ETrade Account about to close what should I do?

MoneyMad

Hi,
I am in a bit of a quandary with my e*trade account, I received a letter from etrade informing me that my account will be closed if i do not move it do another trading company or use TD Waterhouse. I am not a Big trader, i have a few shares (which have lost about 80% of their initial value) and a little cash in the account. I have not bothered to trade the shares as i stand to lose more than i have to gain! so i was hoping over time it would recover (fat chance) so now that eTrade are pulling out of the UK trading market, what is the best thing to do? move to TD Waterhouse, find another cheaper or cash it all in (i guess there will be some huge charges with this).
Can anyone provide some help?
R.

tradetime

I received a letter from etrade informing me that my account will be closed if i do not move it do another trading company or use TD Waterhouse

Are they offering to transfer your account to TD Waterhouse for free.
You may want to check if TD have any charges such as account management or inactivity that may apply to your particular situation.
Failing TD, you will likely find that there is a charge per stock transferred out, although under the circumstances you could try to negotiate to have it waived for another broker such as iii.

I am inclined to think that with the market up some 60% since March, if your stocks are still down 80% it does not bode well for them

jabba44

Hi,
I also have an account with etrade that I use rarely. Does anyone know of any online nominee accounts that do not charge a quarterly inactivity fee as I'd like to transfer to them.
Thanks

tradetime

jabba44 wrote: »

Hi,
I also have an account with etrade that I use rarely. Does anyone know of any online nominee accounts that do not charge a quarterly inactivity fee as I'd like to transfer to them.
Thanks

You could try Interactive Investor no annual fees or inactivity fees, £10 per trade on UK stocks and £15 on US

jabba44

thanks for help

londoner2009

MoneyMad wrote: »

Hi,
I am in a bit of a quandary with my e*trade account, I received a letter from etrade informing me that my account will be closed if i do not move it do another trading company or use TD Waterhouse. I am not a Big trader, i have a few shares (which have lost about 80% of their initial value) and a little cash in the account. I have not bothered to trade the shares as i stand to lose more than i have to gain! so i was hoping over time it would recover (fat chance) so now that eTrade are pulling out of the UK trading market, what is the best thing to do? move to TD Waterhouse, find another cheaper or cash it all in (i guess there will be some huge charges with this).
Can anyone provide some help?
R.

What did you do in the end?

I am in almost exactly the same position

I have mainly BT and Vodafone Shares

I was wondering also if there is a way to find out when BT and Vodafone will next pay a dividend?

I want to sell my shares and either take whatever money I get or invest it in something else

I'm really surprised there hasn't been a lot more discussion on this topic and almost nothing comes up on Google News when I try to search about Etrade moving out of the UK.

chookie1

londoner2009 wrote: »

What did you do in the end?

I am in almost exactly the same position

I have mainly BT and Vodafone Shares

I was wondering also if there is a way to find out when BT and Vodafone will next pay a dividend?

I want to sell my shares and either take whatever money I get or invest it in something else

I'm really surprised there hasn't been a lot more discussion on this topic and almost nothing comes up on Google News when I try to search about Etrade moving out of the UK.

Both of your shares have just paid dividends....
Next VOD dividend is paid on 6th August. Goes ex-div (ie you have entitlement to the dividend even if you sell the shares afterwards) on the 2nd June. dividend calendar here
Next BT dividend date not yet announced but on previous dates, likely to go ex-div in mid-August and be paid at the beginning of September. dividend calendar here

ManxRed

On a related note, I set up an account with an alternative online trader and requested E*TRADE to transfer my portfolio. They did this during February.

They have now charged me an inactivity fee for March and claim it is because I am no longer making any trades. Madness.

Anyone else encountered this? Any advice on what to do? I am considering small claims or FSA. Any other opinions appreciated.

JamesU

MoneyMad wrote: »

Hi,
I am in a bit of a quandary with my e*trade account, I received a letter from etrade informing me that my account will be closed if i do not move it do another trading company or use TD Waterhouse. I am not a Big trader, i have a few shares (which have lost about 80% of their initial value) and a little cash in the account. I have not bothered to trade the shares as i stand to lose more than i have to gain! so i was hoping over time it would recover (fat chance) so now that eTrade are pulling out of the UK trading market, what is the best thing to do? move to TD Waterhouse, find another cheaper or cash it all in (i guess there will be some huge charges with this).
Can anyone provide some help?
R.

You could have a look at i-dealing. They are canvasssing for e-trade customers ahead of 19th March right now on their website and also offering free commision credits if you transfer. Also check out one of my previous comments on a thread where I gave a brief overview on what I think of them, and the reply from another contributor who preferred them over Selftrade. One possibility. Good luck.

JamesU

JamesU

jabba44 wrote: »

Hi,
I also have an account with etrade that I use rarely. Does anyone know of any online nominee accounts that do not charge a quarterly inactivity fee as I'd like to transfer to them.
Thanks

i-Dealing does not have an "inactivity" fee, something I am not familiar with and find pretty ridiculous and counter-intuitive regarding investing. £20 annual charge, £5/quarter for ISA or standard account. As in previous sent, have a read of a previous comment I made on them in another thread. A possibility.

JamesU

JamesU

ManxRed wrote: »

On a related note, I set up an account with an alternative online trader and requested E*TRADE to transfer my portfolio. They did this during February.

They have now charged me an inactivity fee for March and claim it is because I am no longer making any trades. Madness.

Anyone else encountered this? Any advice on what to do? I am considering small claims or FSA. Any other opinions appreciated.

Not inactivity fees again! Have a quick read through "Alternative to selftrade" regarding inactivity fees, i-dealing as a possibility with a little background on them from me, and other possibilities from other contributors also in that thread. Regards,

JamesU