TD Ameritrade Account doesn't allow ACH transfers?

[WorriedNoodle]

Recently I opened a TD Ameritrade Account from Thailand and they forced me to open it via Singapore as I now only have a Thai address.

 

TD Ameritrade Singapore bans use of ACH and if doing wired transfers must be by a bank paid domestic or international wire from my bank that costs money and takes several days.

 

I recently unknowingly sent money by ACH transfer to TD Ameritrade as a bank transfer verification process and it arrived within a day only to be refused by TD Ameritrade.

 

** Anyone know the background for banning ACH? Is it a money laundering thing or something?

 

 

[Jingthing]

ACH transfers are domestic. Your Ameritrade account isn't based in the U.S. So of course ACH transfers wouldn't work. Have you tried SWIFT? In my experience it is quite rapid. 

[dj230]

You most likely have to do a wire transfer, they are almost 'instant' (during bank hours) although depending on the bank you may have to wait for them to clear it

 

 

 

Edited August 11, 2021 by dj230

[skatewash]

As said already:

 

Quote

ACH (Automated Clearing House) is a network used for electronically moving money between bank accounts across the United States. It's run by an organization called Nacha (previously NACHA - National Automated Clearing House Association), and may also be referred to as the ACH network or ACH scheme.

The confusion is understandable as Bangkok Bank NY Branch had for years offered a facility for receiving customer's ACH transfers from their US financial institution at that branch and forwarding the transfer amount to the customer's Bangkok Bank branch in Thailand.  The US government shut down that facility and yes it was because of ongoing money-laundering suppression efforts.  To be clear Bangkok Bank and its customers weren't doing anything illegal until the US government expanded its reporting requirements.

[WorriedNoodle]

TD Ameritrade Singapore asks account holders to wire their money to a Wells Fargo bank account number in the USA  which belongs to TD Ameritrade Clearing, with a forward instruction in the wire transfer to the account holder name and account# in Singapore. So if I wire from a US bank I can choose ABA routing number and send as a costlier domestic wire or the ACH number and the money is sent for free.

 

As soon as TD Ameritrade in Singapore sees it is sent as ACH it blocks it. I was just wondering why?

[skatewash]

13 minutes ago, WorriedNoodle said:

TD Ameritrade Singapore asks account holders to wire their money to a Wells Fargo bank account number in the USA  which belongs to TD Ameritrade Clearing, with a forward instruction in the wire transfer to the account holder name and account# in Singapore. So if I wire from a US bank I can choose ABA routing number and send as a costlier domestic wire or the ACH number and the money is sent for free.

 

As soon as TD Ameritrade in Singapore sees it is sent as ACH it blocks it. I was just wondering why?

The technical reason is that an ordinary ACH transfer doesn't contain enough information (things like address in Thailand, etc.) to satisfy the US government's requirements for money being sent outside the US.  It's a money-laundering prevention measure.  There is a special "international" format for an ACH transfer but that is typically not available to regular customers of US financial institutions.  Pensions and government agencies use this "international" format (which contains more information about the transfer) ACH and that is allowed to be sent outside of the US.  Unfortunately, you can't just ask your US bank to use this special "international" format for the ACH and therefore the typical US financial institution customer is left sending ACHs only to other US financial institutions (and not ones located outside the US).

Edited August 11, 2021 by skatewash

[WorriedNoodle]

31 minutes ago, skatewash said:

The technical reason is...

Thanks @skatewash, that is most helpful.