rtraveler

I am in a similar situation. I signed up for my first Fidelity account. But when I logged in, I saw all my 401k funds. This was set up by my employer but linked to my social security number. So when I registered with Fidelity this past weekend, I could view it.

So does this count for my 'first' account?

bluto

I had a very similar problem. I deposited the required funds and never got my miles. I spent a fair amount of time and eventually got someone who agreed that I should have been owed the miles, and then promised to rectify the situation. Of course, I waited several weeks more but the miles never came. I am ashamed to say that I still have not followed up again to try to get my miles. I've been able to get similar promotions at other institutions to work, and I did not do anything tricky with Fidelity, they just have terrible tracking for this sort of thing. It is still on my list of things to do and one day when I feel like spending a bunch of time on the phone again, I will get them to look into it.

mahoney100

after spending about 2 hours someone with some authority agreed i was owed some miles (15k). I received them yesterday. although i am upset that i did not get the entire 25k i still obtained 15k miles without spending any $

muflyer

This question has kind of been touched upon, but I do not see a direct answer. My employer resides our 401K accounts with Fidelity. Therefore I have an individual 401K account set up in my name with them. However, I have never opened a personal account with them. Does anyone know if I am still eligible to take advantage of a mileage offer?

Also, does anyone know if the $10K deposit for 15K miles with AA (or any carrier) is still alive? The higher amounts may be too rich for me right now. Thanks.

ma91pmh

+1 sorry no answer but I would like to ask the same question.....

onthego15

Simple way to get answers is to contact Fidelity directly.
1-800-FIDELITY.

PedroNY

Fidelity is definitely becoming more stringent with their AA miles. My wife has Roth IRA mutual fund account with them. She wanted to openned the brokerage account with them and qualify for this offer. Initially, they todl her that she will recieve these miles. A month went by, and she asked again,t hey started to say "no". After about 4 weeks of back and forth, they basically are not willing to giver her 15,000 AA miles for $10,000 deposit. She called 4 times now, every time is the same story -- they say she had a Roth IRA, and that does not qualify her.

It's a bit upsetting as it is not a "retail brokerage account" as they described in T&C, she cannot actually buy any individual stocks in her Roth IRA account. I'd like to write a letter, but not sure who the EVP or VP of their customer service would be... they are not a public company, I have hard time finding the right person to send it to (CEO does not seem appropriate for this). Would anyone know? Any help would be great.

Thank you,

PedroNY

psyflyer

she needs to deposit $25k for 15k AA miles...

learningtime

That is annoying. No way is a ROTH account a retail brokerage account.

PedroNY

Limits and rewards changed under new promotion. Previous promotion was 5,000 miles for $2,5000; 15,000 miles for $10,000; and 25,000 miles for $25,000 miles. That promo ended May 31.

yuryc

I had a brokerage account with Fidelity for almost 20 years but never got the miles bonus. Called CS rep and explained the situation, after talking to his manager he agreed to give me miles if I bring new funds to the account.
- I should register for the promo, get the email saying that I'm not eligible, transfer new funds and then call CS rep and he'll post the bonus manually.

Now waiting for my transfer to complete. Will have to pay a fee for partial transfer out to another brokerage Co.

Happy

That was what I was told to do in last go round. But my CSR also made sure the account was duly notated to get the miles. I hope you have that done - this would eliminate any subsequent non-delivery.

As for Roth IRA - yes you can buy and sell stocks inside Roth. There is no regulation said cannot be done. You can even trade options provided you get the brokerage house approval on it.

PedroNY

Happy,

You can certainly buy/sell stocks in a ROTH IRA account. However, Fidelity has different type of accounts associated with Roth IRA. You can have a mutual fund account only (which is what my wife has) that can only trade mutual funds, or you can open up a Roth IRA brokerage aco.... and trade stocks in it. Therefore, if you open a Roth IRA Mutual Fund trading account, you cannot trade individual stocks in that account, Fidelity will not allow you to that. So, that is the difference. Somehow they are digging their heels in and saying that this Roth IRA Mutual Fund account counts as a Retail Brokerage Account... that does not make sense to me -- my wife cannot buy a share of GE or GOOGLE right now even if she wanted to do that through that account.

Anyone at all has contact information for Fidelity? VP of Customer Service? Some upper level manager who would have some authority here? I would greatly appreciate some info.

Best,

PedroNY

Happy

I personally feel Fidelity is being extremely unreasonable to treat folks who have mutual fund accounts the same way as having brokerage accounts.

If you are for it, I would suggest you to write to the CEO and VP for marketing to voice your complain - I am sure you can dig up the necessary names and address through googling.

ExitRowAisle

To recap:

Fidelity takes an official hardline on who and who is not eligible to receive miles.

However, if you are not going to play games moving money back and forth to hit some higher threshold, AND you talk to a person in authority beforehand and explain to them that you are willing to move signficant funds into a Fidelity account, they are likely to make an exception both for those who are getting caught up in some "first-account" technicality and those who already have a legitimate relationship with them. The larger your current balance or the amount you will transfer in, the better.

However, based on the bonuses that I am seeing mentioned here and in other threads, AA customers would be better served at the moment to invest their low-risk funds in BankDirect.