Inspired by the tale of a couple whose Wachovia checking account was frozen for a month, Loan shares a similar tale.

It seems Wachovia refused to believe someone with the first name of Loan could possibly be a person and in fact must be a business. How to sort things out? Account freeze! Loan writes:

I opened an account in 2007 with Wachovia because they had a very attractive APY for their savings account. It worked the same way as Bank of America’s keep the change program, but instead of 0.25 APY, Wachovia offered 5.00% APY with a 100% match for the first 3 months the account was open. I had my account open for about 2 months before it was frozen.

I called customer service daily, then multiple times daily, only for the service representative to tell me, “We are currently looking into why your funds are unavailable to you. At this time, we do not have information as to why. Someone will be contacting you in regards to this matter.”

Nearly 2 weeks later, someone from corporate called to tell me that my account was incorrectly opened as a personal account instead of a business account. The transactions made on the account were not of “business” nature, and Wachovia wanted me to convert my account to a personal account, but needed my information. You see, my name is Loan Co. The new accounts auditors at the corporate office mistook me, a person, as a business. I tried to explain to this person out in Virginia that the information in the computer system was indeed for a person, but they would not release my money to me until I could prove that I was a human being.

In order for me get my funds unfrozen, I had to send a notarized letter from the social security office that I was indeed a person and that the social security number I provided was a SSN# not a EIN for a business, along with a notarized copy of my driver license.

It was such a hassle, and the second I had access to my funds, I closed the account.

The great thing about mattresses is they lack the ability to freeze your funds.

But in all seriousness, what measures do you take to diversify your liquid cash so one account freeze can’t knock you out?

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