BoA Closed my Accounts and Froze my Funds. How can I get money back besides cashier's check?
I'd suggest you contact the Office of the Controller of Currency, who regulates BOA and file a complaint. This whole deal seems shady.  According to the OCC FAQ, the fact that they closed the account is in their prerogative. However, I would think they are obligated to quickly return your funds, but can't find anything specific to that. The banks are very sensitive to having complaints filed against them, so if nothing else this may encourage them to be more helpful, even if your complaint isn't actionable. OCC Complaint Process. This topic on how long a bank can hold a large deposit before making funds available may also be helpful.
"I live near historic Concord, Massachusetts, and frequently drive past Walden Pond. I'm reminded of Henry David Thoreau's words,  ""Simplify, simplify, simplify."" In my opinion, fewer is better. 2 checkbooks? I don't see how that makes budgeting any easier. The normal set of expenses are easily kept as one bucket, one account.  The savings 2&3 accounts can also be combined and tracked if you really want to think of them as separate accounts.  Now, when you talk about 'Retirement' that can be in tax-wise retirement accounts, e.g. 401(k), IRA, etc. or post tax regular brokerage accounts. In our situation, the Schwab non-retirement account was able to handle emergency (as money market funds) along with vacation/rainy day, etc, in CDs of different maturities. As an old person, I remember CDs at 10% or higher, so leaving money in lower interest accounts wasn't good. Cash would go to CDs at 1-5 year maturities to maximize interest, but keep money maturing every 6-9 months.  Even with the goal of simplifying, my wife and I each have a 401(k), an IRA, and a Roth IRA, I also have an inherited Roth, and I manage my teen's Roth and brokerage accounts. That's 9 accounts right there. No way to reduce it.  To wrap it up, I'd go back to the first 4 you listed, and use the #4 checking attached to the broker account to be the emergency fund. Now you're at 3. Any higher granularity can be done with a spreadsheet.  Think of it this way - the day you see the house you love, will you not be so willing to give up that year's vacation?" He has my bank account info, and I just want to know where I stand legally. Legally you can't keep the money. It would either go back to the originator or to Government unclaimed department. I got a bunch of missed calls from an unknown number and a really unprofessional email from a guy who supposedly worked for UNICEF saying I had 4 hours until I am suppose to be visited by police and that there was nowhere I could run to. These are common tactics employed to ensure you take some action and transfer the real money somewhere. Do not succumb to such tactics.  The money is still in my account I have not touched it. Advise your Bank immediately that there is this deposit into your account that is not your's. Let the bank take appropriate action. Do not authorize Bank to debit your account. The max you can do is authorize the bank to reverse this transaction. The best is stick to statement that said transaction is not yours and Bank is free to do what is right.  There is a small difference and very important. If you authorize bank to debit, you have initiated a payment. So if the original payment were revered by originator bank, you are left short of money. However if your instructions are very clear, that this specific transaction can be reversed, you cannot be additionally debited if this transaction is reversed.  He has my bank account info, Depending on how easy / difficult, my suggestion would be monitor this account closely, best is if you can close it out and open a new one. In order for you to send me check for $10 you would have to know my banking details. You would have to know the bank number and the account number. Giving you this information does put my funds at risk.  While you would know this for a small circle of friends you wouldn't know this for everybody. My parents have 19 grand kids. They would have to know the banking account information for all 19. While my parents can be trusted with this information their grand children would have to make sure that they had the updated information. Instead they just mail them a check or give them a check on their birthday or other special occasion. Most of the time that money needs to be transferred it is not important that it immediately be converted to cash. The question you referenced is about how the Unbanked function: The unbanked are adults who do not have their own bank accounts.   Along with the underbanked, they may rely on alternative financial   services for their financial needs, where these are available. These people need check cashing places to get money. They don't have a bank account. There is no place for you to electronically send money. Every source of income for them has to start as cash, or be converted to cash. All spending they do is by cash. If they need to pay by check they convert cash to a money order for a fee. There are two (main) ways of transferring large sums of money between banks in such a situation. 1) Have your bank mail a cashier's check.  They may or may not charge you for this (some banks charge up to $6, the bank I work at doesn't charge at all).  You have to wait for the check to go through the mail, but it usually takes just a few days. 2) Wire the money.  This could cost $50 or more in combined fees (usually around $30 to send and $20 to receive), but you get same day credit for the funds. The limits to online transfers are in place to protect you, so that if someone gets into your account the amount of damage they can do is limited.  If you need those limits lifted temporarily, check with your bank about doing so - they may be willing to adjust them for you for a brief period (a day or two). "I second what ""powercow"" and ""Osetic"" said.  I switched away from Wells Fargo to Patelco (Pacific Telephone Company, i'm in the bay area).  They are world's better.  My biggest issue with WF was the overdrafts, how much they charged, and the way in which they processed incoming transactions (which they are being sued in a class action for, btw).  I had my new account setup so it could never overdraft, it would just decline.  In my first month with Patelco, I ordered checks.  When that charge processed, it dipped my account into the negative due to it being an internal CU charge and their system not performing all the checks/balances first.  They called me about 24hrs after it happened to let me know:  * How sorry they were * That they would refund me the amount of the checks * That they added $10 on top of the refund to ensure I understood it was a mistake * If there was anything else they could do to make the situation right  And like others here, I have shorter lines, more helpful tellers, a more inviting atmosphere, oh and free coffee.  You gotta find a better CU, yo" "My sister, who is in her mid twenties and not the most financially responsible kept telling me that the bank was doing ""weird shit"".   I looked at her statements and noticed something else wells fargo does. She has a checking account that has a ten or fifteen dollar monthly fee.  If her account ever got near that number or in the negative that is when that fee would be charged. So basically instead of charging that fee at the same time every month they would wait till that charge would cause an overdraft which would spark a $35 dollar fee.    Yes I also proved that they are still reordering. I told her to save all her receipts for one month. Her account was at $50. She made a five dollar food purchase, and several other small purchases and then had to pay a small bill that took her over. Via the receipts it was easy to see that all the other small purchases were done two to three days ahead of the one that actually over drafted her. Which cost her almost $200 in overdraft fees.  She is actually not that bad with money, she works 40 hours a week but she just does not make enough to live on and this kind of practice puts her in a hole over and over again." I was a victim of this.  I'm not sure who got my routing and account number off my check, but someone subscribed to Playboy.com using my bank account information.  Luckily it was only for about $30 and the bank refunded my money.  However, it was a mess in that I had to open a new checking account and keep the other one open until all checks cleared.  The bank was extremely helpful and monitored the account to make sure only the checks I told them about were processed.  I then had to close the old account. This is why I believe checks are much less secure than credit cards or debit cards.  A paper check can lay on someone's desk for anyone to pick up or write the information down off of it.  I avoid checks if at all possible.  For things like Craig's list, I would try to use PayPal or some other intermediate processing service. "If you want to deposit checks or conduct business at a window, you should look at a local savings bank or credit union. Generally, you can find one that will offer ""free"" checking in exchange for direct deposit or a minimum balance. Some are totally free, but those banks pay zippo for interest. If you don't care about location, I would look at Charles Schwab Bank. I've been using them for a couple of years and have been really satisfied with them. They provide free checking, ATM fee reimbursement, free checks and pre-paid deposit envelopes. You also can easily move money between Schwab brokerage or savings accounts. Other brokers offer similar services as well."