Charles Schwab - Service

We have several CS accounts-brokerage, IRAs and Roth IRAs. It is just a brokerage account but I think it is a CS One account. They download into Q using either direct connect or express web connect. I don't really know the difference. It is setup in the One-step setup and I don't need to do anything special to get the downloads.

For the most part things have worked seamlessly. I do experience problems when stocks split as Q does not seem to process the transactions properly. This has left me with several transactions with missing information. I have never bothered to figure out how to fix them. The total brokerage value is correct so that's all I care about.

As for fees, all we pay are the basic $9.95 brokerage fees. I don't know if they have fees associated with their checking or savings accounts but their website should be able to give that information.

The statements can either be mailed to you or when you turn on paperless statements are then available as pdf files. We still get the paper statements.

statements.

You can only download CC transactions (VISA) when the month is over. Not day by day.

Schwab offers Direct-Connect to Quicken. Statements are in PDF. Schwab One account statement usually available

I was a customer of Schwab from the mid-1980's to the mid-2000's. I left over the proposed fees that they were going to charge customers in the mid-2000's. I research and went to BrownCo - and was very happy. BrowoCo ended up being merged into E-Trade. While I was more or less happy with E-Trade, I did not like that banking was not direct connect (with no options for it). I also had problems with Customer Service over the 3 years I was with them, the fact that I really wanted something more local to make an occasional deposit. I could make a deposit with my local Credit Union and have it transferred to E-Trade, but it took time.

Last year I consolidated all of my Bank and Investing with the Bank of America family. Overall I have been okay with BofA, the fees (due to a substantial decline of my brokerage accounts since last August) really upset me (I have a Master Relationship Account). They have been jerking around with my Credit Card limits and I am ready to close them. Of course it not like they make nothing from me - they carry my mortgage (via Countrywide) which played into my decision on building a relationship with them.

I think I would like to return to Schwab. I have heard comments of the last few years about problems with them. I have some questions..

2) What are the options of Quicken downloads? Prefer Direct Connect. Express Web Connect is okay if it is reliable.

4) Related to 2 - how reliable is Quicken downloads?

I already have a relationship with Schwab through my HELOC. I haven't had any issues with them on that.

Thanks for any input. I would love to trial drive Schwab's web (which was fine from what I remember), but things have changed. I really do not want to go through this effort, but I am looking for what I perceive less hassle.

Oilcan

One other thing to consider is the interet/dividends that Schwab pays on its sweeps accounts. I am currently earning .3% in my Schwab sweeps acoount. On my non-Schwab bank accounts, I earn 2+% and it's FDIC insured. CD rates at Schwab also tend to be low. This is a issue for IRA accounts where it is not easy to move money to other accounts and if you have a large cash position.