gregorygrady

But now you're out $20,000.

I'd rather have 20K SPG points and $20K dollars than 20K SPG points and $0.

BTW, you actually do get interest if you sock your money away in the Ameritrade Money Market Fund, ~4.1% currently.........

p9142

You do get interest. In fact I am getting a better interest rate then I was with my banks money market. It is a win/win for me. To get the interest you just set up the money market as mentioned earlier in this thread.

cur

You're not OUT $20 000. It works well if you already spend that much as it is, only putting it to your free card. You're getting the points as a result of your annual consumption.

Interesting on the interest rate, not such a bad deal after all. Amazing what we do fo rpoints

zlc

Had some cash sitting in my E-trade account awaiting investment and saw this promo. Opened the account with $25,000 on 3/28, first 10,000 points posted on 4/17, second 10,000 posted on 5/6. Service and pricing so far are better than E-trade and my account is worth about $25,800 right now. ^

If you invest yourself and have the money in other brokage accounts, this is a best deal out there. I am thinking of using the remaining of my E-trade account to open one for Mrs. zlc and getting another 20,000 points.

Kibison

That is what I did. After getting the first 20K, I closed that individual account and opened another account as joint. An easy 40K points.

wintermom

I just opened my Ameritrade account for the $25,000. to get the points
before the June 30 expiration. I just want to park this money and earn
a safe rate until I have to pay in all in as taxes next spring.
I can't find this primary class R on their site. I am very new to this ,
do I need to call to invest in this and if so is there a $49.00 fee?
I appreciate the help.

p9142

You need to fax or mail an application in for the money market fund. Call customer service and they will help you out. There is no fee associated with this.

biggestbopper

Apparently Ameritrade has several in-house money market funds, none of which offer great rates. And, if you don't fight to get the best fund and rate you get dunped into the worst one so Ameritrade can make more money.

If you want to buy, say a Vanguard MMF, you have to pay $49 each way. So you get a better rate and pay $98 commissions. Still sort of worth it for 20,000 points. But, now that Ameritrade raised its mutual fund commission from $18 to $49 it's a little more problematic.

gregorygrady

Just call Ameritrade C.S. and have them fax you the enrollment form, it is nowhere to be found on their website unfortunatley. I would surely go with the 4%+ interest rate from the Reserve Funds Primary Class R money market fund. No fee to put your money in there or to take it out...............and the interest rate is fairly competitive with anything else you'll find out there.......

honu

Yikes!! $18 to $49, that's a huge increase! I opened an account in April, I chose a Vanguard MM Fund to park the $$ for 9 months, and I paid $18 for the transfer. When I do close the account, will I have to pay the $49 fee to exit? Or could I just rollover the funds into the exact same MM Fund I hold directly with Vanguard? If it's allwed, will there be a fee for that? (I'm not very well-informed about this stuff.)

psychtobe

when you close completely your account (after receiving the full 20k *points), are there any fees to receive the proceeds? if you want it in cash obviously any equities or funds that were owned will need to be sold. Furthermore, are there any fees if you want to transfer your holdings to a new brokerage - without selling your holdings? Interested in others' experiences.

Current best interest rates at Ameritrade appear to be 4.41% APY. The best other savings rate I can find is 5.05% at HSBC; there are some tax-free funds available which might yield a higher after-tax rate, such as the Vanguard Tax-Exempt Money Market at 3.47% = 5.34% taxable equivalent if in the 35% tax bracket. But using the 5.05%, you're giving up .64% interest for 6 months on $25k, or approximately $78. Great price for 20k *points if you can open and close the accounts with no fees.

gpapadop

I think most brokerage companies will hit you with a $50 close out/transfer out fee.

gregorygrady

I'm pretty sure this is not the case with the Ameritrade Money Market Sweep fund. If you just transfer all $25K + interest straight into your bank account after 6 months, you will be fine and there will be nothing left for Ameritrade to take from. Then you can call and close the account. But I think where they get you is if you want to do a partial or full account transfer, i.e. transfer all the stocks in the account to another brokerage. That will be $50 I believe. You can find all the fees and info on tdameritrade.com though.

p9142

I asked this question when I first signed up. They only charge you the $50 if you transfer to another brokerage account (i.e. another company.) Otherwise you are fine.

Helena Handbaskets

After 9 months, right? You get the second 10,000 Starpoints after 6 months, but the t&c say if you transfer out before 9 months, they'll bill you for the Starpoints.