emgqrrpg

With the fee and reimbursement going up to $695, have you heard anything regarding how and if the 1099-MISC will be sent?

fatlard

I had it for about 1-2 days before applying for the Amex. I did confirm with Amex status.... the only thing they were waiting on was to do a back check to see that I had Morgan Stanley Access and Cashplus

kr0n0s

for the cashplus account, how do you set up direct deposit? Trying to find the account number and it said
where are the agreement to sign? do they send you a link to the files? are they slow mailing them?
The direct deposit form seem like a generic form that you give your employer ... are you supposed to send it to them instead?

fatlard

They were sent using docusign. I was able to submit online.

kr0n0s

thanks ... I didn't see anything from docusign yet, I guess I'll have to wait a bit.

Dr Jabadski

Trying to learn about this card. Notwithstanding 6 different AmEx Plat flavors over the past 6 years and many brokerage transfers of 20 year old stock or mutual fund positions (thus no opportunity cost or tax implications) for bonus purposes, I have no experience with Morgan Stanley and the MS AmEx Plat card.

Seems that a MS AmEx Plat card will have significant costs regardless of efforts to minimize those costs. It also seems that receiving the various rebates and credits and engagement bonuses for this card is a cumbersome and time consuming process. Not questioning the value of that time and those costs, just want to learn how low the costs can be.

The website states: Does MS allow or encourage self-directed accounts? Can one simply “park and hold” an investment position?

Do all “eligible Morgan Stanley investment account” have (significant monthly) and/or annual fees/commissions?

Will MS allow depositing $5,000 each month and withdrawing the same amount each month (while maintaining the $25,000 minimum)?

Presuming best practices (for our purposes of FF points/miles/perks) what are the absolute minimum fees/commissions that one can pay in order to have the MS AmEx Plat card?

Presuming an “eligible Morgan Stanley investment account” in good standing, is the likelihood of receiving an AmEx pop-up (no bonus) different for the MS AmEx Plat card compared to any other AmEx card? If “further review” or declined for the card, will a MS rep do recon efforts with AmEx?

Thank you.

(FWIW, a year ago (4 months into COVID) I did contact MS. Ended up exchanging a few emails, sending a listing of my current investments, and have a conference call with 3 Wealth Advisors/Portfolio Management Directors of a Morgan Stanley Wealth Management team near my home. Bottom line, mainly due to my desire for self-direction and that my portfolio is 80% unrealized gains which I’m very hesitant to sell due to tax implications, was that they did not think MS had anything more beneficial.)

mia

Set aside what you know about Morgan Stanley or conventional brokerage accounts. No asset transfer required to do this.

Read this post to understand the steps: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/33330061-post463.html

If still interested, read this page to understand what an Access Investing account is: https://www.morganstanley.com/what-w...ting/my-goals?

Dr Jabadski

(Sorry for the verbosity, but we ARE discussing a 100,000 point current bonus that seems TGTBT. )

Thank you mia, very helpful and enlightening, always informative to read your replies. (I sometimes think of myself as having an Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree, working on my Master’s, in all this FF/CC stuff. You clearly have a PhD, a regular Jedi master. )

I looked at the links. I called MS. I read this entire thread starting from Aug 23, 2018 post #147 (mia “Blog articles from April 2018 explain how to become a Morgan Stanley client with as little as $5,000 in an investment account: …”). Other than the rigamarole of calling MS (as reported here and by several blogs) it all seems TGTBT (and if it seems TGTBT …).

Apparently MS does not have a phone line for information and/or new accounts. First robo-question was my SSN (when I don’t have an account, gimme a break). First rep said he couldn’t help with new account questions, transferred me to someone who was able to answer Cash Plus and MS AmEx Plat questions, transferred to another who answered Access Investing questions. Fortunately the last rep was actually insightful and helpful. Last question to him was “it all seems TGTBT, is it?” He gave me the (should have expected) “incentivize” reply. (No, it’s not gonna go away because I called and told one of their (mostly clueless) reps it was TGTBT. )

He also said without hesitation said MS had no problem with depositing $5,000 each month and withdrawing the same amount each month. He said other than the 0.03% annual fee (debited monthly) there were no other fees. Based on my call to MS and based on just reading a couple of blog reviews of these accounts, it seems unimaginable that MS would do the recon efforts for a failed or pending CC application.

These accounts are relatively new (1-2 years), perhaps why the MS folks I spoke with a year ago didn’t mention it. (Or maybe they just didn’t care to recommend something other than something generating earnings for them. )

Bottom line seems to be an ongoing (not just first year) low-hanging-fruit way to have a profitable AmEx Plat card for a minimum $30,000 balance ($5,000 minimum Access account and $25,000 minimum CashPlus account) with potential for capital gains (or losses). With little effort, MS will return the $695 AF and give a $200 Airline Fee credit and all the other perks of an AmEx Plat card, year after year, saving the hassle of churning the various varieties in order to have a Plat card.

Remaining questions: For a non-IRA account does this type of account result in many transactions for Form 8949 (Sales and Other Dispositions of Capital Assets) or does MS consolidate things to a small number of transactions? Are these accounts too new for many data-points? (FWIW, the MS rep said that MS consolidates everything.)

Important questions for us miles and points enthusiasts: Regarding cycling the $5,000 minimum in and out each month, general agreement to do different dates and multiple smaller amount transfers out or no problem with exactly $5,000 in one day each month and exactly $5,000 out another day of the month?

There are posts above about this AmEx card having different approval criteria than other AmEx cards and there are few reports of declines. Is CC approval basically automatic with these (properly set up) accounts?

1 or 2 posts above mention charging $1,000 quickly in order to avoid a 1099 for the $695 engagement bonus, is that generally agreed upon? Too new to know?

And just to be completely compulsive (no snark please ), is the MS AmEx Pat card indeed a separate and different product than ALL other AmEx Plat cards? (Disagreement with AmEx a couple of years ago if “Enhanced Business Platinum Card” and “Business Platinum Card” are the same product.)

Other than the hassles of several required applications and (personally) putting me at 5/24 for at least the next year it all seems to be a no brainer. What am I missing? Is it TGTBT? Thank you.

Stockjock

Ignore.

TTT103

I can't speak to the Access Investing account, but my traditional account with MS carries hundreds of transactions a year. The first year with them I nearly panicked, but all of the transactions can easily be downloaded to my tax software from MS. I would imagine that there is some buying and selling of funds through Access, but don't know what that looks like.

SpaethCo

This is almost certainly changing. I’m just some guy on the Internet (so do your own due diligence if this is really important to you), but I did exactly what the CashPlus disclosure said:

Based on my conversation with a couple tax attorneys, here are the relevant facts:

The bonus is paid as a cash deposit into your CashPlus account.

Requirements to get the bonus:
1) Be a Morgan Stanley client
2) Have a CashPlus Platinum account
3) Sign up for the American Express Platinum card in conjunction with the CashPlus account

There is no spend requirement to get the bonus; you still get the $695 if you get the Amex card and don’t charge a dime to it. The previous language mentioned a $1000 spend threshold to determine if MS would report the income on a 1099-MISC.

The IRS requires all awards/bonuses over $600 be reported on 1099-MISC box 3.

esquiar

Many things at MS seem to run on a 24-hour cycle. If you don't see a Docusign email by mid-morning of two days after you setup the account on the phone, then there's probably an issue. Even once you complete the Docusign, it can still take ~48 hours for the status to update. You'll know your CashPlus is fully setup once you get emails that debit card and check are in the mail. Independently, you should make sure that the "Account Fee Status" summary indicates that MS Investment Relationship is met. If that indicates "No", then they didn't link them properly and you'll need to call (see datapoints up thread)

esquiar

It's 0.3% AUM plus ETF or mutual fund fees. Your cost may be higher if Access Investing chooses higher-cost funds than you would otherwise. "Your annual asset-based advisory fee is based on your account balance and will be charged monthly. The advisory fee does not include, and is in addition to, the fees related to owning shares of exchange-traded funds and mutual funds." https://www.morganstanley.com/what-w...sting/my-goals

CashPlus is not necessary if all you want to do is hold MS Plat. Personally, I think CashPlus is worth it if you're going to be using it as a primary checking account, but otherwise it's too much hassle. In a few years, HYSA interest rates will likely be higher, and the opportunity cost of $25k sitting at 0.01% will outweigh the $695 fee reimbursement, especially if that gets taxed.

mia

Why would Morgan Stanley leave the interest rate at 0.01% rather than adapt to the market?

ruxpin810

agreed but until then, cashplus is necessary for me and will be using it for the $695 fee reimbursement.