Good luck on that one man. I work in back office of the biggest bank in the world. I work primarily in Fraud, AML, FIU, and Risk and Compliance Analysis. So... This can be a sticky situation so mind your p's and q's. Ill explain.
The bank technically can keep the money. This is because your refund that the IRS issued you is unfortunately not a protected payment. Means, the IRS can ask for the money back from the RDFI, but the RDFI can tell the IRS to buzz off. They cant enforce any actions on the bank. With that being said the bank can then hold your funds as long as they want if they want to decide to have your account "in closure status" or "under investigations" which unfortunately when you signed your depository account agreement, you gave them permission to do this, since it would be solely their deicions on what happens with your account.
NOW THIS IS THE BIG ONE! It can possibly save you, but if you've been a jerk to the bank, or maybe were a bad money manager they didn't like, a few banks would be able to get around it. You need to call within 60 days of the day you got your last statement of the account. You need to ask to file a "NON FRAUD CLAIM". When they ask for what, you should say nothing except that you received that ACH information from the IRS that you ACH WAS deposited on that date. And you request that within 30 days of the closing of the account, those funds be sent to you immediately. What will happen is the bank then has to bear the burden of proof, that they closed your account BEFORE that ACH "SETTLED".
Ok, sorry this is long. But, now when I say settled I mean the bank received the batch payment. Not just the pre depository file. This is going to I would say give you a 70% shot at getting it sooner. If they deny your claim, you immediately put in writing and fax them a copy of a request for the information used to deny the claim. That will ensure they are not strong arming you.
After you get all that info, you go ahead and forward it all to the Federal Oversight of your institution. (OCC, STATE DEPT OF BANKING, ATTORNEY GENERAL... WHOEVER YOU CAN GET TO MAKE SOME NOISE). Because at this point you'll have 100% chance of getting it back. WHY? Because by you filing that claim, and then making the bank provide you that data, they basically just told on themselves that they are holding your money and being jerks. And no Federal oversight will put up with that crap.
So I recommend you don't sit on it and wait to start that, I would have recommended you started it a month ago. But, yes long story short. If I didnt give you a way out lol. You would have to file a civil suit against your bank and bear your own burden of proof that they have your money. Which would take forever..
Cheers Guys
