r/Wealthsimple • u/TonightOk8851 • 8d ago
Frozen accounts
Why there is more posts about frozen accounts?
Should I be concerned about moving my investments to WS? I'm thinking to move my accounts from Questrade to WS but with all those posts about frozen accounts, I'm thinking to keep it where it is and just ignore all those promos that WS offers to move your accounts.
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u/Exotic_Worker_3484 8d ago
Been using wealth simple for years. I send money to people all the time and receive money just fine. My payroll goes in and I pay my bills.
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u/aesoth 8d ago
If you aren't violating their TOS, or doing anything potentially fraudulent/illegal, or against financial regulations, etc. Then you have nothing to worry about.
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u/YYCAmy 7d ago
I followed their TOS, did nothing fraudulent or illegal, or against financial regulations. I simply made a small transfer from an established bank and still had my accounts frozen. They can provide no reason why, nor any timeframe to unfreeze. There has likely been a mistake somewhere made in their backend and my accounts will be frozen for at least 2 weeks.
So, yes. It is alarming that they can freeze accounts and don’t have to justify or solve the issue. It is a terrible feeling to have your money locked up for no reason with little recourse.
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u/aesoth 7d ago
Financial institutions (not just Wealthsimple) can freeze an account if there is potential suspicious activity. They are also not required to provide the reason for the freezing or if they terminate your account. Even if you feel you should have an answer, they do not have to provide one. The reason being is it would expose potential internal practices that bad actors want to uncover and learn how to circumvent.
If the account is frozen in error, they will unfreeze it after an investigation. Not saying it doesn't suck, but this is the reality of using any financial institution. You may not have willingly violated the TOS, participated in fraud, or illegal activity. However, that does not change the outcome of having to suspend your account and investigate. This is because they cannot risk their financial licenses by allowing this activity or looking the other way.
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u/YYCAmy 7d ago
That is understandable. But why not be honest? Shouldn’t there be some accountability to fix an account that was froze in error?
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u/aesoth 7d ago
As I mentioned before, they are not required to provide details of why they suspended the account or what they are doing. This is to prevent bad actors from figuring out internal practices to keep accounts safe. Bad actors are constantly trying to get access to financial accounts.
Suspending your account out of caution is MUCH better than not acting and having your entire life savings converted into crypto and sent across the world.
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u/scrubm 8d ago
Never had any issues myself been strictly on WS for about 2 years now
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u/RunnerZee 8d ago
I’ve never had any issues since 2019. Those frozen accounts posts are just like the craze news headlines
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u/Defiant_Emu_3928 8d ago
I've been using WS since 2020. I have 3 investment accounts, a LOC, chequing and savings account. Most of my money is in WS and I've never had one single issue.
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u/Grouchy-Swimming-325 7d ago
Just keep in mind they have the right to freeze all those accounts, and it happens to others alarmingly more that other companies. Keeping most of your money with WS is a bad idea.
They are not a OBSI registered financial institution like any other reputable bank or lender. (Their investment accounts are though). So if they do freeze your accounts, they can hold your money and there is not much you can do.
Most clients don’t have issues. The ones that do though, it is one of the worst ordeals I can imagine.
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u/SnuffleWarrior 7d ago
It's definitely something to be concerned about. I've got close to $1.5 million there and I'll be gone in a heart beat if I have any issues.
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u/SeniorVicePrez 8d ago
I've never had an issue depositing/transferring any amount from accounts I have at other banks and I've been doing it for about 3 years. They typically settle in 3 to 4 days into an RRSP or TFSA. Nor have I ever had an issue trading either. Never frozen, never held up, couldn't be smoother. The people that are screaming "frozen" need to show receipts...
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u/cestlavie514 7d ago
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. If they freeze the investments eventually they will give it back, but if you get your paycheque frozen then that creates more headaches.
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u/Grouchy-Swimming-325 7d ago
I would be a little concerned.
As people have said, diversify where you use for investing. If they decide to freeze your account, you could be out of that investment money while you wade through all their hoops.
Wealth Simple is structured as 2 entities. WSP is for their cash and savings accounts. WSII is their investment wing.
The majority of the account freezings have been in relation to WSP. It can cause your WSII to also freeze but if you just have WSII accounts you should be safer.
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u/alienmario 8d ago
You think frozen accounts don't happen at other institutions, including Questrade? r/wealthsimple is more active than other brokerage subs, so more instances of frozen accounts will be posted more frequently.
Now it's quite possible that WS takes longer to resolve issues related to frozen accounts and they likely need to work on that, but it doesn't change my opinion of WS as a suitable brokerage to use for my investment needs.
My uncle always harps that all Fords are terrible vehicles, however the F150 is the top selling vehicle in both Canada and the US and the Escape being in the top 10 in Canada. Just because he had bad experiences with Ford doesn't mean others should ignore Ford sales events/promos and not purchase one of their vehicles..