Marcus account locked

[frugal47374]

I convinced my 97-year-old father to stop buying CDs at the local bank and use Marcus for a much better interest rate.  Friday when he went to access the online account he got:

Your account is temporarily locked
If you have a savings account with Marcus, please call us at ...

So we called.  Went through all the identification procedures with the first-level CSR and she told us that she was unable to unlock it and had to transfer us to another department.  But that department has a very long hold time so she said they would call us back.  Normal callback time is 1-2 business days.  Because they didn't staff properly for the COVID-19 crisis, it could be longer.

And she told "us" (me, I had him hang up so he didn't have to hear the troubling details) that he has no access to his account.  He could not withdraw money if he needed it.

And now I wonder what else this other department can ask him to convince them to unlock the account.  Mail him something?  That has to be notarized?  I'm having a hard time already convincing him not to flee back to the 0.05% his local bank will pay on checking.

So I'm sure you are wondering what triggered this.  There hasn't been any significant money movement recently.  We did open some CDs a few days ago to lock in the interest rate.  They are unfunded.  Our plan was to fund them within 10 days (Marcus rule to hold the higher rate) with money coming due from another CD.  So maybe that seems unusual to them.  But, even so, it doesn't seem the lock should be so hard to remove, even for this.

[Anonymous]

Can tell you that the more you "fight" them the more you could look like a scammer. Whatever caused them to lock it, it's to protect them as well as their customer, but mostly them.

Marcus and similar remote companies are fine, but it's not where I'd keep my "have to have it this week/month money." A local bank I can walk into would be the better choice for that. Especially when it comes to situations like yours, things could be resolved in one walk-in trip.

My local bank is offering 2.4% for a 24 month CD. I'm guessing that's similar to a lot of others. If Marcus or an online account offered more then maybe throw some into it, but keep a good chunk at a local bank as a safety cushion.