)?

 

[OldShooter]

What problem are you trying to solve? You shouldn't be in a situation where a day or two of funds availability +/- is critical. You are just asking for trouble regardless of what brokerage house you use.

We routinely ACH bits of living expenses when we need them, maybe every couple of months to supplement SS, pay RE taxes, buy cars, etc. My checking is with Charlie, DW's is at the megabank she retired from. (We do this deliberately so we have two independent debit cards for ATMs when we travel. It is also handy to have local branches and tellers when we need real cash.) We ACH from our IRAs to our checking accounts and between Schwab accounts with no issues. We needed to wire to Bulgaria a few months ago and were astonished to find we couldn't do an international wire out of Charlie's checking but we could do it through a cash brokerage account. That took a day or so for our rep to sort it out.

Something else we do for safety when sloshing money around is to have the checking accounts backed by credit lines. That way, if inbound $$ is unexpectedly delayed, the credit line is automatically used. Pay it back a day or two later and the interest is negligible.

 

[gwraigty]

What problem are you trying to solve? You shouldn't be in a situation where a day or two of funds availability +/- is critical. You are just asking for trouble regardless of what brokerage house you use.

+1

I don't use margin, so I'm not familiar with the processes described by the OP. I've transferred money electronically between Schwab and other firms without issues or significant delays. I've deposited checks in person, but use mobile deposit now.

 

[Freedom56]

Wondering what practical experience this group has with moving money via Schwab money-link (ACH).

1) If I bring in a personal check to a branch, the receipt says available same day. If I call the toll free number , they say 5 day hold or ask for early release (which I have never done) I suppose reality may depend on the size of the check but curious what others have experienced.

2) What about an ACH transactions. If I place moneylink order to pull funds in on day 1, the funds are there on day 2 as margin credit, and then on day 3 as cash. If on day 2 when the funds arrive, I place an order to push funds out, they will appear as margin debit on day 2 (making margin balance 0) , and then pushed out on day 3 (the same day the pulled funds appear as cash.
With normal amounts, I have not had any margin charges but am not sure what happens for larger amounts.

If you call the toll free line, they will tell you that ACH amounts are (or may be?) subject to a 3 day hold so I am having trouble reconciling the rules w/ reality. Aren't ACH funds real and available immediately to the recipient (Schwab)?

When you sell a security of Schwab, the funds are available 2 business days after. So if you buy a money market fund (or any fund) or withdraw, before the two days, you are buying on margin. ACH transfers through Moneylink are processed the following business day and appear in the destination account the day after (my experience with Schwab-Citibank. Schwab-Amex bank link and vice versa). Schwab also holds interest and dividend payments to the close of the business day. If the payment falls on a weekend or holiday, Schwab holds it to the the close of the next business. day. For example if you had a payment that falls on a Saturday and Monday is a holiday. You would not see it posted in your account until Tuesday night. With Fidelity and TDA I see it posted on the Friday night prior to the weekend. Just my observations holding multiple accounts at those three institutions.

 

[OldShooter]

Not that it matters much, but I think mutual funds settle the day after the trade. I sold a bunch of SWVXX yesterday and had good funds today to make my 2019 safe harbor tax payment.

According to their web site, stocks settle in two days: https://www.schwab.com/resource-cen...lement-why-you-need-to-understand-t2-timeline

 

[kaneohe]

Not that it matters much, but I think mutual funds settle the day after the trade. I sold a bunch of SWVXX yesterday and had good funds today to make my 2019 safe harbor tax payment.

According to their web site, stocks settle in two days: https://www.schwab.com/resource-cen...lement-why-you-need-to-understand-t2-timeline

you are correct........and I have the scars to prove it. I called a rep beforehand and asked ......the classical case of better know the answer before you ask the question. I was selling a stock and buying a fund. Rep thought I could place both orders the same day as long as I didn't buy more than I sold. Turns out because of the 2 day stock settlement I got charged 1 day margin interest. They were good enough to compensate for the charge because of the incorrect answer I was given.

 

[kaneohe]

................. ACH transfers through Moneylink are processed the following business day and appear in the destination account the day after (my experience with Schwab-Citibank. Schwab-Amex bank link and vice versa). ...............................

not quite my experience......If I place moneylink order (push) early enough in day,the margin debit will appear in Schwab the same day and the funds will be in external account the next day. If I pull early enough, funds will be in Schwab as margin credit the next day..........with 5 other institutions anyway.
Just found out today that Telebroker won't allow more than 10 links which is
5 banks to/from so I had to get rid of my just established PenFed link.

 

[OldShooter]

... 5 other institutions anyway.
Just found out today that Telebroker won't allow more than 10 links which is
5 banks to/from so I had to get rid of my just established PenFed link.

It makes me tired just thinking about this. Obviously YMMV.