Comments (scroll down to add your own):

1. I know these fees too well, and hate them. That’s awesome they’re waiving the fee, I’m signing up for eDelivery today!

   Comment by Ben — Apr 26th 2007 @ 2:57 pm

2. Thanks for the heads-up, I hate fees of all kinds. I wonder if this should change my plans for moving all retirement funds to ETFs?

   Comment by Groucho — Apr 26th 2007 @ 5:31 pm

3. Oops … looks like I’ll be signing up for e-delivery.

   Comment by Lin — Apr 26th 2007 @ 7:29 pm

4. Nice; I just opened an account with them half a year ago and am a bit under the $10k (as it is a roth and I can’t contribute that much at once).

   Time for edelivery; this will certainly save them more than the $10 that they used to get just by not having to send out all that mail.

   Comment by Blaine Moore — Apr 27th 2007 @ 9:18 am

5. It would be nice if this new fee system was an option mandated only for new accounts. My spouse does not use email or computers at all. I would like to avoid the increased fees on my existing accounts but if something happened to me, my spouse would not know how to access the accounts with no paper. I wonder in twenty more years if I will remember I have the accounts without at least one paper statement a year.

   Comment by David — May 19th 2007 @ 5:15 pm

6. 7/9/09

   Dear Nickel,

   How timely that I discovered this article tonight since, when viewing my Vanguard account only an hour or so ago, I noticed that a $30 fee had been levied against my SEP IRA positions. When I inquired by phone about this charge, I discovered that it was levied on June 15, 2009. I had never been informed about waiving this maintenance fee by signing-up for email statement delivery. However, I DO receive statements via email, and have for some time?! At any rate, this $30 fee obviously does not correspond to either the $10 or $20 fee referenced in your article?! When I inquired if anything could be done about mitigating the $30 fee, I was told that it had been in place “for some time”, implying that I should have known about it. Be that as it may, the foregoing stands and, as I told the rep, it would have been considerate, at the very least, to have advised me that said fee would be levied ahead of time so that I could have taken appropriate action, whatever that might have been.

   I DO plan to pursue this matter and, given their apparent disregard for me as a customer, I shall likely move my account elsewhere. I wonder if they charge to do that? So far, I have been unable to locate the appropriate forms on their website to initiate transfer of my IRA to another institution. Unfortunately, I must liquidate most of my Vanguard holdings (all are in a SEP, but I am over 59.5 years young), but wish to avoid their $25 fee, which is what they charge to sell each stock online. On the other hand, Schwab only charges $12.95.

   If you have any ideas about where/how to obtain the necessary forms to move my account but, more importantly, if you know of a reputable brokerage house to which to transfer my IRA, and to then liquidate my holdings within a short period of time (i.e., likely less than a month), I would greatly appreciate knowing about it.

   At any rate, thank you so very much for enlightening me on this topic, and keep up the good work.

   Regards,
   Bill

   Comment by bill — Jul 9th 2009 @ 12:21 am

7. Bill: Once you decide where you’re going to take your money, the new company should be able to provide you with the necessary forms. Essentially, you will fill out the paperwork, and they will go “get” the money for you and transfer it into your new account. As for brokerage recommendation, Vanguard is my favorite. We also have some money with Fidelity and have been happy with them.

   Comment by Nickel — Jul 9th 2009 @ 8:54 am

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