Ok, here is how it is common sense.... What bank lets you keep an account open infinitely with zero activity without taking out fees and eventually closing your account. They call them inactivity fees.... Thats a common theme to the modern day finacial institution. Broker or otherwise... Anything else is the exception....
Haha. You are joking right? First of all we are talking about brokers. I can tell you that I have re-funded at least 2 stock accounts (Tradestation and Ameritrade) and 3 futures accounts after years of dormancy. IB is the exception, which is the point of this thread.
Umm, yes, some banks do exactly that. Try leaving zero dollars in an ING Direct account and see what happens.
Not joking. If they fee out your account what obligation do they have to keep your account open???? If you dont meet their minimums, what obligation do they have to keep your account open. We are talking about financial institutions and a broker falls under that category....
Of course they do not have an obligation. But it is good business sense, thats why most brokers welcome traders back.
I am glad we agree on that one thing (my basic point) Good business to whom? You the business person or you the trader? Lots of things appear "good for business" on the outside looking in, but what is the true cost??? When you know those details, then you can decide if it is a good policy or not.
I also feel this thread is not that constructive but I will add one comment. I don't buy the story about "years" of inactivity for a U.S.-based firm. Depending on the state, after a certain period of inactivity, the account must be surrendered to the state as an abandoned account. This is true even if you have 100MM in it.
...and the account holder must be executed Seriously. I have 2 inactive accounts: one with Ameritrade (automatically transferred from Datek ~4-5 years ago, zero equity from the moment of transfer), another with E*Trade (6 years inactivity, $5 equity).
Yeah Etrade will hold it forever, I had an account from 1999 that I forgot about that was still active. But then I dont consider them a REAL broker anyway..... Perhaps a real PITA.....