Vanguard Mutual Funds at Fidelity: Anyone Get a Fee Waiver?

[Kookaburra]

I have a few Vanguard mutual funds that don’t have an ETF equivalent. If I were to transfer these funds to Fidelity, they would normally incur transaction fees. I would like a fee waiver that would allow me to hold, re-invest dividends, and eventually sell them without any transaction fees. Can anyone attest through personal experience whether Fidelity offers this, perhaps as an exception to the norm or on a case-by-case basis? I have a call into their customer service team to find out, but I wanted to find out here if others have been able to get this.

[nalor511]

You can reinvest dividends (automatically) of VG admiral funds at Fidelity with no fees. You can hold with no fee. You can sell with no fees. You cannot buy without $75 fee. No fee waivers.

[starboi]

I have a few Vanguard mutual funds that don’t have an ETF equivalent. If I were to transfer these funds to Fidelity, they would normally incur transaction fees. I would like a fee waiver that would allow me to hold, re-invest dividends, and eventually sell them without any transaction fees. Can anyone attest through personal experience whether Fidelity offers this, perhaps as an exception to the norm or on a case-by-case basis? I have a call into their customer service team to find out, but I wanted to find out here if others have been able to get this.

Per Fidelity: You will only be charged a transaction fee when you buy a FundsNetwork TF fund, not when you sell one.

[anon_investor]

You can reinvest dividends (automatically) of VG admiral funds at Fidelity with no fees. You can hold with no fee. You can sell with no fees. You cannot buy without $75 fee. No fee waivers.

+1. No fee waiver needed if not making new purchase, and no fees for automatic dividend reinvestment.

[mkc]

You can reinvest dividends (automatically) of VG admiral funds at Fidelity with no fees. You can hold with no fee. You can sell with no fees. You cannot buy without $75 fee. No fee waivers.

+1. No fee waiver needed if not making new purchase, and no fees for automatic dividend reinvestment.

But OP should check with Fidelity to make sure the Admiral share class can be held there. We have a couple of funds in Admiral shares and did not see them when doing "mutual fund research" on the Fidelity website (Wellington, Wellesley). When I inquired, I was told that if the admiral fund ticker didn't show up in that search, it couldn't be held at Fidelity, even if transferred in. That was over a year ago, so it would be wise to get an up-to-date answer.

[UpperNwGuy]

I have a few Vanguard mutual funds that don’t have an ETF equivalent. If I were to transfer these funds to Fidelity, they would normally incur transaction fees. I would like a fee waiver that would allow me to hold, re-invest dividends, and eventually sell them without any transaction fees. Can anyone attest through personal experience whether Fidelity offers this, perhaps as an exception to the norm or on a case-by-case basis? I have a call into their customer service team to find out, but I wanted to find out here if others have been able to get this.

I think you can do the activities you listed at Fidelity without fees, but you won't be able to buy additional shares without paying a fee. Fidelity won't grant fee waivers for purchases of new shares. Schwab, however, will often do that. YMMV.

[Kookaburra]

You can reinvest dividends (automatically) of VG admiral funds at Fidelity with no fees. You can hold with no fee. You can sell with no fees. You cannot buy without $75 fee. No fee waivers.

+1. No fee waiver needed if not making new purchase, and no fees for automatic dividend reinvestment.

But OP should check with Fidelity to make sure the Admiral share class can be held there. We have a couple of funds in Admiral shares and did not see them when doing "mutual fund research" on the Fidelity website (Wellington, Wellesley). When I inquired, I was told that if the admiral fund ticker didn't show up in that search, it couldn't be held at Fidelity, even if transferred in. That was over a year ago, so it would be wise to get an up-to-date answer.

Thanks for the tip. Where exactly is the “mutual fund research” that you are referring to? Is it just the search bar on their website in which you can enter a ticker? If all of my admiral funds show up there, does it mean that they can be held at Fidelity?

[PersonalFinanceJam]

You can reinvest dividends (automatically) of VG admiral funds at Fidelity with no fees. You can hold with no fee. You can sell with no fees. You cannot buy without $75 fee. No fee waivers.

+1. No fee waiver needed if not making new purchase, and no fees for automatic dividend reinvestment.

But OP should check with Fidelity to make sure the Admiral share class can be held there. We have a couple of funds in Admiral shares and did not see them when doing "mutual fund research" on the Fidelity website (Wellington, Wellesley). When I inquired, I was told that if the admiral fund ticker didn't show up in that search, it couldn't be held at Fidelity, even if transferred in. That was over a year ago, so it would be wise to get an up-to-date answer.

Thanks for the tip. Where exactly is the “mutual fund research” that you are referring to? Is it just the search bar on their website in which you can enter a ticker? If all of my admiral funds show up there, does it mean that they can be held at Fidelity?

Yes. When you put in the ticker to the search, you should get a detailed page with information. Here is the page for the Vanguard Total Sock Market Admiral shares which can b held at Fidelity. I hold it at Fidelity currently but don't add to it.
https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutua ... /922908728

Contrast that with what you get with Wellington Admiral:
https://quotes.fidelity.com/webxpress/i ... =sq-NavBar

If you click research on that resulting page for Wellington, you get a message that the fund either doesn't exist or can't be used on Fidelity.com

[anon_investor]

You can reinvest dividends (automatically) of VG admiral funds at Fidelity with no fees. You can hold with no fee. You can sell with no fees. You cannot buy without $75 fee. No fee waivers.

+1. No fee waiver needed if not making new purchase, and no fees for automatic dividend reinvestment.

But OP should check with Fidelity to make sure the Admiral share class can be held there. We have a couple of funds in Admiral shares and did not see them when doing "mutual fund research" on the Fidelity website (Wellington, Wellesley). When I inquired, I was told that if the admiral fund ticker didn't show up in that search, it couldn't be held at Fidelity, even if transferred in. That was over a year ago, so it would be wise to get an up-to-date answer.

Thanks for the tip. Where exactly is the “mutual fund research” that you are referring to? Is it just the search bar on their website in which you can enter a ticker? If all of my admiral funds show up there, does it mean that they can be held at Fidelity?

You should ask Fidelity about the specific funds.

[jfave33]

A little trick - you can buy using auto investment for $5 to avoid the $75 fee as well. Turn off the auto investment when you've bought what you want. Nice for the odd time or once a year.

[zincTwo]

In my Fidelity 401k, with automatic investment of my payroll contributions (via BrokerageLink), I am not charged a fee for the recurring auto-invest purchases. I only got charged on the initial investment, and it was so small, I consider it noise in the overall portfolio allocation.

[ee_guy]

Thanks for the tip. Where exactly is the “mutual fund research” that you are referring to? Is it just the search bar on their website in which you can enter a ticker? If all of my admiral funds show up there, does it mean that they can be held at Fidelity?

Yes. When you put in the ticker to the search, you should get a detailed page with information. Here is the page for the Vanguard Total Sock Market Admiral shares which can b held at Fidelity. I hold it at Fidelity currently but don't add to it.
https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutua ... /922908728

Contrast that with what you get with Wellington Admiral:
https://quotes.fidelity.com/webxpress/i ... =sq-NavBar

If you click research on that resulting page for Wellington, you get a message that the fund either doesn't exist or can't be used on Fidelity.com

The links are live but it doesn't show what Vanguard funds Fidelity will accept. Both the Wellington Admiral and Wellesly Admiral shares can be transferred to Fidelity. Same for Primecap Admiral shares. I was at Fidelity and was shown the internal website that lists the acceptable funds.

[mkc]

Thanks for the tip. Where exactly is the “mutual fund research” that you are referring to? Is it just the search bar on their website in which you can enter a ticker? If all of my admiral funds show up there, does it mean that they can be held at Fidelity?

Yes. When you put in the ticker to the search, you should get a detailed page with information. Here is the page for the Vanguard Total Sock Market Admiral shares which can b held at Fidelity. I hold it at Fidelity currently but don't add to it.
https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutua ... /922908728

Contrast that with what you get with Wellington Admiral:
https://quotes.fidelity.com/webxpress/i ... =sq-NavBar

If you click research on that resulting page for Wellington, you get a message that the fund either doesn't exist or can't be used on Fidelity.com

The links are live but it doesn't show what Vanguard funds Fidelity will accept. Both the Wellington Admiral and Wellesly Admiral shares can be transferred to Fidelity. Same for Primecap Admiral shares. I was at Fidelity and was shown the internal website that lists the acceptable funds.

I was told by Fidelity within the past year that if a fund did not show up in the research tool (e.g. VWENX, VWIAX, and a T.Rowe Price fund I'd asked about), they could not be transferred in-kind or held to Fidelity. This was a specific inquiry about transferring assets to them.

[ee_guy]

I was told by Fidelity within the past year that if a fund did not show up in the research tool (e.g. VWENX, VWIAX, and a T.Rowe Price fund I'd asked about), they could not be transferred in-kind or held to Fidelity. This was a specific inquiry about transferring assets to them.

I am sure you heard correctly. Either the policy was changed or the Fidelity rep gave an incorrect answer. At Fidelity, I also saw the transfer bonus being offered. It is basically $1000/million transferred.

[mkc]

I was told by Fidelity within the past year that if a fund did not show up in the research tool (e.g. VWENX, VWIAX, and a T.Rowe Price fund I'd asked about), they could not be transferred in-kind or held to Fidelity. This was a specific inquiry about transferring assets to them.

I as sure you heard correctly. Either the policy was changed or the Fidelity rep gave an incorrect answer. At Fidelity, I also saw the transfer bonus being offered. It is basically $1000/million transferred.

I asked the question on Fidelity's Reddit. Here is their official response:

"FidelityJason
MOD
Stickied comment
Community Care Representative

TRMCX, VWIAX and VWENX are generally not available for retail investors and are only available through certain business segments. If a fund is no longer available for retail investors on our platform, the research tool will not be available. If you have a relationship with Fidelity outside of strictly retail accounts, you may have access to purchase this security. In order to check your eligibility to trade these particular mutual funds, please contact us by phone."

[iamblessed]

A little trick - you can buy using auto investment for $5 to avoid the $75 fee as well. Turn off the auto investment when you've bought what you want. Nice for the odd time or once a year.

Can it all be done online?

[bondsr4me]

I have a few Vanguard mutual funds that don’t have an ETF equivalent. If I were to transfer these funds to Fidelity, they would normally incur transaction fees. I would like a fee waiver that would allow me to hold, re-invest dividends, and eventually sell them without any transaction fees. Can anyone attest through personal experience whether Fidelity offers this, perhaps as an exception to the norm or on a case-by-case basis? I have a call into their customer service team to find out, but I wanted to find out here if others have been able to get this.

below is a 6/15/22 message response I received from Fidelity:

Fidelity can accept and hold the Vanguard Wellesley fund (VWINX) for you and there will be no fee to sell this fund; however, there is a transaction fee of $75 for regular purchases and a transaction fee of $5 for each dividend reinvestment.

Note…this is for Investor Class shares.

[jfave33]

A little trick - you can buy using auto investment for $5 to avoid the $75 fee as well. Turn off the auto investment when you've bought what you want. Nice for the odd time or once a year.

Can it all be done online?

yes

[jeffyscott]

I was told by Fidelity within the past year that if a fund did not show up in the research tool (e.g. VWENX, VWIAX, and a T.Rowe Price fund I'd asked about), they could not be transferred in-kind or held to Fidelity. This was a specific inquiry about transferring assets to them.

I as sure you heard correctly. Either the policy was changed or the Fidelity rep gave an incorrect answer. At Fidelity, I also saw the transfer bonus being offered. It is basically $1000/million transferred.

I asked the question on Fidelity's Reddit. Here is their official response:

"FidelityJason
MOD
Stickied comment
Community Care Representative

TRMCX, VWIAX and VWENX are generally not available for retail investors and are only available through certain business segments. If a fund is no longer available for retail investors on our platform, the research tool will not be available. If you have a relationship with Fidelity outside of strictly retail accounts, you may have access to purchase this security. In order to check your eligibility to trade these particular mutual funds, please contact us by phone."

That comment doesn't actually address transferring assets in. It is talking about eligibility to buy or trade. If "certain business segments" can trade these funds on Fidelity, then that would imply that they can be held there and if they can be held there, then most likely anyone can transfer in. Assuming they can be transferred in, selling shares would be possible but not buying more.

Your question there was, apparently:
I've noticed some funds which I used to be able to research/compare in the Mutual Fund tool at Fidelity are no longer coming up with results or entries...
not:
"Can I transfer ____ to Fidelity"
https://www.reddit.com/r/fidelityinvest ... evaluator/

[mkc]

I was told by Fidelity within the past year that if a fund did not show up in the research tool (e.g. VWENX, VWIAX, and a T.Rowe Price fund I'd asked about), they could not be transferred in-kind or held to Fidelity. This was a specific inquiry about transferring assets to them.

I as sure you heard correctly. Either the policy was changed or the Fidelity rep gave an incorrect answer. At Fidelity, I also saw the transfer bonus being offered. It is basically $1000/million transferred.

I asked the question on Fidelity's Reddit. Here is their official response:

"FidelityJason
MOD
Stickied comment
Community Care Representative

TRMCX, VWIAX and VWENX are generally not available for retail investors and are only available through certain business segments. If a fund is no longer available for retail investors on our platform, the research tool will not be available. If you have a relationship with Fidelity outside of strictly retail accounts, you may have access to purchase this security. In order to check your eligibility to trade these particular mutual funds, please contact us by phone."

That comment doesn't actually address transferring assets in. It is talking about eligibility to buy or trade. If "certain business segments" can trade these funds on Fidelity, then that would imply that they can be held there and if they can be held there, then most likely anyone can transfer in. Assuming they can be transferred in, selling shares would be possible but not buying more.

Around that same time I'd asked the specific question via our account messaging, but I couldn't find that response (which had said "no").

I just clarified via their Reddit and was pleasantly surprised to now be told (specifically asking about VWENX and VWIAX) that they can be transferred in.


[eta - fixed typo]

[jeffyscott]

I was told by Fidelity within the past year that if a fund did not show up in the research tool (e.g. VWENX, VWIAX, and a T.Rowe Price fund I'd asked about), they could not be transferred in-kind or held to Fidelity. This was a specific inquiry about transferring assets to them.

I as sure you heard correctly. Either the policy was changed or the Fidelity rep gave an incorrect answer. At Fidelity, I also saw the transfer bonus being offered. It is basically $1000/million transferred.

I asked the question on Fidelity's Reddit. Here is their official response:

"FidelityJason
MOD
Stickied comment
Community Care Representative

TRMCX, VWIAX and VWENX are generally not available for retail investors and are only available through certain business segments. If a fund is no longer available for retail investors on our platform, the research tool will not be available. If you have a relationship with Fidelity outside of strictly retail accounts, you may have access to purchase this security. In order to check your eligibility to trade these particular mutual funds, please contact us by phone."

That comment doesn't actually address transferring assets in. It is talking about eligibility to buy or trade. If "certain business segments" can trade these funds on Fidelity, then that would imply that they can be held there and if they can be held there, then most likely anyone can transfer in. Assuming they can be transferred in, selling shares would be possible but not buying more.

Around that same time I'd asked the specific question via our account messaging, but I couldn't find that response (which had said "no").

I just clarified via their Reddit and was pleasantly surprised to now be told they (specifically asking about VWENX and VWIAX) that they can be transferred in.

I actually happen to have just confirmed the same with Schwab for VWIAX and a couple other managed admiral funds. I wanted to be certain, since we're planning to transfer in soon.