[ QUOTE ]
Fast forward to a couple weeks ago, my mom (who uses the same bank) is out of state and goes to a branch of this bank to deposit some money. She has a checking account at a different bank in our home town that has no ATM card, so she frequently writes checks to herself from the local bank to the evil bank. She has done this multiple times and the money was instantly available to her. She deposits $5k and everything seems to be normal, but a couple hours later, checking out at a grocery store, her ATM card is declined. She calls the bank and there is a 10 day (!) hold on her check. They never told her there would be a hold at the bank.. just let her drive off and attempt to go shopping. The next day she goes to the bank to try to work out what the problem is (remember, she is out of state with almost no money), they tell her they CAN'T TELL HER why they are now holding her checks, and they refuse to work with her in any way to get her at least some money. So that day my mom is forced to call her friends and family and ask to borrow money for the trip.
[/ QUOTE ]
Here's your play, assuming you have all the correct facts. They told her the hold was 10 days. By law, maximum hold is 5 days, in some cases 1 day. File a federal complaint. Nothing like having to deal with the federal governement to mess up your day.
The law/regulation governing this is set by the Federal Reserve. It's Regulation CC, found
here. Check it over to make sure they violated her rights (and I think they needed to make $100 available in 1 day), then fire away.
Original article I found was
here, it might be useful as well.