Comments on: VanguardAdvantage: All-In-One Checking Account At Vanguard?

By: matt g

matt g — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 02:58:58 +0000

I’ve got a schwab checking and it is the best. thing. ever. I know the NAME of my very personable customer service contact, and have her email address and office phone number. So long as they don’t change the account, I’m a customer for LIFE. No experience with the brokerage, but will probably get some soon since I’ll probably switch to their credit card with the 2% brokerage bonus. In some ways, it would be nice to have a couple of my accounts under one roof, but everyone seems to be the “killer app” in a different area, so no dice.

By: K

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:31:57 +0000

@Maury:

Fidelity offers a 2% AmEx and a 1.5% Visa card:

http://personal.fidelity.com/p.....shtml.cvsr

Between that, and the no-foreign currency fee for ATM withdrawals on the Fidelity mySmartCash account, I’m pretty happy.

By: indexfundfan

indexfundfan — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:28:04 +0000

The VanguardAdvantage account is not new. The current level required is “Voyager Select” ($500k). Before Aug 2007, the requirement was the old Voyager level ($250k). Like the many who commented, I do not find this account competitive at all.

By: Leonardo

Leonardo — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:55:15 +0000

They offer a checking account, so they can receive the government bailout money.

By: Tommy

Tommy — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 22:03:12 +0000

JC,I may be dating myself,I haven’t bought a new mutual fund in awhile.I’ll have to check out the fidelity funds.I wonder if their is a site to compare fees?

By: Motti

Motti — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 15:52:18 +0000

I switched to Schwab Investor Checking about 3 years ago and I’m pleased, pleased, pleased!! That’s how checking account should be: free, no minimums, full ATM rebate, free BillPay, excellent web access, alerts and very good customer support. Schwab offers free ACH link between the SchwabOne (Investment) account and the Checking account. They also offer free overdraft protection and minimum balance guard services. As of today my checking acct balance is earning 0.75% APR not too shabby in today’s ~0% interest rate economy. Can’t compare that to the a-la-carte menu of fees of BoA.

But it gets even better with Schwab – I got an excellent HELOC last July at Prime-1% (no typo here). Again, not because I’m any kind of extra special client.

By: Donald

Donald — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 13:44:37 +0000

It all brings to mind a comedian (whose name I cannot remember) who talks about how banks take money from those who have very little through low-balance fees, etc., while they give money through interest payments to those who have plenty. “Hey, you don’t have enough money, so we’ll just take what you do have and give it to this guy who has a lot of money.” Taking from the poor to give to the rich! Of course, it makes business sense from the bank’s point of view, but the irony is amusing.

By: JC

JC — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 05:26:40 +0000

Tommy, Vanguard isn’t necessarily the best mutual fund company. Some of the Fidelity Spartan index funds have lower fees than vanguards!

By: John

John — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 04:06:22 +0000

Yes to TFB, enonymous and Tommy. Vanguard is a wonderful mutual fund company but never meant to be a general broker or finance management business. I think “grudging” is the perfect description, in that the other services detract from the ultra low cost fund model.

My conservative-investor wife keeps two IRAs in Vanguard money market funds. She does nothing other than add money once or twice a year. Vanguard’s minimalistic system is perfect for her.

I have my money at other brokers, where I regularly contribute to generic index mutual funds then switch it over to Vanguard ETFs when I’ve got a good chunk of $$$ (the sales commission must cost less than annual management fee at the other company). This way dollar cost averaging can be done at a low cost, and then long-term management fees are reduced to a minimum.

By: Maury

Maury — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 04:03:02 +0000

Don’t forget, Schwab also has a credit card where they rebate 2% back on all purchases into your account there… Schwab is making headway into being my all in one solution as they have cheap trades and I can buy Vanguard ETFs…

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 01:59:08 +0000

“I guess I’ll have to wait until I have a million dollars”

I like that positive thinking. It’s already in your mind that you’ll eventually reach your goal.

I keep most of my assets at Vanguard too.. and won’t change. But, sometimes I too just can’t understand their line of thinking.

By: Tommy

Tommy — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 18:45:44 +0000

That is so true TFB,being an active consumer can save a person a lot of money.

By: enonymous

enonymous — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 18:20:33 +0000

TFB

By: TFB

TFB — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 17:12:02 +0000

The good thing is that you have other choices. It doesn’t matter whether one company is competitive in all products. You pick the best from each company: Vanguard for index funds, Fidelity for banking, Wells Fargo for trading.

By: Tommy

Tommy — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 17:10:58 +0000

The sad part is that Vanguard is still the best mutual fund company.

By: Andy

Andy — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:38:48 +0000

I have no problem using Fidelity for this. I assume that Vanguard doesn’t have enough profits to take the losses that would come from having an account with everything free (and ATM fee refunds), which makes their fund expenses lower than most Fidelity funds.

By: dogatemyfinances

dogatemyfinances — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:29:55 +0000

I love my Fidelity checkwriting account. It overdrafts from my money market, it’s just the best.

By: Bill

Bill — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 14:11:57 +0000

No thanks, I’ll pass. I personally do not think highly of Vanguard’s brokerage services, why not use someone like Scottrade and pay cheaper commisions and have free check writing capabilities.