jbalmuth

I have both a Schwab One brokerage account and a Schwab High Yield Savings account. I set-up 3 external accounts (by mail), and they were all "linked" to my brokerage account. To move money from my Savings account to one of these 3 external accounts (or vice versa), I have to first transfer funds to the brokerage account (and wait 2 business days), and then move it from there to the external account (and wait 2+ business days). When I tried to set-up a 4th external account, I was instructed to fill out a MoneyLink form and mail it in. When I called Schwab CS about setting up the linkages directly to my Savings account, the rep told me that I needed to fill out different MoneyLink forms and mail them in....and that there was no on-line shortcut about adding external accounts. Could you please read the above and tell me where the Schwab CS rep was incorrect, and also where I can locate the external account set-up through trial deposits on the site? Thanks!!

bawr

Sorry, I didn't understand that you have a Schwab savings account. I have no experience with those. I only have a Schwab One brokerage account and a Schwab Bank Investor Checking account. I do know that linking external accounts to the brokerage account does not require you to mail in anything. It can be done online. (I have done this several times.) Any transfers between such external accounts and my checking account have to be mediated by the brokerage account, in a manner similar to what you have described above, but with somewhat shorter delays.

friedice

On the fatwallet thread it was mentioned that to potentially minimize the amount of hard pulls, one needs to apply for the CC and then the brokerage account right after, during the same process. However, it does not seem possible anymore, as when U click on an option to open the CC and brokerage account together, it makes U apply for the brokerage account first.

Happy

I applied the brokerage account by calling Schwab several weeks after the card, but did not get a hard pull on the brokerage account.

The phone rep said he could not guarantee there would be no hard pull, but since he was able to find our ancient account dated back to 1994, he was hopeful there would be no hardpull. He did ask me if I still would go ahead to apply the brokerage account, knowing there might be a hardpull. I gave him the go ahead. No hardpull.

Actually I dont believe brokerage account would generate a hardpull if you opt for a Cash Account instead of a Margin Account.

However, this is not the case if you eventually also want to have the Investor Checking to link to the brokerage account.

You would be better off to apply the Investor Checking AND the Schwab One together - there is a tab on Schwab website for doing both at the same time.

friedice

Well I actually never had any accounts with Schwab. I

t seems like even when people choose Cash Account it's still YMMV.

Do U think there's a better chance of avoiding a hardpull if brokerage account is opened over the phone rather than online?

themicah

Unless you're planning to apply for or refinance a mortgage in the next couple months, who cares if they do one hard pull or two?

Happy

Not necessarily. I have sent them secured emails about adding the Investor Checking Account to the SchwabOne Account, would it be a hardpull?

I got 2 replies said it would be a softpull, and a form in pdf file is attached. I asked again, Would it mean if I use this form, there would be a softpull? How can I make sure?

Well, I ended up getting a phone call from the CSR who replied my email, and after introducing himself, he transferred me to a gal of Schwab bank based in Phoenix. Basically the gist I got is, there will be a pull of some sort - the gal said since we used to be with Schwab dated back in 1994, she felt it would be just a soft pull. But she STRESSED she could not guarantee how it would turn out. She went on to suggest me to attach a letter to the form, instructed the processing dept, if a hardpull is required, then customer does not want to open the Investor Checking account.

To me that is way too much trouble. The only reason I want the Investor Checking is right now it pays much higher interest rate for idle cash than if the idle cash is kept in one of the Money Market Accounts Schwab offered for the Sweep. Also the Investor Checking would be good for ATM withdrawals anywhere in the world - no forex, no withdrawal fee, unlimited reimbursement of ATM fees should the one you used charge you such. This would be a backup to our existing Fidelity mySmartCash account for such purpose.

I am not giving Schwab any sizable cash or investment assets right now because I dont like many of their procedures. So not having the higher yield Investor Checking is not important, for now. So I am putting off to open the Investor Checking, until I find room for its inquiry.

For those who want to have their CCs coming every 65 days, it matters, a lot.

friedice

Well here's what happened.

1. I applied for the card. No instant approval online. Called in 5 minutes later, they told me I was approved right away. Checked online status, approved for 10k CL. Great.

2. Applied for brokerage account. Unchecked the margin trading option. Got some verification questions they got from Equifax. That got me scared. I thought they pulled EQ. Account opened.

3. Signed up for EQ 3-in-1 credit monitoring + score. Score 736, great. Looked at the most recent inquiries, and both Experian and Transunion show: FIA CSNA 09/30/09. But not EQ. So I concluded that the CC app pulled both EX and TU, and the brokerage didn't pull anything. This is awesome as my Citi churn relies entirely on EQ and it didn't get pulled at all, although 2 different inquiries for the CC app is not too pleasant.

dracs

Yesterday I went on credit card applying spree.I am college grad.

1) Tried to apply on chat ,they insisted to have it done easily on phone .So applied on phone ,was told it didn't approve immediately so will have to wait till tomorrow so that credit analyst can see and decide.Kept my fingers crossed and was expected bad news.

Gotta call from them in evening today and the guy I talked with yesterday got me in conference with credit analyst.She told me the good news.Approved ^.Though credit line is 1000$ only but just wanted this card for near future international travel.

2) After applying 1st card ,applied for citi AA mc,visa but both said thank you for application and it will be reviewed so expecting denial from them.Part my mistake I applied through the link which already had offer id.
4) Thought of trying my luck again so applied for delta skymiles with 35000 bonus miles promotion and to my surprise got approved immediately with 6300$ limit.

All these done in sequence and at same time

Forgetfu

I applied almost a year ago so i can't post the specifics as they went down. However, I can tell you that I did my application over the phone for the brokerage account, and there *was* a hard pull.

Take this dated info w/ a grain of salt.

josephstern

I know they did a hard pull once for my card and once for my brokerage.

I use Debix, which locks my credit down. This makes churning cards basically impossible, so I'm thinking of ditching it, but at the same time, having credit is important for my business and identity theft would be a major issue for me.

Anyway, I had to unlock my Debix account once for the card, and then again for the brokerage account. In fact, they didn't tell me on the brokerage - it just didn't open fully. I only discovered this after for several months, my rewards money failed to post over to my brokerage account.

Finally, someone at Schwab figured out that there was a fraud alert on my account, because my credit was locked. They did the pull, I got the Debix call, and the next month the transfers worked.

jmorgans

Can anyone comment on Schwab Visa signature benefits vs. Fidelity American Express benefits? The cards seem pretty similar in terms of rewards. Are there any extras that make one better than the other (return protection, extended warranty, etc.)? They don't tell you much on their application pages.

Happy

To me, Visa is much more widely accepted than AMEX - My telephone company AT&T, and my car insurance company State Farm, do not take AMEX. The restaurant we go every other Sunday for a buffet brunch, stopped taking AMEX many months ago. When we traveled to Canada, most restaurants we frequent, only take Visa, not even MC, let alone AMEX. In Europe many locations we go, dont take AMEX. This inconvenience to us, is enough to not get the Fido AMEX card even our main brokerage has been Fido, and still is Fido.

On Fatwallet site, there were reports about Visa is more customer-friendly when you need the purchase protection - it let you pre-register the big ticket purchases before anything happened. Supposedly when you actually need the service, the records are already in file. (Many cash register receipts fade badly just after a few months).

Fidelity's AMEX is not the AMEX AMEX - it is an AMEX card issued by BofA - so it does not have the same (or used to be) level of customer-friendly services from AMEX AMEX.

Schwab Visa does not have a threshold to pass before you earn the 2%. Fido's AMEX requires a 15K spending threshold?

mia

I think Fidelity American Express earns 2% from the first dollar. Fidelity VISA earns 1.5% up to $15,000, then 2% per dollar...

http://personal.fidelity.com/product...efpr=CMGTOC006

http://personal.fidelity.com/product...efpr=CMGTOC007

alpine

Just used my new Schwab Visa for a foreign transaction. Guess what: 3% fee. A call to customer service says, no we don't charge a foreign transaction fee. But guess what--you don't pay the market exchange rate; you pay a "retail rate" for the foreign exchange.

So, basically, they charge a rate 3% higher than market, but then say that's not really a fee.

Rather misleading advertising....