I called Charles Schwab & Co Inc to open a brokerage account after watching their TV ad. My was call directed to a new accounts person who proceeded to ask the questions necessary to open a brokerage account. I asked this person exactly what the commission was to make a stock trade. The reply was" $9.95 per trade, regardless of the number of shares or trades". I asked this question again to be certain of the answer, and the reply was the same. I then asked if the size of the account mattered, and the answer was "no the account size does not matter". After I opened the brokerage account and placed an order to make a trade, I discovered, to my surprise the commission chaged was $12.95 NOT $9.95 as they had led me to understand. This is a cheap trick to get an individual to open a account with CHARLES SCHWAB & CO, INC. They probably think that once you open an account that it will be too much trouble to close it and get your money back. Well, that is exactly waht it is. They claim that they have to hold my funds for an additonal5 BUSINESS days, then it will take another 5 BUSINESS days to send me my funds. So they hold my funds for over 3 weeks before returning to me. I thus loose interest on my funds and they earn interest on my funds. This has probably happened many times and could be an explanation as to why their business has fallen off.
Bill
los angeles, California
U.S.A.
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