Consumer complaint received 2023-06-22
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Money was not available when promised — 
Company: GOLDMAN SACHS BANK USA (MD)

I have two complaints against Marcus by Goldman Sachs, both have to do with their money wire transfers. We kept most of our savings for the escrow and down payment on a house purchase in Marcus, and because of their actions, put the timing and purchase of the house in jeopardy. We had to undertake extra efforts to avoid this. 

First, our earnest money down ( EMD ) payment of {$22000.00} was due XX/XX/XXXX. We saw that they advertise on their website when you select " Deposit or transfer '' from the account page, that when you click on " Click here to learn about your options, '' it clearly states, " Request by ( for same Business Day processing ) ... XXXX XXXX  ET '' for a wire transfer. The fine print states, " An Online Wire transfer scheduled before XXXX XXXX ET on a business day should be processed within one hour, otherwise it will be processed the next business day. '' ( document attached ). This is similar to the information they publicly display on their public website, which displays the same table stating there are no limits on wire request amounts by phone, and requests made prior to XXXX will be processed the same business day : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  It was very clear that it is advertising if you submit a wire transfer request by XXXX ET, there is same business day processing. This is stated multiple places on their website. We submitted our request on Friday, XXXX around XXXX XXXX -- -three days before the EMD was due. I requested that it could be escalated as urgent for processing, which they agreed. When I realized at XXXX, the money had not been transferred I called Marcus . They informed me that wire transfers can take 1-3 business days and they could not guarantee that it would go out to the title company by the due date of Monday ( next business day ). I learned from a call the next day that when they put me on hold at XXXX yesterday on Friday, only then had they attempted to contact the title company to verify the deposit -- -past the closing time of the title company. Even when I called back on Monday XXXX and had a Marcus representative call the title company with me on the line ( and they confirmed the account ), they would not guarantee the money would be processed on that day. Later in the afternoon luckily it did process. However, their claim of same business day processing is, frankly, fraud. 

We then needed to wire transfer the rest of the down payment and closing costs ( approx. {$140000.00} ) to the title company for closing. We initiated this a week early ( Friday, XX/XX/XXXX ) anticipating their delays. However, later that day they informed us that they denied the wire transfer and would not send the money to the title company, despite having previously approved the EMD payment to the same title company, to the same account. They explicitly told us that it was Marcus ' policy NOT to say why they deny transfers. No where on the transfer information pages I have linked to ( XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX ) and attached does it say that they will deny transfers to title companies. Our only option was to transfer the money to an external checking account before using a different bank to wire it to the title company. Since this was after XXXX, any wire transfer would not be processed until at earliest Tuesday XX/XX/XXXX. Not only was this inconvenient, if the transfer took 2 or 3 business days, this would put our closing in jeopardy. I again had to call on Tuesday to ensure that they would process the transfer in time. Perhaps this was a coincidence, but the wire transfer was initiated to my external checking directly after I called to check on the status. 

Marcus by Goldman Sachs publicly displays information that states clearly they will process wire transfers in a certain time, but when you initiate this they only then point you to their official policies ( XXXX XXXX XXXXf ) which directly conflict with the information they advertise. This is fraud.