how to close datek account??

Hey,

some of you told they had datek accounts earlier (before IB went public, i think) and have closed them. HOW DID YOU DO THIS ? I have an empty account and I try to close this sucker for 3 straight weeks now. I tried e-mail, this strange @nswerBox in the trading section, phone etc. Either they ignore my requests or they put them on hold again and again. I do not want to have open unused accounts everywhere.

Thanks

 

I did this just a few weeks ago (was using the account for the live quotes). I just called their number (1-800-U2-DATEK I believe), and they sent me a check for the money and closed the account within a couple days. And yes, it is a pain to find any information on this, as I could find only one time a place on their site that stated how to close the account.

Good luck,
Ben

 

I have a friend who've been trying to close her account since September. I think they are playing some sort of "number of open accounts" game. She had difficulty getting them to write her a check (took weeks), then she got a few cents in interest and they charged her $15 maintenance (this was after she had "closed" the account) because the account had fallen under the minimum. The processes continues to this day. She's getting ready to file a complaint with the SEC.

 

Datek keeps your account open, they hope someday that you will start trading with them again. I don't see a problem when your account is empty...i still have a non-active Datek account, sometimes i use their option quotes when my current broker is not working.

 

Yep, I had an account which I withdrew funds from 2 years ago. Well, it ended up having $0.02 left in it, and they kept sending me monthly statements....for 2 years! Finally got it closed...told'em they could have the 2 cents

 

I was very angry I could not login to Datek last week due to
their network problem so I did a full asset transfer to IB and
it took just 4 business days for all my assets to appear on
IB's TWS. But Datek charges $25 for full transfer and IB does
not charge for full transfer in or out.

 

I try to close Datek since last year. I called several times, faxed letter to close account. They left 5 cents on my account & still did not close it. After long waiting on the phone, I spoke to one of Datek personal, & he request me to send a fax. I did it again.
Guess what, they still did not close my account.....
Very awful game....

 

whether it is active or inactive

 

Pradhan- that explains why i have been unable to close inactive account for over 4 months.Datek is a classic example of online brokerage dirtbags.I guess that is why i stick with IB in spite of all the recent mishaps. They NEVER screw around with client withdrawals. In fact I recommend all people make a sizable withdrawal from your trading account (temporarily for a week or so) as a test to see how your broker treats YOUR money.

 

I hope this is not off topic for this thread, but Datek isn't the only one guilty of this. I opened an account with NDB, National Discount Brokers, just to get the free quotes streamer. I never sent them a penny, and then they were bought out by another brokerage. The account still stayed open.

I have a dormant TD Waterhouse account for phone quotes. They threatened to charge me $15 a quarter for a non activity fee, but the account is empty and yet they still don't close it.

Why don't they close? One reason may be so they can state they have X million accounts, but how many of those accounts are totally worthless?

These dormant accounts are kind of dangerous with all your personal information like bank accounts, SS number sitting on some stock firms server. You never know who might gain access to this information, especially if the firm is hurting financially. In fact, I have wondered if this account info was accessed by a unauthorized person, could they not enter a huge stock order and then you receive a margin call 3 days later? What a scary thought.

I think your average discount broker like Datek or Schwab, or TD Waterhouse is history, because as soon as investors find out about firms like IB, they will be leaving in mass. I believe some of these firms stock are good long term short candidates.