Consumer complaint received 2024-02-15
Product: Checking or savings account — Savings account
Issue: Managing an account — Deposits and withdrawals
Company: GOLDMAN SACHS BANK USA (VA)

I am in the process of buying a house and wanted to transfer {$140000.00} out of my Marcus high yield savings account for this purpose. Since the account was opened in XX/XX/2022, I have not changed my phone number and have always had the same linked external account ( XXXX ). 

XX/XX/XXXX : initiated transfer of {$140000.00} to my linked XXXX account ( in my name ) XX/XX/XXXX : logged in and saw the transaction was reversed XX/XX/XXXX : used title company 's settlement portal to ACH pull the {$140000.00} from my Marcus account by linking it via XXXX. 
XX/XX/XXXX : Received confirmation from title company that the payment was successfully processed. Later that day, title company notified me that although they received the money, it was unexpected recalled by the sending bank. I logged in to my Marcus account and saw that the payment was indeed reversed again. 
XX/XX/XXXX : Called customer service to find out what happened. Was told that they can not verify my identity because my name is not associated with my phone number. I didn't understand this because the same phone number has been on file since account creation and has been used for XXXX ever since. It is still used for XXXX purposes today. I was transferred to Fraud Department and asked to call back in XXXX business days with no further explanation. I explained the urgency and that these funds were going towards a house purchase. The agent then asked me to call my mobile service provider to make sure my name is associated with the number. I called the service provider only to get a very confused customer service agent confirming that my name does appear correctly on the account associated with the number. I call back Marcus again asking what else can be done to expedite the process. At this point, I am already late for sending the earnest money deposit. Call got escalated to a supervisor of the Fraud Department, who told me I will have to fill out, notarize and send back an Affidavit of Identity before they will unlock my account. I explained the urgency and asked for alternative methods of authentication such as going into a branch in person, having a video call while showing my ID etc. but was denied. The supervisor then said the Affidavit of Identity form will be mailed out to me. 
XX/XX/XXXX : Called to check if the form has been mailed and if not, whether it can be expedited. Agent informed me that it has not been mailed and a supervisor tried to contact the mailing department but was not able to expedite the mailing of this form. I asked if the form can be emailed to me so I can print, notarize and fedex back overnight. They said I have to wait the XXXX business days for the form to get to me by mail and this was a process that could not be expedited or changed. 
XX/XX/XXXX : Called back to check on status of mailing. Still not sent yet, but agent said once they receive the paperwork back they hopefully can expedite the review process to XXXX days. 
XX/XX/XXXX : I researched online and found this was a common issue with other Marcus account holders. I also found a Marcus Affidavit of Identity form on their website XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  and called to ask if I can just print this, notarize and overnight the form back. I was told I can not use this form and must wait the 10 days for a form to be physically sent to me. I was also told that they can " likely '' expedite the review process after receiving the completed form to XXXX business days and that typically it will take much longer. After that I need another 3 days to wire the funds out to the escrow account, if the account is unlocked by that point. 

The house closes in XXXX business days from today. Marcus policies are intentionally designed to be slow and onerous to prevent transfer of larger sums of money out. If they can just accommodate my request to have the form emailed to me or allow me to use their own published version online, I will be able to save the 10 days and potentially still make the closing date. As of now, I risk losing the house and if I sell my other investments to pull this {$140000.00} from elsewhere they are fees and tax implications associated with it. It was also not clear why the same phone number that was on file and has been used for authentication purposes for the last 2 years is all of a sudden a reason for the transaction to be flagged as fraud. The company 's archaic policies, lack of transparency, lack of autonomy given to customer service agents and unwillingness to provide reasonable accommodation for me to access my own money at a critical time is putting a large, undue financial burden on me, not to mention the unnecessary stress it has caused.