Vanguard sent me a $.01 check.... silly.

[midareff]

I know they have to keep the records straight but I'm going to contact them and see if they can just leave that $.01 in the MM account. Costs a few bucks to cut, print and mail a check for a penny. Of course I scanned and deposited it.

[kithwang]

Scottrade wouldn't send me a check for .05 when I closed the account. Have you ever watched Office Space? Those pennies add up for the companies.

[livesoft]

Welcome to the club. Contacting them will cost them way more than sending the check to you did and raise the costs of all other Vanguard clients.

[midareff]

Welcome to the club. Contacting them will cost them way more than sending the check to you did and raise the costs of all other Vanguard clients.

Seems they could just let it sit and I'll sweep it out next quarter when something pays to the sweep account.

[S&L1940]

We own a single share of a utility left over when Columbia Gas disappeared. Because the cost of selling the single share was equal to the value, we kept it over the years. The dividend is now up to $.26 and we deposit the check every quarter. Our bank must not be happy but the company seemly has no qualms in processing the checks.
When we moved all our accounts to Vanguard, UBS and Smith Barney (or whatever their name is now) each had a $.02 balance on our account. For years, we have been receiving multiple page quarterly statements showing how stable our assets remain as they ignored our request to just close the accounts. Sadly, the balance has not grown - so far.

[lululu]

When we moved all our accounts to Vanguard, UBS and Smith Barney (or whatever their name is now) each had a $.02 balance on our account. For years, we have been receiving multiple page quarterly statements showing how stable our assets remain as they ignored our request to just close the accounts. Sadly, the balance has not grown - so far.

When I've moved accounts, the tiny subsequent balance from interest or whatever has automatically trailed after the original transfer. That said, I never dealt with UBS Smith Barney.

[mwm158]

deleted

[Toons]

Welcome to the club. Contacting them will cost them way more than sending the check to you did and raise the costs of all other Vanguard clients.

Seems they could just let it sit and I'll sweep it out next quarter when something pays to the sweep account.

+1

[Parthenon]

In 2011 and 2012 Vanguard sent me a check for "************.00".

Ed

[JDDS]

I got a penny check from Vanguard last year. Perhaps it was because I did an exchange and used the 'sell all' checkbox. Now, I manually type in the dollar amount even if it is all. It hasn't happened again, but I haven't had much money sit in the MM long enough perhaps to get a penny dividend either.

[CABob]

In 2011 and 2012 Vanguard sent me a check for "************.00".

Rounding error?
$0.004 = $0.00

[john94549]

B of A did the same thing. They mis-calculated some interest on an account I was closing and wanted to crank out a check for four cents. Mind you, I was in the bank at the time. I told them they could just give me the pennies. Which they did, with a proper paper trail.

[ubermax]

Maybe not a similar situation but I got a small amount back from Vanguard when I closed out a fund that had dividends reinvested ; there was a small dividend earned at the time of close-out & so they sent me a check , what were they suppose to do ask me if I wanted to put it in another fund ???

[FedGuy]

I closed an account at paypal a long time ago. 8 years later, I received a check for a penny. I'm not sure how or why it happened, but I didn't waste my time cashing it.

Years ago, I responded to a mailing from x.com, a predecessor of Paypal. It said that if I opened an account, they would fund it with $20. I did, and they dutifully put the $20 in there. Some time later, I went to the ATM and withdrew the $20. I tried to close the account, but it wouldn't let me, so I ignored it and went on with my life.

For years, I received mailings from them instructing me to withdraw the remaining funds in my account (or add enough to get back above the minimum balance). Since I thought I had withdrawn all the funds, I didn't see what I could do, so I ignored it.

They eventually mailed me a check for 1 cent, presumably the interest from the $20 I had held in the account for a brief time. I cashed it.

[abuss368]

They are probably legally required.

[BolderBoy]

In the 1990s I got lots of payment checks from Medicare for $0.01 in envelopes with $0.28 postage affixed. My medical staff buddies didn't blink an eye; said they were getting a lot more of them than I was. I think the Medicare payment law was finally changed to make it a $1.00 minimum.

[Parthenon]

In 2011 and 2012 Vanguard sent me a check for "************.00".

Rounding error?
$0.004 = $0.00

No, each check was actually for 0, the correct amount. Must be a quirk in the system when you withdraw from an annuity and it all goes to the IRS, their corresponding statement has a check printed at the bottom whether you actually receive any proceeds or not.


Ed

[stingray5688]

In 2011 and 2012 Vanguard sent me a check for "************.00".

Ed

You deposited that, right?

[TheRightKost87]

Without all these penny checks, VTSAX could probably have an ER of 0.04% !!!

[Small Change]

Maybe someone here has a hot tip on a penny stock.

[RVD]

when i moved my ira from etrade to vanguard, due to dividends, etc. that came late, i had a balance of $.53 in my etrade ira. i asked what my options were to close the account and it was either to get a check cut for $25 or tell them to just disregard it (let them keep it). i let them keep it.

[stlutz]

Years ago I had about 10 cents left in a TD Waterhouse account and they mailed me hardcopy account statements every month for years. Eventually they stopped, so I assume they decided to keep the $.10.

[DVMResident]

An actor friend got a 2 cent residual check for a commercial.
He framed it and hung it on the wall.
Great conversation starter.

[TravelGeek]

We own a single share of a utility left over when Columbia Gas disappeared. Because the cost of selling the single share was equal to the value, we kept it over the years.

(first post here after a year of lurking; hi all!)

My first (bogleheadish) financial move of the new year was to sell my last remaining individual stock. Issued a "Sell all Shares" order on Fidelity on January 2nd. It was a foreign company with ADRs, so I had fractional shares (190.015).

After the transaction completed, I checked my account and found that they had sold 190 shares and left me with 0.015 shares of that stock. Worth $1.

I sent their customer service a secure message asking why they didn't sell it all and what I am now supposed to do with the 0.015 shares. No reply so far, but I noticed the position had disappeared from my portfolio. Was I robbed? Naaa! In the transaction history I now see another transaction and they gave me $1.05 today (even though the stock was down).

[Billionaire]

An actor friend got a 2 cent residual check for a commercial.
He framed it and hung it on the wall.
Great conversation starter.

The poor accountant who is responsible for reconciling the bank statement. I know many individuals gave up on that practice long ago, but I wonder if companies still reconcile each of their bank accounts.

[Caduceus]

Some banks explicitly say that if for some reason your account ends up with a closing balance of less than $x.xx that they will not bother to issue a check unless you explicitly request it.

Maybe it's the ambiguity that's problematic. $0.01 seems silly, sure. Can Vanguard keep $0.50? What about $1? $5?