A great idea going to waste…read more
I have been a client of Charles Schwab for over 50 years. In that time, I've been elevated to at least the first of their "Preferred Customer" tiers. So, I trade, pretty much every day.
But there is one incredibly annoying aspect of Schwab that very well may push me to transfer my account.
At the bottom of each account, there is a line item titled, "Cash & Cash Investments." This line is meaningless and could be easily replaced by two lines: "Year-to-Date Profits" and "Cash Immediately Available to Invest."
I have, for more than a year, almost on a monthly basis, complained, because the confusion generated by "Cash & Cash Investments," leads me to believe I can buy stocks WITHOUT INCURRING MARGIN EXPENSE.
Oh, I HAVE the money - in my interest bearing Schwab Money Market Account, but I need 24 hours to liquidate that into "Cash Immediately Available to Invest." And if I forget to do this, every day Schwab charges me an annoying interest fee.
So much for client dissatisfaction. What about Schwab IGNORRING
a profitable promotional tool. If, for instance, I see a stock I want to buy in a hurry, and I go to my account and see I have $46,000 cash immediately ready to invest, then I'd be much more likely to invest, than worry about a margin call and waiting until I can debug the meaningless line that has a totally erroneous and/or irrelevant amounts.
And yet, for months, I have not been able to get anyone at Schwab to do something. Their "Priority Level" phone agents continually take notes on my complaint (they can actually read them back to me), but they cannot (or will not) give me an email or name of a person who can evaluate this suggestion. It's a dead-end.
It's like you go to your banker and tell him he's got a bucket of cash behind his desk, and he's too lazy to go look for it. It's like McDonalds has a new product, that's cheaper and more profitable than a Big Mac, and they just don't bother to offer it.
It's pure, arrogant, ignorant stupidity from a company I've trusted for 50 years, and maybe it's time to find another vendor! Hey, Fisher, hey Vanguard, hey Fidelity! I'm out here. Win me over. Maybe, I'm ready to walk. How about you?