I opened new checking and savings accounts with Great Southern Bank in Pleasant Hill, IA. I deposited a monthly check and a couple of other checks. When I set up the account I specifically asked the Manager (whom I was dealing with) when the money would be available. I was told it would be available the next day. I told her I needed to pay some bills immediately and verified that it would be available the next day. Well, the next day I couldn't access my money. I called to find out why and was told that their fraud department had put a hold on the money. After talking to the teller, I called their fraud department and was told that the hold would be for nine days!!!! This was due to it being a new account and they said they hadn't been able to verify the funds and that I'd have to get the banks involved to verify them. One of those banks is one of the largest banks in the country! To summarize two hours on the phone, they wouldn't release the holds, they wouldn't give me my money back because they'd already processed them and they wouldn't give me the checks back for the same reason. Yes, their voluminous contract said that they could put a hold on funds for various reasons which, again, I very carefully had the Manager confirm that the funds would be available. Things may have changed by now, but Congress passed a law two or three decades ago that funds had to be available within five days, so I don't know if their contract was legal or not. When I got my next monthly check I asked the Manager to explain exactly why I should continue to do business with this band and if funds would have a hold put on them (this time BEFORE I deposited it) again. At first she said they wouldn't. I then asked her to call the fraud department to verify this. She again assured me they wouldn't do that. Then, as I turned to go to the counter to deposit it she added that, even if she called them and verified it through them that there was only about a 99% chance that the verification would be correct. I said "That's all I needed to know!" and walked over to the counter and cancelled both accounts.