Comments on: E-Trade Account Activation and Review

By: srikks

srikks — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 01:01:46 +0000

E*TRADE has a new $25 bonus for opening the Complete Savings Account. This new one is good through 12/17/2008.

By: DebtGoal

DebtGoal — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 22:02:37 +0000

E*Trade can be incredibly useful, I agree. But I wonder if they market their products and services enough as promoting the overall financial health of their customers. Do you think a large percentage of their customers have non-mortgage debt, even credit card debt that revolves from month to month?

By: RDS @ Smart Financial Values

RDS @ Smart Financial Values — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 20:42:10 +0000

I have been a happy customer of E*Trade for over ten years. Over that time I have been impressed with both the banking and brokerage operations and the company’s customer service. I have often wondered why its high yield savings products don’t get more ink in the blogosphere.

By: Jacqui

Jacqui — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 17:59:45 +0000

@ Jody — What kind of account was posting interest every six months? Also, it sounds like you were using wire transfer to withdraw your funds if you were charged $25. Why did you not have them write you a check for $15 or do an ACH transfer for free?

I’ve been with them less than a month, but the savings account is supposed to be credited monthly. If it’s not I’ll post back! Here’s the complete list of fees and account type details: link

Now I will admit their email support is a bit… lacking. But they were good when I called them.

By: Jody

Jody — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 17:08:01 +0000

I have to chime in with a very negative personal experience with eTrade. I am a current customer of theirs, with both a complete savings and a brokerage account. When I have emailed their customer service dept with questions that concerned me giving them MORE business, I received responses within just a few hours. However, recently they overcharged me for $45 on a stock trade and when I emailed their customer service dept to get this situation rectified, I received no response (48hrs later). So, I emailed them yet again (been another 48hrs now) and still no response. I am clearly in the ‘right’ given the data/information I’ve provided them, but they seem to be playing the “let’s pretend we don’t see him and maybe he’ll just forget about the money and go away” game. Well, at the end of this month I will be removing my $20K from the savings account in response to their inaction on my requests.

Also note that they pay interest once every 6 months. So, if for some reason you need your money (say for an emergency) in 4 months, you won’t get to withdraw the interest you’ve accrued, because it won’t be posted to your account as an eligible amount to be withdrawn. Each withdraw will cost you $25, so when you take our your funds, then and only then will your accrued interest show up and if you want that interest money back then you’ll have to do yet another withdraw, costing you yet another $25. So, in essence, unless you withdraw your funds on Dec. 1 or June 1 (interest is credited on Nov. 30 and May 31), expect to lose much of the interest you earned in their account, or else be stuck paying another $25 fee to get that money out.

All is not ‘perfect’ in the eTrade world my friends, so take it from someone who has been a customer of theirs for a few years now.

By: nickel

nickel — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 16:06:15 +0000

This isn’t any different from a whole host of other banks that are struggling right now. They’re FDIC insured and, even if they do run into problems, there won’t be any paperwork headaches. Remember when WaMu failed? Smooth as could be. I had an account when it happened so I can say that with absolute certainty.

By: g

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 15:43:17 +0000

E-trade is in financial trouble – you be opening yourself up to a paperwork headache in the near-term future.

http://www.reuters.com/article.....NM20081121

By: DebtGoal

DebtGoal — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 08:56:25 +0000

High yield savings accounts are a great option. Just be careful with any incidental fees so that discount trading tools don’t laden you with debt.

By: Double Jorurney

Double Jorurney — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 20:20:26 +0000

ETrade is what I use to do all my trading and where I put the majority of my cash. It has some great features and it is really easy to use. I recommend it to most of the people who ask me about brokerages, and a lot of people ask me.

Good luck if you have decided to start trading. It’s a nasty little market out there now.

By: Zachary Spencer

Zachary Spencer — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 03:09:36 +0000

I have been using eTrade since Feb 2007, and I am more than happy with their system.

I don’t do enough trades to get the Power eTrade Pro, but the regular system works well for charting for me.

The system works great, I love their product.