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| lostsoul01 |
 Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 4:58 am Post subject: My Personal Experience Moving Ameritrade -> Firstrade |
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Investing Sr. Associate
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Just thought I'd share a personal experience in case anyone else is considering the same type of move.
I had a Roth IRA at Ameritrade which they've changed the terms on me a few times. This last change was the last straw. While I appreciate a drop in trade costs from $10.99 to $9.99, and the option of some fee-free mutual funds, the ones I like (Vanguard) are now $49.99 to trade. Even though I do some stock trading in this account, it is my retirement account after all, and I sleep better at night having mostly funds in there.
So I did some research and determined Firstrade to be the best choice for me. All mutual funds are $0 to trade and stocks are $6.95 unlimited shares. There are no IRA costs, including transfers out.
I opened the account at Firstrade, which was all done online except for a few forms I had to fax in. No big deal at all. Soon, the account was open. Then I sent them a transfer form with my Ameritrade information.
The first odd thing was that I received a call from Ameritrade... the lady wanted to try to keep me as a customer. I explained my disgust with the new costs and she offered to "grandfather me in at the old rates." I said my new place offered $0 for mutual funds rather than the $17.99 Ameritrade used to charge me, so I was still saving money. So I said I was going to switch anyhow. I really hate talking on the phone, so this part bothered me a little. It was like when you have to call to cancel a service, that whole idea just bothers me, I hate it  But she was not that persistent and was pleasant, so I guess it wasn't that bad.
I believe the entire transfer has taken a week. Now for the better part.
I learned here about the beauty of trailing stops, and I had them on my stocks in that account. Obviously, when transferring, they cancel all that. So they started that process last Thursday... and as we all know the days since then have been GREAT! 
My stops were all at 8%, so far I owned SLV which has gone down roughly 10% since last Thursday. It was not a lot that I had invested, but since the stop was cancelled, now I'm down, and have to make a decision. I put the trailing stops in to remove my "personal" part of the trade and to make it a fixed, non-emotional sale. None of this was either places fault, but it reminded me to mention a good point. You may not be able to make a trade for at least a week, so make sure anything you are concerned about is closed.
What else could have happened? Well, somehow I got charged two transfer out fees, $25 each. I've got an email to Firstrade asking about that.
Also, I had played around a while back and ended up with some sale restricted stock for a year. It's practically worthless, but now it seems to be gone.  Firstrade lists nothing about it whatsoever. Maybe Ameritrade couldn't let it go to them, I don't know. I've got an email about this too, so maybe that will answer my question. My thought is if it couldn't be transferred, I should have been contacted. We'll see.
So far it was not bad except for those small odd things. I do like Firstrade although the interface is not as nice as Ameritrade's. But with the lower prices I think it will be worth it.
Soon I am going to be moving two accounts from Scottrade to Vanguard and I can post a similar account if people find this useful. I know it would have been nice to hear something like this before I started this, even if just to calm my nerves that it wouldn't be that bad!
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| lostsoul01 |
| Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 3:33 am Post subject: |
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Investing Sr. Associate
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It's been a long summer... thought I'd give you an update on this.
First of all, if you have any restricted stocks, do not ever attempt a transfer or you'll spend a lot of time talking to people pointing fingers!!!
1) Ameritrade: It's gone, they have it.
2) Firsttrade: We can't accept it, it's back to them.
3) goto 1
...
Second, I'd try using the new account some before you decide to move everything. I guess I'll be blunt... I liked Ameritrade a LOT more than Firsttrade. Maybe it is just what I'm used to, but the interface is easier to use, and the ACH transfers are easier to use.
So, here's what happened from my above post.
My "Restricted" stock eventually did end up going back to my account at Ameritrade. I would call and call and they'd say the account was closed. Then I got a paper statement in the mail showing it, and a MSFT dividend I had forgot about. So I had to fax them a letter asking them to repoen the account which they did with no problem.
Ameritrade charges a $25 transfer out fee and a $25 account closing fee. I figured it couldn't hurt, so I asked them to refund the closing fee since they couldn't actually close my account.
They refunded me both fees!
So now I've got my Firstrade account I don't really like and an Ameritrade account with about $60 in it and some nearly worthless restricted stock. With all the time I spent on it, I should have just given up on the Ameritrade account but I just couldn't get myself to do that.
one thing that I do like about Firsttrade, is the fees. It's really nice to shift around your mutual funds and not have to think about fees. And since the stock trades are ~$7, that helps too. |
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| Gilgamesh |
| Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 3:39 am Post subject: |
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Investing Associate
Joined: 03 Aug 2006
Posts: 38
This Month: 0
Location: IL
3670.43 e$
Net worth: 12,352.23
Portfolio Value: 8,681.80
Monthly Return: 6.74%
Trades this month: 0
Churn Rate: 0.00%Items
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| Thanks for the update, I'd like to hear your experiances with scott as well since I am looking at opening a new account somewhere. |
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| lostsoul01 |
| Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 3:53 am Post subject: |
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Investing Sr. Associate
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I have two Coverdell ESA accounts with Scottrade and had a Roth IRA with them. Overall, I'd put them up there with Ameritrade.
I decidede not to transfer the ESA accounts out, as Vanguard just isn't flexible enough for what i want to do with the accounts. It really had nothing to do with Vanguard itself, as they're really good to do business with also.
Things I like about Scottrade:
* Good tools AND descriptions on the different types of trades.
* The interface is easy to use
* Low priced trades and some cheap mutual funds. Vanguard's aren't free (They are at Firsttrade), but for example two I've bought free through Scottrade are PXWGX and HOTFX
* If you have questions, you can call a local branch and speak to nice people. I've never been on hold when I've called.
Things I don't like about Scottrade:
* I like ACH transfers. Evidently, they don't. Getting money into Scottrade is a PAIN. When I mailed a check for my childrens' ESAs or my ex wife's Roth IRA, I then had to fax a letter saying it was ok to deposit my check into their IRA.
That's it!
I have transferred all money out of the Roth IRA from them and it was easy. Fax a form and in a few days I had a check. Not that I'd ever ever suggest doing that, but some people might. |
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| e_pang |
| Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2006 1:37 am Post subject: |
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Investing Sr. Associate
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Very interesting! A very great resource and that does help me personally. Because I am looking into opening my wife's IRA account personally, and I have an Scottrade IRA account which I have not very little trouble with. Though it was sort of annoying and took maybe a week or two to get my money from my regular account transferred to open a new IRA account with Scottrade. But other then that no other real problems! But, I will be for sure researching and looking into Firstrade.
One question about firstrade. ALL mutual funds are free this is correct? But, ETF's would be a regular stock fee which is what? |
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| lostsoul01 |
| Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2006 1:08 pm Post subject: |
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Investing Sr. Associate
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Yes, at FirstTrade all mutual funds purchases are free, but ETFs are treated like stocks, which have a $6.95 fee. Make sure to sign up for electronic notifications or you'll get an extra $1 charge per trade.
Here's the fine print:
STOCKS
Online Market Orders & Limit Orders
$6.95 - Unlimited Shares
For stocks at or under $2.00 and trades over 5,000 shares, add 1/2 cent per share for the entire order.
MUTUAL FUNDS
Online Mutual Funds
No Charge
Includes all No-Load Funds and Load Funds offered by Firstrade. A Short Term Redemption Fee of $19.95 will be applied to redemptions of No-Load Fund shares held less than 180 days. Broker-Assisted redemptions will incur a charge of $26.95. Transaction Minimums: Initial Investment - $500 / Additional Investments - $100. Redemptions of less than $500 will incur a $19.95 fee, unless the entire value of that fund is less than $500. For mutual funds transferred to Firstrade, the 180 day holding period will begin when the account transfer process is complete. |
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