One Brokerage VG or Fidelity

[photoguy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MRG To your data security concern. Both Fidelity and Vanguard offer a "no loss security gaurentee". Play by our rules: current virus detection, keep passwords secret, cooperate with our investigation. .... We'll take care of losses. There is already $500k SPIC protection. Neither firm wants a WSJ front page article on how they lost your retirement.

I'm curious about this -- does anybody know of a confirmed loss from a retail investor? and how the companies handled it?

Personally we have both Fidelity and Vanguard accounts. I'm not too worried about account security and would be just as happy to have one provider. Main reason we haven't consolidated is inertia.

[target2019]

Quote:

Originally Posted by photoguy I'm curious about this -- does anybody know of a confirmed loss from a retail investor? and how the companies handled it? Personally we have both Fidelity and Vanguard accounts. I'm not too worried about account security and would be just as happy to have one provider. Main reason we haven't consolidated is inertia.

I think that when there is a loss you would have to sign an agreement not to talk about it.

[nwsteve]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mathjak107 28 years with fidelity , quite a few consultations and i am still waiting for them to try to sell me anything.

+1
Similar time with Fidelity and NEVER had anyone tried to sell us anything, unless you consider offering us ca$h to consolidate accounts ;-)
Nwsteve

[LOL!]

We were locked out of our Bank of America checking account for about 3 weeks. Our paychecks were direct-deposited during that time, too, so that money was also unavailable. Checks bounced. Bill pay returned for insufficient funds, etc. It was a BoA mistake and we closed the account and moved our money elsewhere.

We "survived" by using credit cards.

So I know things happen to prevent one from getting acccess to their money. I think one needs redundancy and diversification in institutions where one keeps money just in case one of them screws up. Also make sure you do not choose Bank of America as one of those institutions.

[MRG]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nwsteve +1 Similar time with Fidelity and NEVER had anyone tried to sell us anything, unless you consider offering us ca$h to consolidate accounts ;-) Nwsteve

+1
Actually my Fidelity guy told me not to do a rollover IRA to Fidelity, so I could use the rule of 55 in my existing non-Fidelity 401k.

Reverse salesmanship.

[nwsteve]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LOL! We were locked out of our Bank of America checking account for about 3 weeks. Our paychecks were direct-deposited during that time, too, so that money was also unavailable. Checks bounced. Bill pay returned for insufficient funds, etc. It was a BoA mistake and we closed the account and moved our money elsewhere. We "survived" by using credit cards. So I know things happen to prevent one from getting acccess to their money. I think one needs redundancy and diversification in institutions where one keeps money just in case one of them screws up. Also make sure you do not choose Bank of America as one of those institutions.

+1 . IMHO everyone needs a "Plan B"--not necessarily the same one but a means to deal with the "Sh**t happens" moments in life.
We had a similar experience with Bank America who will FOREVER be excluded from our lives, including their many credit cards. Too many other viable options to put up with the arrogance and indifference of BofA

Nwsteve

[MooreBonds]

There will always be instances of one customer service rep who is clueless with any company.

However, as a few others have also noted in some other threads, my experiences with Vanguard as a whole have not been the most flattering. The biggest frustration was dealing with my grandmother's estate. I was not the primary executor, but was handling all of her investments and knew everything related to financial markets, etc. (dad was her official first executor, and either called V with me or I told him what to say/ask for when dealing with them).

They have a specific department for dealing with deceased V account holders (called something like "account transition team"). Despite having this specific department, and despite dealing with two different people, we received incorrect information on more than one occasion, and has to follow-up numerous times to find out where everything was at after several weeks of waiting.

I applaud V's ultra low cost - but if you anticipate needing ANY assistance with customer service reps, etc., spending just a few bucks more can be worth it in the long run, depending on what your portfolio looks like, how complex your portfolio/estate is, etc.

But lackluster service personnel isn't limited to V: having most of my accounts at TD Ameritrade hasn't really impressed me, either. I have an account rep assigned to me, based on my account balances. I had created a SIMPLE IRA earlier this year based on direction from my employer that they were going to go that route. However, they later decided to continue doing SEP IRAs, so my SIMPLE IRA account was never funded. My personal account rep saw that I had opened up my SIMPLE IRA and called me up and left me a voicemail saying that if I ever wanted to open up an account, I needed to contact him first to get some freebies.

So, when I needed to open up a solo 401k a few weeks ago for some moonlighting work for tax year 2015, I called him up after starting the online process and downloading the forms. They advertised on their website you can get 60 days of free trades with new accounts, when I started the process. When I talked to my account rep, he told me he would mark my account to get some free trades (but but but....you were advertising free trades for 60 days, so where is this special perk you said I needed to call you to get?).

Then he tells me I can drop off the application at their office! Not that big of a deal since I was going to be in the neighborhood, but otherwise could have been a 25 minute round trip drive. So I drop off the solo 401k forms and a $15,000 check to deposit.

2 1/2 weeks later (on April 14), I get 2 voicemails from him saying I "incorrectly filled out the forms". Doesn't say what I did wrong, just that it was incorrect, and that he needed to send back my check.

Apparently, he let it sit on his desk for a full 2 1/2 weeks before handing it off to someone to process! And the 'best' part - he says that he hopes I wasn't trying to beat the April 15 deadline to open the account (because apparently I would have been SOL if that were the case) because there's nothing he nor anyone else could apparently do to finish the application and deposit the check before April 15!) This took place on April 14 - but if I had corrected the forms that night - or even that afternoon - I could have run the forms over to their office that afternoon and still had 2 business days to process the forms.

Since a solo 401k must be open well before the end of the tax year, it wasn't applicable - but he obviously knew nothing about even the most basic of account info to know that. But if that had been the case, my $15,000 account deposit would not have been deposited, and that could have screwed up a last minute tax return refund/tax bill, as far as he knew!

Moral of the story: even if you have a 'dedicated account rep' due to high balances, sometimes they aren't worth their weight in dirt!

[mathjak107]

Quote:

Originally Posted by photoguy I'm curious about this -- does anybody know of a confirmed loss from a retail investor? and how the companies handled it? Personally we have both Fidelity and Vanguard accounts. I'm not too worried about account security and would be just as happy to have one provider. Main reason we haven't consolidated is inertia.

since i have my pay check direct deposited to fidelity i use a debit card to take money out from a local banks atm.

well right from within the banking system they got my pin and numbers and took out the daily limit. this card has never seen the light of day any where else except this one bank atm in a capital one lobby..

1 call to fidelity had the money back the next morning.

[MooreBonds]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mathjak107 since i have my pay check direct deposited to fidelity i use a debit card to take money out from a local banks atm. well right from within the banking system they got my pin and numbers and took out the daily limit. this card has never seen the light of day any where else except this one bank atm in a capital one lobby.. 1 call to fidelity had the money back the next morning.

I was curious about how criminals pull off check card scams - and then saw some video on how they do it in instances of card skimming (which also explained why there is that odd looking sticker on the card swiper at my ATMs):

Debit and Credit Card Skimming - PrivacySense.net

Sometimes, they actually put a 'false' scanner OVER/ON TOP OF the bank ATM's scanner (or even a gasoline pump card reader). So when you are scanning or inserting your card, you are also running it through the criminal's scanner. They can be hard to spot and look just like it's part of the ATM scanner. So that's why you will see bank stickers on top of the check card scanner that has the bank's name, and why my bank says at every transaction "Do you see the _____ Bank sticker on the ATM card swipe?" before you enter your PIN.

And the criminal either puts a camera nearby to record your PIN, or somehow also gets it through the keypad on the ATM.

Don't know if that's how they got their hands on your number and PIN, since it was in a bank lobby - but unless someone challenges them on it, most would probably assume it's an employee who's messing around with the ATM if they do a few simple things to look official.

[photoguy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by target2019 I think that when there is a loss you would have to sign an agreement not to talk about it.

I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.

I once chatted with a fellow who consulted for wholesale banking and he made it sound like losses were not rare although for obvious reasons he didn't mention specific client names.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mathjak107 well right from within the banking system they got my pin and numbers and took out the daily limit. this card has never seen the light of day any where else except this one bank atm in a capital one lobby..

Thanks for sharing your experience.

[MRG]

Quote:

Originally Posted by photoguy I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case. I once chatted with a fellow who consulted for wholesale banking and he made it sound like losses were not rare although for obvious reasons he didn't mention specific client names .

This is how those events are handled(all the way back to '68, purple had it covered):

https://youtu.be/_4QBhC1uCP4



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