Banking - Emigrant Direct's New Online System has quietly changed account numbers !

Over the last couple of months we have been traveling a lot and are in the process of settling down in new cities due to our moves. Consequently we did not get too many opportunities to follow up on the fiasco of Emigrant Direct's New Online System. Emigrant Direct had sent us an email in which they notified that they are initiating a new online system for which we would require access codes for our first log ins. That's it ! They never mentioned anything about changes in account numbers for our Dream American Savings accounts.

Today we learnt the hard way about the account number changes and its implications. Yesterday we had scheduled an external transfer to our Emigrant Direct Savings account. Since we were not aware that the account numbers had changed, the transfer was scheduled to our 'old' Emigrant Direct Savings account. Today while going through our online statements we suddenly noticed the change in the account numbers. It was a shock for us, since we have never come across a bank which changes account numbers without notifying their customers !

We immediately called the bank from which our external transfer was scheduled. They said that the transaction had been initiated and they could not stop it now since the money had already gone to the Federal Reserves. Next we called Emigrant Direct, their customer service representative said that the transaction would go through and the old a/c number will be mapped to the new online a/c number. She also assured us that the transaction would not bounce and we would see the online account reflect the transaction in 3-5 business days. Since we were still doubtful, she went to her supervisor to clear the issue. The supervisor corroborated the customer service representative's words.

There is nothing we can do now except to wait and pray that the transaction goes through and we don't end up paying any fees for bounced ACH transfers. We found a couple of posts from fellow bloggers fivecentnickle and mymoneyblog which shed some more light on this issue.

We will keep our readers posted about the results of our experience with Emigrant Direct and the fate of our external transfer into our Dream American Savings account.

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