Bank of Americar- brokerage

[clavocat]

anyone use Bank of America to trade? they give u 30 trades a month if u have 25k in there plus level 2 quotes, real time and all that other good stuff...margin, im thinkin bout getting out of scottrade and moving into there, but just curious if anyone has heard anything or used it and how it is. thanks, Chris

[stck8ter]

Originally Posted by clavocat

anyone use Bank of America to trade? they give u 30 trades a month if u have 25k in there plus level 2 quotes, real time and all that other good stuff...margin, im thinkin bout getting out of scottrade and moving into there, but just curious if anyone has heard anything or used it and how it is. thanks, Chris

yeah i'm in the same boat as you, trading with scottrade, but if i moved my funds over, i can also qualify for the free trades as well, and free is better than $14 round trip anytime. unless there software/trading platform sucks.....

so basically a bump to see if anyone has tried BoA's platform.

[TonyM]

Just a heads up and keep in mind that ymmv: I have multiple accounts with them and the service is terrible, due to the many "miscommunications" with them I won't even give them a shot at my trading business unless it earns a reputation as being troublefree at some point in the future. It's a shame, because it would make things easier for me, but I just don't trust them enough.

[bahroor]

Originally Posted by TonyM

Just a heads up and keep in mind that ymmv: I have multiple accounts with them and the service is terrible, due to the many "miscommunications" with them

Thats not the first time Ive heard that about BOA services. My aunt and some of her friends say the same thing.
I only have a car loan with them.

[clavocat]

ok so whats the big deal if they suck? you just switch to IB or back to scottrade, scottrade has been mediocre for me and nothing more, 7 bux for a trade is good but not great, they're platform is also mediocre. sooo...try it out and switch right? or was it like they scammed u out of money or something or many fees? explain what their faults were? thanks

[maddea20]

I have had my investment account with Bank of America for a little over 2 weeks now and so far they're great to me. All the information I need is right there. And since I have a few accounts with them, it makes everything more convenient when it comes to looking at all my accounts at once. I haven't experienced any problems what so ever. I don't like that it takes 3 days for monies to transfer back and forth after a trade, but then again I don't know how long it takes on other brokerage sites. There is no maintenance fees if you have other accts with BOA but if your trying to open an acct independently then you will have to pay maintenance fees of I believe $50 twice per year. Bottomline the whole site is just user-friendly and I like the whole set-up as compared to say Ameritrade.

[clavocat]

Originally Posted by maddea20

I have had my investment account with Bank of America for a little over 2 weeks now and so far they're great to me. All the information I need is right there. And since I have a few accounts with them, it makes everything more convenient when it comes to looking at all my accounts at once. I haven't experienced any problems what so ever. I don't like that it takes 3 days for monies to transfer back and forth after a trade, but then again I don't know how long it takes on other brokerage sites. There is no maintenance fees if you have other accts with BOA but if your trying to open an acct independently then you will have to pay maintenance fees of I believe $50 twice per year. Bottomline the whole site is just user-friendly and I like the whole set-up as compared to say Ameritrade.

thanks...i think thats how all brokerages are...i think i might go check out their platform and maybe transfer there. thanks again. any more insight would be good too!

[metalheadrr3]

Depends on what levels of services they offer. I would imagine switching from Scottrade to BoA might not be much different (although I would say BoA might be a bit lower if you are a serious trader and are involved with OTCBB / Pink Sheet stocks).

I know Scottrade has problems with some of these stocks and the 3 day cash settlement is a bitch. Don't know how BoA handles these kinds of stocks. I would imagine though that BoA is trying to gain the support of the upper tier long term investor. Somone who is mainly in large-caps / indexes who doesn't buy/sell frequently and will maintain a high balance; and ultimately move all of their assets over to BoA.

I don't see them as the kind of people trying to attract day traders; expecially not when they aren't charging commissions. But I haven't fully investigated the matter so I will not say anything is for certain. I do know there is another thread about this buried somewhere on here. I will check out their site and look into it in the near future.

As for the other branches of BoA, I've only dealt with checking and credit services. And as of late both balances have been 0 so I can't say much about them.

[clavocat]

do they have nice level 2? and like candle sticks and all the other indicators on intraday charts?

[TonyM]

The service problems I have encountered; very long hold times, navigating a very long phone menu, unknowledgeable representatitives, being transferred to another department and either getting disconnected or transferred yet again to a myriad of unknowledgeable people.

A couple of examples:

I needed to cancel an automatic bill payment that was already in progress, the website said to call the 800 # to halt the payment, when I got through to the rep she said no it couldn't be stopped, then she said to wait while she checked one thing, about 5 minutes later she got back on and said that the check had not been printed yet and that it would be stopped. I specifically asked if it would be a stop payment and still physically mailed out, she said no. The following week I get an e-mail from them on the day the payment is normally received; they advised me that a stop payment had been put on the check as I requested, so I had to call the payee and advise them not to deposit the check, while they were in fact in the process of doing so.

When I applied for a heloc it took them 4 months (took 2 weeks with Wachovia) and to add insult to injury they ran a second credit check a couple of days before I signed the documents, which dropped my fico score by 10 points. I spent a lot of time on the phone trying to get through to someone at BoA to have them retract this unauthorized credit check, I was bounced from one person to another and in the end finally told that they could do nothing and that I would have to dispute it through the reporting agencies.

This has turned out to be the standard m.o for this companies' customer service. I do like their online setup as I can view all of my accounts and transfer funds back and forth if I need to, but if I had a brokerage question I seriously doubt the customer service would be any different.

If home values had not dropped I would likely take my business elsewhere, doing so now would result in a drop in available credit via the heloc, plus another credit inquiry. I do not see my relationship with BoA as being long-term though.

On the point of the 3 day settlement; if you do not have a margin account it is the same no matter who the broker is.