Read here: http://www.datek.com/advantage/feesch.html "All inactive accounts with balances below $15.00 will be charged the remaining account balance plus accrued interest."
I am absolutely stunned by what I read here about closing accounts and getting funds from Datek. They are a pretty smoothly operating service untill it comes to getting your money back. It's ridiculous. So they want to keep you as a customer so that they can take $15 every quarter untill it's empty...from then on it's free to have a dormant account... How can one think of that? But to sue them or so over 15 bucks... no, that's not worth the trouble. As to closing accounts they mailed me (numerous times, as I kept answering them telling them what I thought about them, LOL) that the way to do this was either by phone (!) or by using the @nswer box. Haven't tried it yet.
>So they want to keep you as a customer so that they can take >$15 every quarter untill it's empty...from then on it's free to >have a dormant account... How can one think of that? When it is empty, they will charge you the 15$ plus interest. "All inactive accounts with balances below $15.00 will be charged the remaining account balance plus accrued interest." http://www.datek.com/advantage/feesch.html
for the record: we finally received our money from Datek. in total, the process took 9 business days: 7 from Datek and 2 from our bank (preparing the paperwork for Datek). most of that was communication overhead: it usually takes Datek 1 business day to reply to written communication (email, @nswerbox). in addition, the replies are always composed by different persons, so misunderstandings are easy to happen -- thus wasting precious communication cycles. therefore, it would be unjust for me to blame Datek for making it hard to withdraw funds or anything -- it's just that their support system is inefficient at handling non-standard inquiries. which is a completely separate issue. - jaan
its informative to hear actual experiences with these much touted firms, as differing from their much bally-hoo'd commercials. Clearly these discussion threads help all Emptors Cavet. In other words, it helps all customers become aware (or beware) of actual corporate practices which unfortunately differ from advertised corporate practices.
jaan, Indeed, 9 days is not exceptionally long over the Big Pond, but still, they do have a problem with withdrawing funds as well as a communication problem. When you select their FundsNow service, you choose "outside USA", and the order is accepted, and the amount is debited immediately. Then a few days later they just credit the same amount again, no description, no message, nothing. Asking them about it: "FundsNow is only to domestic accounts" Sigh... they must have hundreds of foreign customers and they still have not organized withdrawing funds properly. Told me I should request a check, so I asked if they could guarantee that the check could be cashed in Europe (which I believe can not). Got the same standardized answer again, not addressing my actual question. "Case solved" Says the @nswer box again. LOL! But there is hope. I just remembered I got that checkbook from them. I'll just write a check to my other broker. Should have thought of that before. Takes more time but it's not a large amount.
heh, luckily i found out about the non-availability of FundsNow somewhere deep in their help tree. saved me a week i guess! however, once i made the wire request (that's supposed to be an international thing, yet contains US-specific fields that are _required_!), the same thing happened: the amount was credited back with no explanation, nothing! so yes, no argument here, their support system sucks big time. plus, they are terribly US-centric. but then again, have you heard of an american company that isn't? most of the brokers out there won't even allow non-US residents to open accounts. heheh, tell me something i haven't experienced my bet is that their salary depends on how fast they can click the "close the case" button, and being helpful is just an accidental side-effect that happens occasionally. i did consider broker-to-broker transfer as well, but quickly dismissed it as even more complicated to orchestrate. - jaan
US centric, oh yea, plenty examples: 5-digit zip code boxes, phone number boxes that never will allow international numbers, even if the site/service is not U.S. restricted. As for brokers, I have Scottrader as a free backup quotesource (no account needed), they don't take international customers, may have to do with their licences. So they won't give their free quotes either if they can't have you as a customer. Understandable. But there's a way around it. Just use the Yahoo search pages for a real address/zip code/phone#, invent a name with it and there are your free quotes. Broker to broker wire transfer went fine from Datek to IB. I guess within a day or so. Can't complain there, though I did spend some time and a few e-mails to make sure where to enter what. Costs $10 though, don't want to spend that on a $50 transfer!
heheh, this was the joke of the day for me, so i thought i'd share it. transfering funds out from datek has had the side effect of being spammed with "your DT account has been restricted" messages. the messages are identical in content and they are sent 2-3 times a day. after repeatedly complaing to datek about this (i know, it would have been easier to just filter those messages out, but i simply enjoyed bugging them and reminding them that they should fix their braindead system), i got the following reply in @nswerbox: These notices are not meant to inconvenience you. Their purpose is to notify you when you've overextended your day-trading buying power. Unfortunately, these notices can not be discontinued as they are automatically generated. If there is anything else that we can do to further assist you in regard to this matter, please contact us immediately. Datek is committed to providing the best customer support possible, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. ROFLMAO! - jaan