Our small sister's investment club has switched from TD Ameritrade with few issues. We have automatic transfer from our personal accounts to Schwab investment group which happened for all but one and seem to have auto sync. Our club has less than $50,000 in it.
Watched the ICLUB webinar last night on switching accounts. We have not been switched to Schwab from TD yet, but from what I have been hearing it is a nightmare. The webinar also said Fidelity would not longer sync with ICLUB and I guess also with Bivio. ICLUB recommended Siebert. They took steps to show how to switch. My goodness it is quite complicated. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Subject: Re: [club_cafe] Re: Information from Charles Schwab
Our club decided to switch to Fidelity when we learned that Schwab would not allow third party stock transfers when a member made a withdrawal. Several of us had personal experience with Fidelity and were happy with their customer service. We switched in mid-May and so far, all has gone well. We have not made any member deposits yet.
We are getting cash transfers into the Fidelity account that I know are dividends but details are not provided. I spoke to TD Ameritrade to get the information I needed. I was told that if the ex-dividend date was before we moved the account, the dividend would still go to TDA. It is not Fidelity's fault that they can not provide the details. All they see is a cash transfer from TDA. TDA is still mailing monthly statements so I can verify everything in Bivio. While neither firm can tell me just how long this will continue, I would expect it won't be much longer until all the dividends are going directly to Fidelity.
With all the problems with SCHWAB would it be advisable to switch to Fidelity? I have been told our transition to Schwab won't happen for another 2 to 3 months.I would appreciate any club's experience with Fidelity.
Gene Close In Pursuit of Retirement
Sent from my iPhone
> On Jun 15, 2023, at 9:45 PM, Lynda J. Feit via bivio.com <user*26876200001@bivio.com> wrote: > > Hi Karen. Our club also transitioned to Schwab the same > date as yours. It's been a continuing mystery 'adventure' > for us as well. Since the transition, I've called and/or > had live Chats w/Schwab EVERY day - some days I contact them > more than once in a day. Our issues and progress continue > to be: > > 1. Member checks delayed, returned (uncashed) to Club > Address, or just > plain MIA. That said, this is because the first Schwab > person we > spoke with, told us to send mo member contributions to > the Club's new > Schwab bank account Nbr. When payments were not showing > up, I spoke > to a different Schwab person who said "Your Schwab bank > account is used > ONLY for outgoing funds, not incoming funds, so your > member's > checks will likely not be deposited, and their checks > returned uncashed." > > That person instructed us to send mo contribution > checks to the Brokerage > account number (w/different address from checking > acct), and > checks should be made to JP Morgan/Charles Schwab. > Thus I informed > our members of this change, and we all tried again. > Since then, these > second attempts at paying have 'sometimes' (2 cases > only) managed to > get deposited into the Brokerage acct, after which I > got Schwab emails > telling me NOT to send checks made to JP Morgan/Charles > Schwab > (checks should only be made to Charles Schwab), but > they went ahead and > deposited the checks as a courtesy, but won't continue > to do so for > others. Thus, once again I had to advise our Members > of this, and yet > another round of member payments just began. By > calling Schwab > repeatedly, I have been able to get some, though vague, > information about > when returned uncashed checks will arrive. That said, > so far, none have > arrived. > > 2. Mystery Deposits - I have been able to see what I call > mystery deposits > into the Schwab account, under Transactions from day 1. > They are > deposited with no description, other than a reference > to being 'journaled > over.' Each time, I call or live Chat w/Schwab, and it > takes about 20 min > for a Schwab person to tell me what the money is - in > every case it's been > a Dividend payment from one of our stocks. They tell me > which company > sent it, but only if I specifically ask WHO sent it, > which sometimes results > in being put on hold a second time while they get that > answer. > > Schwab advised that we will be in this situation for > about a month > before dividend payments will start to show up w/all > the necessary detail. > (I won't hold my breath.) > > Thus, most of our members' contributions will not be > included in this month's Treasurer's report, nor will their > funds be available for trading. > > And just to confuse things a bit more - today I saw a > deposit from one of our member's for a check that I was > previously told (by Schwab) would be returned, uncashed. > This is one of the 2 that Schwab decided to go ahead and > deposit into our account 'as a courtesy.' Our member wishes > she'd known that before she already initiated yet another > check for June! > > Nightmare is the word that comes to mind. Thanks for this > opportunity to vent. I really do share your frustration, > but I think it's going to be a month or two before things > calm down, and begin to work properly. Until then I think > our only choice is to keep Schwab on speed-dial... > > Lynda > TERIC > (Thursday Evening Research & Investment Club)