Huge Bonus Offers From Brokers: Fidelity, Schwab, TD Ameritrade, ETrade, Merrill Edge

By Harry Sit

The stock market recovered. People warm up to looking at their brokerage accounts again.

I don’t know who started the “stealing customers” campaign. Right now the major discount brokers are all running promotions to lure customers from their competitors.

Fidelity, Schwab, TD Ameritrade, E*Trade, and Merrill Edge are offering big bonuses — as high as $2,500! — for moving money to them.

Here’s a summary of the bonus offers from Fidelity, Schwab, TD Ameritrade, E*Trade, and Merrill Edge.

Fidelity Schwab TD Ameritrade E*Trade Merrill Edge
Bonus (account size) $2,500 ($1 mil.+)
$1,200 ($500k+)
$600 ($250k+)
$300 ($100k+)
$200 ($50k+)		 $600 ($250k+)
$300 ($100k+)
$200 ($50k+)		 $600 ($250k+)
$300 ($100k+)
$100 ($25k+)		 $600/500 ($250k+)
$300/250 ($100k+)
$100/50 ($25k+)		 $500 ($200k+)
$250 ($100k+)
$100 ($25k+)
$50 ($10k+)
Current customer eligible? Yes Yes Yes, but must open new account Yes ?
IRA eligible? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Non-IRA eligible? Yes ? Yes Yes Yes
Must open acct by* ? 12/31/2013 9/30/2013 12/31/2013 ?
$$ must arrive w/in 60 days 45 days 60 days 45 days 30 days
Must stay for 9 months 1 year 9 months 6 months 90 days
Fine Print link link link IRA
regular		 IRA
regular

Note: These offers keep getting extended. If the table above shows the offer expired, click on the link anyway. Chances are the offer is still active.

As with any other offers of this size, you have to read the fine print and/or call customer service to confirm eligibility. Some are only for IRAs. Some brokers offer the bonus only to new customers. Some offer it to both new customers and current customers who bring more assets from another broker. If you are moving money to an existing account, you may have to register your account with the promotion first.

Fidelity also has other bonus offers giving frequent flyer miles to new customers only — United, Delta, American — 50,000 miles for an account with $100k or more.

Note Vanguard and WellsTrade are not in this sign-up bonus war.

If the bonus is paid into a taxable account, it will be taxable. If it’s paid into an IRA, it counts as interest earned in the account; it doesn’t count toward your annual contribution limit.

You don’t have to close your current account or liquidate anything. Just do a partial, in-kind transfer, and leave some positions behind to keep the account open. That way there won’t be an account closing fee. An in-kind transfer means your shares stay in the market at all times; you won’t trigger any capital gains tax either. Keeping the account open also makes it easier for your current broker to welcome you back with another bonus next year.

You can keep using your current account for new purchases if you’d like. Therefore you don’t have to worry about the availability or commission at the new broker. Hmm, earn a few hundred dollars for letting a different broker hold some ETFs for a year, especially at a place where I already have an account? That’s really enticing.

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Posted on February 22, 2012 under Investing. Keywords: , .

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Comments

19 Comments on Huge Bonus Offers From Brokers: Fidelity, Schwab, TD Ameritrade, ETrade, Merrill Edge

  1. indexfundfan on February 22, 2012
     

    I love these bonuses. I’m now waiting for my holdings to “age out” at TD Ameritrade. After that, it looks like they will be transferred to Fidelity.

  2. bruce on February 28, 2012
     

    Spoke to a Schwab representative on 2/27/2012 3:15PM EST 800-750-9073, requires a holding period of twelve (12) months. If you transfer your money to another broker before 12 months, you will not qualify.

  3. TFB on February 28, 2012
     

    Thank you Bruce. I updated the post with that information.

  4. Mel Langer on March 23, 2012
     

    One important correction to the article. Partial transfers with almost all brokers listed, will incur a fee. The fee is not as large as it would be for closing the entire a/c…but a fee nevertheless. Be aware of this.

  5. Alex on April 11, 2012
     

    @TFB: where do you see that existing TDA customers are eligible if opening a new account? I have a dormant near-zero-balance account at TDA, and want to make sure I’m eligible before I start the process (and incur a fee at WF). Can one have two regular brokerage accounts at the same firm? Thanks!

  6. TFB on April 11, 2012
     

    Alex – You should send a message to customer service to confirm (refer to offer code 207). That way you have it in writing. The fine print didn’t say anything about existing customers not being eligible. It only said you must open a new account, not fund an existing account. Yes you can have two regular brokerage accounts at the same firm. On a similar offer in 2011, TD Ameritrade allowed the bonus to an existing customer opening a new account. See

    http://www.indextown.com/archives/2011/06/04/td-ameritrade-new-account-bonus/

  7. Pat on May 8, 2012
     

    Fidelity customer service is great….if you’re transferring in a large amount, ask if they’ll reimburse the transfer fee from the other brokerage (i.e. Schwab charges $50 for a partial transfer or $75 for a full transfer…..Fidelity has reimbursed those fees for me)

  8. ec on on October 9, 2012
     

    Fidelity promised me an offer in writing last year, verified a 2d time; I deposited as per offer; Fidelity refused the bonus although met all terms!

  9. Ron on October 15, 2012
     

    TD Ameritrade now allows you to get two bonuses for two account transfers. I moved $250K x 2 to get $1000 x 2 bonuses. Not yet advertised. No more than two bonuses allowed.

  10. cdog on October 18, 2012
     

    Ron, did you have to create seperate login ids for each account? Or can you view both accounts under your dashboard?

  11. hdf on October 21, 2012
     

    Etrade has contradictory information.

    [1] says it’s $500 for $250K deposit

    [2] says it’s $1000 for $250K deposit

    [1] https://us.etrade.com/e/t/home/openanaccount
    [2] https://us.etrade.com/e/t/jumppage/viewjumppage?PageName=cashconsol_brk_1000_inst_SD

  12. Harry on October 21, 2012
     

    hdf – They are two different offers. Open your account from the link that gives you more.

  13. indexfundfan on December 29, 2012
     

    Schwab is now running some promotions for taxable accounts

    http://content.schwab.com/web/retail/public/apple/apple_retail/index.html
    http://content.schwab.com/web/retail/public/m/kindle/index.html

  14. TJ on January 6, 2013
     

    Sharebuilder is currently giving away $200 for $10k. Much better deal.

  15. WB on January 28, 2013
     

    You may want to update the chart with any applicable transfer fees (partial and complete)

  16. ARD on March 2, 2013
     

    Major houses will match or go beyond for HNW (250K) accounts. Talk to the supervisor in CS or your local branch manager can do the same.

    You can ask for limits that are not published to the public.

  17. wdjax0n on March 17, 2013
     

    TD refuses to allow me any promotion, as did one 10 years ago with Waterhouse Securities predecessor and one 6 years ago with Ameritrade.

  18. Marci on May 14, 2013
     

    How does this get past the Finra $100.00 gift rule?

  19. Harry on May 14, 2013
     

    Never heard of it. I had to look it up. If you are referring to FINRA Rule 3060, it covers gifts to a customer’s employee, not the customer themselves.

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