Comments on: Zecco Charged Me $4.50 Commission and Sent Me a Margin Call

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 07:41:46 +0000

The wording stinks, and CSRs can be inconsistent. But there was a lot (!) of discussion when this change happened as I use Zecco too, and I’m pretty sure I have it right. Let me highlight different parts of your quote:

“For instance, your Start of Day account value reaches $2,500 on October 15th, you receive 10 free trades for the rest of October, and you’ll receive 10 free trades per month *thereafter* as long as you maintain a minimum balance of $2,500″

The first part talks about the rest of October (i.e. the current month). The second part talks about the months after (i.e. all future months).

By: Sun

Sun — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:51:19 +0000

Jonathan: Thanks for the clarification. However, when I read “For instance, your Start of Day account value reaches $2,500 on October 15th, you receive 10 free trades for the rest of October, and you’ll receive 10 free trades per month thereafter as long as you maintain a minimum balance of $2,500.” it doesn’t look like to me that I can get free trades for the rest of the month by only reaching the minimum just once, unless I misunderstood what “maintain a minimum balance of $2,500″ means. If that’s indeed the case, I suppose they could make it much clearer with a much simpler example, like the one you used. Besides, when I asked the CSR on the phone did confirm my theory of how it works. Of course, this isn’t the first time the people I talked to didn’t know exactly what’s going on. It happened everywhere. At different time you talk to different person, you get different stories.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 06:08:14 +0000

“I can trade for free but in other days, I cannot, totally depending on the market value of my stocks on the day before I make the trade.”

To clarify, you just have to reach the $2,500 level *once* anytime during the month, and you get the 10 free trades for the rest of the month no matter how low you drop. It then resets on 1st of the next month. This is just how they avoid losing $$ on people with $100 accounts.

I agree, it is stupid that they didn’t just reject your order. Too me, I always just shrug and remember why it’s our “play” account, right? I wouldn’t keep $100,000 there.

Seems like everything worked out though? You went negative $1, and now you move in $1 and all is ok?

By: Sun

Sun — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 04:25:44 +0000

aa: As I said, it’s my own fault that I overlooked what exactly $2,500 minimum means. I don’t mind paying the commission since the rule is there for a long time and I simply ignored it. I am just not very happy with how the situation is handled. I think it’s a little bit too aggressive over six cents. But that’s Zecco, who even took back a few cents of trial deposits.

BTW, do you really think they care about my complain? This isn’t the first time I complained about their problem and I can tell you that most of my complains have fallen on deaf ears.

By: aa

aa — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 04:13:24 +0000

Many people but you can complain about this. You’re a money blogger. Plus, I’m seeing your big Zecco ad banner saying “$0 stock trades 10/month with $2,500 min. $4.50 thereafter” on the right as I’m writing this comment.