Schwab Removes U.S. Stock, ETF and Options Commissions

Re:Schwab Removes U.S. Stock, ETF and Options Commissions by loeg on Wednesday October 02, 2019 @09:55PM (#21142826)

You've described any bank worth being a customer of. Monthly fees are a huge red flag (even if you can avoid them with hoop-jumping). USAA (just for ex.) also reimburses ATM fees. I'm not a fan of "overdraft protection" in general, but maybe Schwab provides a relatively non-predatory version of it.

Citi's nickname is "shitty." I forget what put me off about Simple but in general debit cards don't enjoy the strong consumer protections that credit cards do in the US.

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Re:Schwab Removes U.S. Stock, ETF and Options Commissions by ac29 on Wednesday October 02, 2019 @10:32PM (#21143011)

Agreed, my credit union does all those things and pays 10x more interest than Schwab (2% vs 0.20%). That being said, its easy enough to get ~2% in a money market as well, so there's no compelling reason to keep more than a few months expenses in a checking account.

If you're with one of America's 4 largest banks (Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo), expect a bad time.

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Re:Schwab Removes U.S. Stock, ETF and Options Commissions by aditya on Wednesday October 02, 2019 @10:34PM (#21143023)

What credit union is this? Didn’t realize there were any that reimburse worldwide ATM fees...

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Re:Schwab Removes U.S. Stock, ETF and Options Commissions by StudentStuff on Thursday October 03, 2019 @02:07AM (#21144185)

First Tech and BECU both do this, pretty sure the smaller credit unions like Verity and People's CU also reimburse ATM fees and offer high yield checking & savings accounts.

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Re:Schwab Removes U.S. Stock, ETF and Options Commissions by hawaiianbrah on Thursday October 03, 2019 @07:46AM (#21145876)

I don’t think First Tech refunds ATM fees worldwide. Only at CO-OP Network ATMs which are in the US.

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Re:Schwab Removes U.S. Stock, ETF and Options Commissions by brewdad on Thursday October 03, 2019 @10:51AM (#21147652)

First Tech does not reimburse ATM fees worldwide. Unless things have changed in the last year, they do add a 1% transaction fee for using a foreign ATM. For this reason, I now use a Schwab checking account for international travel.

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Re:Schwab Removes U.S. Stock, ETF and Options Commissions by eatbitseveryday on Thursday October 03, 2019 @08:56AM (#21146417)

Vermont federal credit union has 2%+ interest and ATM fee reimbursement with their “rewards” checking account.

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Re:Schwab Removes U.S. Stock, ETF and Options Commissions by cortesoft on Wednesday October 02, 2019 @10:22PM (#21142967)

While you are technically correct, I don't think you should be so dismissive... a majority of Americans are using banks that DONT offer those things, so pointing them out is a good thing for people to hear, and to demand of the bank they use.

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Re:Schwab Removes U.S. Stock, ETF and Options Commissions by loeg on Thursday October 03, 2019 @02:07PM (#21149980)

I didn't intend to come across as dismissive; apologies. I understand how it reads that way.

I intended to make a more general statement about relatively good banking products, while GP's note only talks about Schwab in particular. I.e., yes, Schwab is a good option, and there are lots of other good options. (Lots of bad ones too.)

I totally agree that a lot of people don't know these things or have good personal finance knowledge in general, and agree that raising awareness of what constitutes a reasonable banking product is a good thing.

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Re:Schwab Removes U.S. Stock, ETF and Options Commissions by inferiorhuman on Wednesday October 02, 2019 @10:36PM (#21143031)

but maybe Schwab provides a relatively non-predatory version of it

They will pull from your brokerage account, if you have insufficient funds they'll take out a margin loan and I think the only fees there are interest.

ING did something similar where they'd only charge you interest for overdraft stuff.

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Re:Schwab Removes U.S. Stock, ETF and Options Commissions by rellimevad on Wednesday October 02, 2019 @11:34PM (#21143353)

>if you have insufficient funds they'll take out a margin loan

That's not my experience with them. I've had them as a checking/brokerage account for 10+ years. I tend not to keep much money in checking so I run into timing issues once a year or so - where a check I wrote will present before the funds to cover it arrive in my account. I've definitely had them pull from the brokerage cash, but not from savings. They have never opened a margin loan to cover it.

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Re:Schwab Removes U.S. Stock, ETF and Options Commissions by terinjokes on Thursday October 03, 2019 @02:06AM (#21144179)

Also not my experience. Accidentally had a timing issue once, and was overdrawn for a week before an ACH more than covered the difference.

On day four they called me to make sure I was aware. I explained that I had already started a transfer several days earlier, and they said "no problem" and thanked me for being a customer.

No overdraft fees, no pulling from my brokerage account, no margin loan. Never heard anything about it ever again.

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Re:Schwab Removes U.S. Stock, ETF and Options Commissions by inferiorhuman on Thursday October 03, 2019 @04:13AM (#21144767)

It's happened to me a couple times as I don't keep cash in my brokerage account. To cover the checking account, they'll pull from the brokerage account, and if there's insufficient cash in the brokerage account, they take a margin loan. vOv

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