E*Trade Nonsense
 

(This seems to be a strange place to post this, but I guess it's the most appropriate place)

My ongoing difference of opinion with E*Trade regarding missing referal bonuses has reached a new low. According to email I received yesterday, e*trade's refusal to credit me with referal bonuses for non-US account holders is "due to legality issues that E*Trade must follow."[sic]

Evidently, there have been major changes in the US "legality" system, as last year I received several referal bonuses, without further aggravation other that having to hound them ad nauseum before having my UA account properly credited.

Questions:
1) Does anybody know whether there may in fact be "legality" issues regarding referal bonuses?

2) What on-line broker would anybody recommend?

Thank you. I feel much better already http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I am also looking for an on-line trader as well. I sent an e-mail question to E-Trade a few months ago pertaining to how they would go about making a market for foreign stock (a London example) so I would get the best price. Also asked, what are their polices on foreign currecy exchange rates and fees?

Three weeks later I recieved an automated reply that an error in the e-mail system may have resulted in my e-mail not being read. Could I send my question or comment again.

WOW! I am supposed to trust them to handle complex transactions? I then called ET and the CSR I spoke to told me they did not trade foreign stock. I browsed around on their web site and found a one liner on the subject. I called again and this CSR told me they could complete the London transaction, but did not understand about a market maker.

One month later I recieved a second e-mail from E-Trade. They had lost my DL FF number and needed it if I wanted to earn miles. I had never opened an account with them, wonder what they wanted to give me.

Are there are laws that prevent ET from giving you FF miles if you are outside of the US? I am not sure but would not be surprised. They may be covered by some securities rules and I know there are a lot of international rules that are easy to interpert as a road block. Also, ET may not want to take any legal risk in extending their programs outside the US and having your country have a laws against it or greater protection of your rights.

The market may or may not drive ET to become global. Might also have to do with licensing invloved to go global and need for expansion cash.

If you find a good international broker on line, please send me the link.

Cheers
Jonathan - without spell check now for a week. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by JRF (edited 06-30-2000).]

By the way, I do like www.iii.co.uk , it is free to sign up. I use the web site to keep track of stock prices as they list a good number of exchanges. Also have e-mail to SMS notificaion on my GSM and have set this site up to send price updates to my e-mail address that lands on my GSM phone.

I have never traded on them, but it may be worth checking out. I find the interactive user thread boards to be interesting on some of the stocks I keep a daily eye on.

While I know of no legal reason they could not credit miles to your frequent flyer account, there are often legal reasons they cannot (or will not) buy securities for someone not resident in the US.

Many jurisdictions have "blue sky" laws that restrict (or constrain) a broker from "offering" securities to a resident of that jurisdiction, and the definition in the law of "offer" may be broad enough to include acting as a dealer to execute orders, even over the Internet. The restrictions could include registration requirements, consenting to suit in the jurisdiction, and even taxes (paying, reporting, or withholding).

Rather than go through all that hassle, some on-line brokers/dealers simply decline to accept clients from that jurisdiction, or from any jurisdiction outside the US.

Counsellor, this is exactly my gripe. It's not that they can't (or won't) open accounts for non-US residents; they just decided to stop awarding referal bonuses, which I think is bait and switch, considering that last year they went out of their way to tell me I would be able to earn up to 50k Mileage Pl.us miles per year refering people.

And other brokerages don't seem to impose this silly restriction, except in the case of physically shipping the bonus (e.g., Citi f/i with their offer of a Mindspring Visor).

Time to clear out my e*trade accounts and move on with life...

i have had several mailings from E-Trade in past few months with the promo : Open an account with $1000 and they will pay you $75 at end of 6 months. That's an annual return of 15% on your money.