Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

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stepaway
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Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by stepaway »

Just want to share my experience. My mom, sister and I have mutual fund accounts with Vanguard and received the letters urging us to transition to the brokerage account.

To avoid having multiple 1099s from Vanguard, we planned to transition in the 1st week of Jan. My mom's transition is a non-event, but my sister encountered some issues and the transition took much longer than expected:

- Her initial transition has to be cancelled since it indicated her status as Resident Alien and she needed to pick a country of citizenship. There's no option to pick USA from the drop down menu. It advised her to go back and change her Vanguard profile online, but no such Citizenship field is found online, necessitating a phone call.

- Initial phone calls through Flagship # in the morning didn't go through with prerecorded message that Vanguard is busy. This was expected given it's the 1st business day of the year. What I didn't expect was that a call back option was not offered. It's not until later in the afternoon that a call back option is available (advised of 30 min callback but turned out to be longer at about an hour later). We also use the secure message to request an update to her citizenship to cover our bases.

- When Vanguard rep finally called, he initially couldn't find my sister's account claiming there are two SS# attached to her account and insisted she completes a W9 form.
This is strange as we hadn't had issues filing her tax return and we've received the correct 1099s from Vanguard for the last several years. Also if there is multiple SS#s attached to her accounts, I would have thought Vanguard should have contacted my sister way before now.

- After completing and signing the W9 form online and her citizenship updated by the rep., we were transferred to another rep. as the Transition button / link has disappeared and she couln't do the transition online. We were told to tell the 2nd rep that the purpose of the call is "Mutual Fund Trade". The 2nd rep asked if she plan to buy stocks or trade ETFs, when she said no, the rep implied that she doesn't need to upgrade to brokerage account. When I asked if we can stay then with the mutual fund platform, the rep backtracked and said we eventually have to transition. Kinda wishy washy when Vanguard has been nagging us to transition.

- We were then transferred to a 3rd rep. who told us to select the Open an Account button to transition. This process turned out to be longer; she has to select one of her 3 account, complete the form, and e-sign, then repeat the process for each of her accounts. This was not as seamless as my mom's transition.

Thoughts / Advise:
I used to be a FINRA RR so I really like the mutual fund account setup with Vanguard as it meant I didn't have to report this account to my employer. Now that I quit and retired two years ago at 42. I'm considering transitioning to brokerage account, but hesitating as I could potentially go back and work for FINRA registered employers and I love the YTD annual statement. Also, my understanding is that the Roth IRA conversion is much easier when it involves multiple funds (ie Rollover IRA / Fund A to Roth IRA / Fund B initiated in exact total amount as opposed to # of shares - can anyone confirm??).

Finally with the issues my sister encountered I'm a bit worried since I have more accounts. On the other hand, I guess it's better to find out all the potential issues now than later. The wishy washy rep didn't help as he seems to imply that there's no urgency.

I'll update if more issues come up
sycamore
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by sycamore »

mauwong wrote: Tue Jan 05, 2021 4:55 am ...
Thoughts / Advise:
I used to be a FINRA RR so I really like the mutual fund account setup with Vanguard as it meant I didn't have to report this account to my employer. Now that I quit and retired two years ago at 42. I'm considering transitioning to brokerage account, but hesitating as I could potentially go back and work for FINRA registered employers and I love the YTD annual statement.
I would stick with the old platform given that you prefer it. My personal opinion is that it will be around for years to come. We transitioned my accounts to the new platform but my wife's accounts are still on the old platform. The website does prompt her to transition but we have the attitude of "so what? ignore the prompt, it's just noise." When/if the time comes when there is a real significant downside to staying on the old platform, we'll switch.

Regarding the YTD statement, Vanguard provides a "custom report tool" -- I'm guessing it's only on the new platform. It lets you which account, a custom date rate, and how to organize the report (by settlement date, by holding or by transaction type). It's not a portfolio / cross-account report like the annual statement if you're familiar with the "household" report, but it might be a good enough replacement.
mauwong wrote: Tue Jan 05, 2021 4:55 am Also, my understanding is that the Roth IRA conversion is much easier when it involves multiple funds (ie Rollover IRA / Fund A to Roth IRA / Fund B initiated in exact total amount as opposed to # of shares - can anyone confirm??).
Yes, on the new platform you must enter the #shares rather than dollar amounts. Here's a recent thread discussing it: viewtopic.php?t=334519. If you can reach a customer service rep, they can enter a transaction so that you can convert the exact dollar amount -- but you may have to wait on the phone a while!
Topic Author
stepaway
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by stepaway »

Thanks sycamore for the link re. Roth conversion with the Brokerage platform.

I'm coming to the conclusion that I'm better off delaying the transition for now. When my sister's transition is complete and she has accumulated transaction activities, I'll check the "custom report tool”.

Follow up Question:
Can you still access the mutual fund platform's transaction history when you transitioned to brokerage or do they eventually go away??

With the mutual fund platform, I currently have access to the transactions history even for funds that were converted from investor to admiral class or funds that were closed for years.

In my mom & sis' case, the transactions history of the investor class funds are missing when converted to admiral. This is unfortunate as they don't keep complete records. So there's no way to obtain the original cost basis and date of purchase for certain uncovered shares. Anyone knows whether Vanguard could still provide the missing transaction history or am I missing something else?
Last edited by stepaway on Tue Jan 05, 2021 8:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
MishkaWorries
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by MishkaWorries »

If there is even a miniscule chance you will return to a FINRA position, there is no way I would convert the account to a brokerage account.

If you take a new position, and you are still young, you may have to switch brokers from Vanguard to whomever your employer has a reporting relationship with.
We plan. G-d laughs.
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stepaway
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by stepaway »

mauwong wrote: Tue Jan 05, 2021 7:15 am
Follow up Question:
Can you still access the mutual fund platform's transaction history when you transitioned to brokerage or do they eventually go away??

With the mutual fund platform, I currently have access to the transactions history even for funds that were converted from investor to admiral class or funds that were closed for years.

In my mom & sis' case, the transactions history of the investor class funds are missing when converted to admiral. This is unfortunate as they don't keep complete records. So there's no way to obtain the original cost basis and date of purchase for certain uncovered shares. Anyone knows whether Vanguard could still provide the missing transaction history or am I missing something else?
UPDATE:
My mom and sister's transitions to brokerage are completed - took only one business day.

One HUGE surprise: The missing transactions history from the investor class funds that were converted to admiral as well as closed funds are now showing up!!!
sycamore
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by sycamore »

mauwong wrote: Tue Jan 05, 2021 9:28 am
mauwong wrote: Tue Jan 05, 2021 7:15 am
Follow up Question:
Can you still access the mutual fund platform's transaction history when you transitioned to brokerage or do they eventually go away??

With the mutual fund platform, I currently have access to the transactions history even for funds that were converted from investor to admiral class or funds that were closed for years.

In my mom & sis' case, the transactions history of the investor class funds are missing when converted to admiral. This is unfortunate as they don't keep complete records. So there's no way to obtain the original cost basis and date of purchase for certain uncovered shares. Anyone knows whether Vanguard could still provide the missing transaction history or am I missing something else?
UPDATE:
My mom and sister's transitions to brokerage are completed - took only one business day.

One HUGE surprise: The missing transactions history from the investor class funds that were converted to admiral as well as closed funds are now showing up!!!
That's good news!

And I can confirm that VG shows me transactions for a fund I bought on the old platform. FWIW, for cost basis info I don't use use transaction history.
Instead I prefer to keep the Trade Confirmations -- they're like a receipt or proof of purchase. And in the old days, trade confirmations were where you could see the commission, which counted toward basis.
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Eagle33
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by Eagle33 »

mauwong wrote: Tue Jan 05, 2021 9:28 am UPDATE:
My mom and sister's transitions to brokerage are completed - took only one business day.

One HUGE surprise: The missing transactions history from the investor class funds that were converted to admiral as well as closed funds are now showing up!!!
I recommend your mom & sister download the transaction histories before they disappear. Doing so will probably insure no problems in the future with the transaction history.
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beyou
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by beyou »

I still work for a FINRA member firm, but they decided to allow VBS as a designated broker.
So I COULD transition but when I tried online they insisted I call and talk to them after answering that I was an "associated person"
(associated with a FINRA member). Of course nobody can get through, I tried asking for call backs, none came. I tried emails, no response yet.
I tried just waiting on hold, they hung up with "circuits are busy".

I have 3 choices :

1) leave myself on old platform, just don't like those comments about changes coming "2022 or sooner".
Given the bad service on the phone I want to make sure I have the best possible online features, not some neglected
older platform (if they really do start retiring features and/or not upgrading them as necessary).

2) wait patiently but I too wanted to do this early in Jan to avoid 2 1099s next year (from old and new platforms)
Eventually they will respond to my emails asking for help. They did in the past (as recently as 1-2 months ago within a day's wait time).

3) just say I am not associated, get the transition done all online, and then tell them to change my affiliation designation afterwards.
They are a valid designated broker so as long as they setup the reporting to my employer soon, seems fine.


I am planning to retire in the next year or so, could wait and avoid this issue, just concerned that I should not be last on the "old platform".
I wonder how many accounts are on the old vs new platform ?
MadHungarian
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by MadHungarian »

You all might not want to make unnecessary changes right at the end/beginning of the year, when Vanguard is slammed with everyone else trying to contact them right then. That is, unless you need to make the changes right now.
You're hitting Vanguard right in those areas that its traditionally been weak in, the resiliency of its customer service.
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stepaway
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by stepaway »

Eagle33 wrote: Tue Jan 05, 2021 10:11 pm I recommend your mom & sister download the transaction histories before they disappear. Doing so will probably insure no problems in the future with the transaction history.
That's the 1st thing I had them do, then checked the rest of the setups (automatic investments, beneficiaries, etc.). The only issue so far (again sis account / mom's fine) is the reinvest dividends/capital gains in some accounts didn't stick (easily fixed).
Last edited by stepaway on Wed Jan 06, 2021 2:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
Topic Author
stepaway
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by stepaway »

sycamore wrote: Tue Jan 05, 2021 10:02 am And I can confirm that VG shows me transactions for a fund I bought on the old platform. FWIW, for cost basis info I don't use use transaction history.
Instead I prefer to keep the Trade Confirmations -- they're like a receipt or proof of purchase. And in the old days, trade confirmations were where you could see the commission, which counted toward basis.
My mom and sister are not the type to be bothered with keeping records. At least the transactions history for the noncovered shares can easily be made into 1 file for them to keep. Thankfully, they only have Vanguard mutual funds, so there's no commission fee.

Worth noting, the brokerage platform's transactions history is also more informative as it has a column for Commission/fee (indicated "free” for the VG funds)
Last edited by stepaway on Wed Jan 06, 2021 5:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
Topic Author
stepaway
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by stepaway »

MadHungarian wrote: Wed Jan 06, 2021 12:06 am You all might not want to make unnecessary changes right at the end/beginning of the year, when Vanguard is slammed with everyone else trying to contact them right then. That is, unless you need to make the changes right now.
You're hitting Vanguard right in those areas that its traditionally been weak in, the resiliency of its customer service.
We wanted to do the transition 1st thing in January to avoid multiple 1099s. Also, I didn't expect that we'll need to contact Vanguard since most reports indicated that the transition is easy with no issues. Come to think of it, I should never expect that with my sis based on past experience :oops: Her luck has always been that way. It usually starts with disaster then things work to her favor in the end. Mine on the other hand is good generally, but once there's an issue it's usually unpleasant to the end.
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stepaway
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by stepaway »

MishkaWorries wrote: Tue Jan 05, 2021 7:45 am If there is even a miniscule chance you will return to a FINRA position, there is no way I would convert the account to a brokerage account.

If you take a new position, and you are still young, you may have to switch brokers from Vanguard to whomever your employer has a reporting relationship with.
This definitively gives me pause. If I ever un-retire (hopefully not), I'll probably end up in the financial sector as most of my network are in this field.

At least having my mom and sis transition to the brokerage platform, I know now what to expect and not as apprehensive. The "custom report tool" is not ideal but could be used to replace the YTD annual statement so that's a relief.
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stepaway
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by stepaway »

beyou wrote: Tue Jan 05, 2021 11:06 pm I still work for a FINRA member firm, but they decided to allow VBS as a designated broker.
So I COULD transition but when I tried online they insisted I call and talk to them after answering that I was an "associated person"
(associated with a FINRA member). Of course nobody can get through, I tried asking for call backs, none came. I tried emails, no response yet.
I tried just waiting on hold, they hung up with "circuits are busy".

........

I am planning to retire in the next year or so, could wait and avoid this issue, just concerned that I should not be last on the "old platform".
I wonder how many accounts are on the old vs new platform ?
Instead of the Flagship #, have you tried calling the general Vanguard Investor# 877-662-7447?

We encountered the "circuits are busy" with the Flagship#. After we did receive a call back from Vanguard, this is the number they transferred us to talk to the 2nd rep who transferred us to the 3rd rep for the transition. By the way, the 1st rep (I assume the Flagship rep) indicated (if our call is dropped and needed to call back) that if asked for the purpose of the call to choose/say "Mutual fund trade". I assume that this is a cue to prioritize us ahead of the line for a rep to answer our call.

There are probably plenty of accounts in the old platform: Certain group in the FINRA sector like us, individuals like my sister who can't be bothered, individuals like my mom with limited tech know how, just to name a few
Carl53
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by Carl53 »

Called VG thrice during last week of 2020. First time I was invited to get a call back. When they called back after about 50 minutes the computer would not accept me pressing my selection on the keypad acting like I pressed nothing. Tried again later in the day on hold for about 2.5 hours only to be told at the end of the day I should have tried the 7447 number (which I did to initiate the call). They picked up just before 8pm and offered to transfer me to another queue on the retirement line. I declined and made it a point to call right at 8AM the next morning. I said the magic word 'Retirement' as I had been advised by the rep the evening before and was immediately transferred to a person that provided me some assurance as to what I was doing was acceptable. We keep getting requests to transfer accounts but I think I'll resist as long as possible. I like being able to transfer dollar amounts without having to plan it out days in advance.
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by beyou »

mauwong wrote: Wed Jan 06, 2021 3:19 am Instead of the Flagship #, have you tried calling the general Vanguard Investor# 877-662-7447?
I was told by a popup message on the site to call (800) 523-8821 when I tried to transition online, due to my FINRA reporting need. Only called flagship after I could not get through on that line. Finally sent email. The email was Monday maybe 2-3pm, now Wed morning still no response from Flagship reps.
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by TrumanTown »

I made the mistake of initiating the transition. I have spent hours on the phone over the past week or so trying to iron out a wide variety of issues. Every person I’ve talked with has given me at least one piece of information that later turned out to be wrong. The craziest: I received a secure message on the website saying that I needed to fill something out to maintain my agent access to my wife’s account. I was told on a phone call to ignore it and that my existing agent relationship would remain in place. Then I got a new message saying that I needed to take action. With a VH rep on the line, I clicked on the link and answered the questions. It took me a page saying that the link had expired. I clicked on the link on today’s reminder message, filled out the questions, and got the same link expired message. So now I have to fill out a new 8-page paper form that needs to be witnessed and notarized just to maintain an agent relationship I’ve had for years. Hours and hours on the phone with no clear understanding on VG’s end about what’s going on. Heads should roll over this disaster of a transition. The higher the better.
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by Nate79 »

TrumanTown wrote: Fri May 06, 2022 6:15 pm I made the mistake of initiating the transition. I have spent hours on the phone over the past week or so trying to iron out a wide variety of issues. Every person I’ve talked with has given me at least one piece of information that later turned out to be wrong. The craziest: I received a secure message on the website saying that I needed to fill something out to maintain my agent access to my wife’s account. I was told on a phone call to ignore it and that my existing agent relationship would remain in place. Then I got a new message saying that I needed to take action. With a VH rep on the line, I clicked on the link and answered the questions. It took me a page saying that the link had expired. I clicked on the link on today’s reminder message, filled out the questions, and got the same link expired message. So now I have to fill out a new 8-page paper form that needs to be witnessed and notarized just to maintain an agent relationship I’ve had for years. Hours and hours on the phone with no clear understanding on VG’s end about what’s going on. Heads should roll over this disaster of a transition. The higher the better.
That's what you get when you work with an incompetent brokerage. Move.
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by mkc »

TrumanTown wrote: Fri May 06, 2022 6:15 pm I made the mistake of initiating the transition. I have spent hours on the phone over the past week or so trying to iron out a wide variety of issues. Every person I’ve talked with has given me at least one piece of information that later turned out to be wrong. The craziest: I received a secure message on the website saying that I needed to fill something out to maintain my agent access to my wife’s account. I was told on a phone call to ignore it and that my existing agent relationship would remain in place. Then I got a new message saying that I needed to take action. With a VH rep on the line, I clicked on the link and answered the questions. It took me a page saying that the link had expired. I clicked on the link on today’s reminder message, filled out the questions, and got the same link expired message. So now I have to fill out a new 8-page paper form that needs to be witnessed and notarized just to maintain an agent relationship I’ve had for years. Hours and hours on the phone with no clear understanding on VG’s end about what’s going on. Heads should roll over this disaster of a transition. The higher the better.
Other than the phone call, this is my exact experience with the exception that not only did my spouse lose agent authorization to my IRA account that I transitioned, my spouse lost all agent authorization on the two accounts (MF and brokerage) that we are joint on which were not at all part of the transition - yes, they removed an owner's access to accounts. I have been fighting this error on our joint accounts for a month now.
Bagels
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by Bagels »

Upon login this morning, I got the pop-up that I’m sure many of you are getting. it warns that if i don’t transition to brokerage, there may be technical difficulties. So…another day on the Vanguard website in other words?
missing [b]madsinger[/b]’s monthly reports
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by tibbitts »

I received the popup today. As far as I know they still haven't provided the ability to redirect distributions from one fund into another on the brokerage platform.
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by Cheez-It Guy »

People, just transition. It's no big deal. Don't make this some drawn-out saga.
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by BigJohn »

Or don’t transition and do one of two things….

Accept the loss of capability and the potential for higher fees (just my speculation) or…

Find a MF account elsewhere that has the capabilities you want that are missing in the brokerage account.

I think it’s inevitable that VG is going to force this to a conclusion one way or the other.
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by ee_guy »

There are two features that keeps me on the mutual platform:

(1) the ability to take a RMD by just exchanging the shares from a IRA to a taxable account eg: VFIAX (IRA) to VFIAX (taxable). This avoids being out of the market for any amount of time. No need for a settlement account.

(2) one consolidated household statement at the end of the year with all the transactions listed.

Using an app is a not issue.
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by BigJohn »

ee_guy wrote: Thu Jun 23, 2022 5:22 pm There are two features that keeps me on the mutual platform:

(1) the ability to take a RMD by just exchanging the shares from a IRA to a taxable account eg: VFIAX (IRA) to VFIAX (taxable). This avoids being out of the market for any amount of time. No need for a settlement account.

(2) one consolidated household statement at the end of the year with all the transactions listed.

Using an app is a not issue.
Are you sure you can’t do #1? I’m not taking RMDs yet but I routinely transfer shares from my tIRA to to my Roth (both brokerage).
"The greatest enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan" - Carl Von Clausewitz
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by Cheez-It Guy »

I think they are being too gentle, to be honest. They've been prodding people for almost a decade now.

Here is a blog article from 2015 that notified me of the possibility, and it says the option had already existed for a couple years. So yes, basically a decade:

https://www.mymoneyblog.com/vanguard-me ... -cons.html

And yet people still post on here pretty frequently acting completely oblivious. Maybe it's not an act. I want to be on the supported platform. It's a no-brainer. I can get over a few minor changes of function.
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by Nate79 »

Cheez-It Guy wrote: Thu Jun 23, 2022 6:04 pm I think they are being too gentle, to be honest. They've been prodding people for almost a decade now.

Here is a blog article from 2015 that notified me of the possibility, and it says the option had already existed for a couple years. So yes, basically a decade:

https://www.mymoneyblog.com/vanguard-me ... -cons.html

And yet people still post on here pretty frequently acting completely oblivious. Maybe it's not an act. I want to be on the supported platform. It's a no-brainer. I can get over a few minor changes of function.
Some people live their life oblivious.
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Cheez-It Guy
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by Cheez-It Guy »

Approaching time to pull the rug out or make it too painful to remain.
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by swylie »

I've been on the Brokerage platform since they initiated it and have had zero problems. And it seems to me Vanguard is (slowly!) improving the brokerage platform--today I made trades for the first time in a couple months and was delighted to see that you can now use a dollar amount rather than shares for your transaction. This means you can buy/sell partial shares...I'm sure soon to follow will be the ability to automatically take your RMD across funds.
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by PinotGris »

Two days ago I hit the transition button. This is what happened. My instructions on dividend distribution has always been for some time to exchange them all into money market account and I checked it again recently so no shares are bought in funds I am trading in. Yesterday Lifestrategy Growth just bought itself some shares with my dividends. When I got hold of a" consultant " and asked her to explain this , she was stumped. She agreed my instructions were right and were made in a timely manner and she will find out what happened and will call me back. No call back. I called today still no explanation but I noticed the purchased was reverted with 6 different transactions.
I am losing confidence with Vanguard and their system. What else is going wrong? This transition has been on going for what 3 years now? Do you think they could have ironed out all the bugs by now? Shocking I got hold a talking person on the phone both times and no wait, I got a call back. But no explanation.
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by Itster »

My wife and I recently transitioned our retirement accounts at Vanguard. We've had an existing combined regular brokerage account for years as well. Previously, we only used mutual funds in tax-deferred but now wanted the option to purchase CDs, Treasuries, etc. in those accounts. No issues that we've noticed so far, thankfully. But ... we were one of "those" who ignored the request for all this time. :)

Maybe ours went smoothly since we simply had 2-3 funds in each, without much configuration needed.
Last edited by Itster on Thu Jun 30, 2022 2:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by alvinsch »

I transitioned on Tuesday and have been on the phone constantly with my flagship rep to fix all the problems.

1. I have nothing set to reinvest but the transition caused half my funds to randomly reinvest the dividends on 6/28. Still trying to get that resolved.

2. Transition step by step pages showed click here to recreate checking account but when you click on it I'd get a blank page. Rep later said you can't create account until transfer is complete. Why then have it as one of the steps to complete transfer. Idiotic!

3. Requires setting up new checking accounts by scanning in JPEG files of signatures. Went thru the setup multiple times with multiple browsers and NEVER got a method for attaching files. Rep's had no idea why, as a docu sign page was suppose to come up but never did.

4. Tried to exchange funds from my old MM fund to the new settlement MM fund (don't need two) but when asking where to transfer the money it would show the settlement fund but had no check box beside it like all the other funds have. Wasted a lot of time before figuring out you can do exchanges to any fund EXCEPT the settlement fund (have to do a sell, not an exchange in this one case). What an inconsistent and frustrating interface.

5. My automated phone call for security ID verification stopped working after I did the transition. Still doesn't work and the rep has no idea why. Fortunately I had a back up number to use which did still work.

I waited years before doing the transition because I hoped they would work out the bugs. Obviously not as their software sucks more than ever.
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HueyLD
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by HueyLD »

AlvinSch,

Have you considered moving your assets out of Vanguard?
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alvinsch
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by alvinsch »

HueyLD wrote: Thu Jun 30, 2022 2:50 pm AlvinSch,

Have you considered moving your assets out of Vanguard?
Odds are they'd screw that transfer up too and my assets would disappear into the ether. Better the devil you know...
ee_guy
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by ee_guy »

PinotGris wrote: Thu Jun 30, 2022 1:29 pm Two days ago I hit the transition button. This is what happened. My instructions on dividend distribution has always been for some time to exchange them all into money market account and I checked it again recently so no shares are bought in funds I am trading in. Yesterday Lifestrategy Growth just bought itself some shares with my dividends. When I got hold of a" consultant " and asked her to explain this , she was stumped. She agreed my instructions were right and were made in a timely manner and she will find out what happened and will call me back. No call back. I called today still no explanation but I noticed the purchased was reverted with 6 different transactions.
I am losing confidence with Vanguard and their system. What else is going wrong? This transition has been on going for what 3 years now? Do you think they could have ironed out all the bugs by now? Shocking I got hold a talking person on the phone both times and no wait, I got a call back. But no explanation.
Thank you for this post. Based on your experience, one should avoid making the transition close to an ex-dividend date. It seems the default is to reinvest dividends and needs to be over-ridden. There seems to be lag in conveying this information to the brokerage account.
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PinotGris
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by PinotGris »

alvinsch wrote: Thu Jun 30, 2022 2:22 pm I transitioned on Tuesday and have been on the phone constantly with my flagship rep to fix all the problems.

1. I have nothing set to reinvest but the transition caused half my funds to randomly reinvest the dividends on 6/28. Still trying to get that resolved.

2. Transition step by step pages showed click here to recreate checking account but when you click on it I'd get a blank page. Rep later said you can't create account until transfer is complete. Why then have it as one of the steps to complete transfer. Idiotic!

3. Requires setting up new checking accounts by scanning in JPEG files of signatures. Went thru the setup multiple times with multiple browsers and NEVER got a method for attaching files. Rep's had no idea why, as a docu sign page was suppose to come up but never did.

4. Tried to exchange funds from my old MM fund to the new settlement MM fund (don't need two) but when asking where to transfer the money it would show the settlement fund but had no check box beside it like all the other funds have. Wasted a lot of time before figuring out you can do exchanges to any fund EXCEPT the settlement fund (have to do a sell, not an exchange in this one case). What an inconsistent and frustrating interface.

5. My automated phone call for security ID verification stopped working after I did the transition. Still doesn't work and the rep has no idea why. Fortunately I had a back up number to use which did still work.

I waited years before doing the transition because I hoped they would work out the bugs. Obviously not as their software sucks more than ever.
My VG Fed Money Market account was transitioned to VG Cash Reserve MM Fund which is the brokerage settlement account properly
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PinotGris
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by PinotGris »

ee_guy wrote: Thu Jun 30, 2022 3:26 pm
PinotGris wrote: Thu Jun 30, 2022 1:29 pm Two days ago I hit the transition button. This is what happened. My instructions on dividend distribution has always been for some time to exchange them all into money market account and I checked it again recently so no shares are bought in funds I am trading in. Yesterday Lifestrategy Growth just bought itself some shares with my dividends. When I got hold of a" consultant " and asked her to explain this , she was stumped. She agreed my instructions were right and were made in a timely manner and she will find out what happened and will call me back. No call back. I called today still no explanation but I noticed the purchased was reverted with 6 different transactions.
I am losing confidence with Vanguard and their system. What else is going wrong? This transition has been on going for what 3 years now? Do you think they could have ironed out all the bugs by now? Shocking I got hold a talking person on the phone both times and no wait, I got a call back. But no explanation.
Thank you for this post. Based on your experience, one should avoid making the transition close to an ex-dividend date. It seems the default is to reinvest dividends and needs to be over-ridden. There seems to be lag in conveying this information to the brokerage account.
I was only checking the distribution dates for VTSAX as I am buying shares. Yes, avoid dividend distribution time to update brokerage account.
But why did my standing instruction not hold? How to overide the default reinvest?
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PinotGris
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by PinotGris »

PinotGris wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 9:41 am
ee_guy wrote: Thu Jun 30, 2022 3:26 pm
PinotGris wrote: Thu Jun 30, 2022 1:29 pm Two days ago I hit the transition button. This is what happened. My instructions on dividend distribution has always been for some time to exchange them all into money market account and I checked it again recently so no shares are bought in funds I am trading in. Yesterday Lifestrategy Growth just bought itself some shares with my dividends. When I got hold of a" consultant " and asked her to explain this , she was stumped. She agreed my instructions were right and were made in a timely manner and she will find out what happened and will call me back. No call back. I called today still no explanation but I noticed the purchased was reverted with 6 different transactions.
I am losing confidence with Vanguard and their system. What else is going wrong? This transition has been on going for what 3 years now? Do you think they could have ironed out all the bugs by now? Shocking I got hold a talking person on the phone both times and no wait, I got a call back. But no explanation.
Thank you for this post. Based on your experience, one should avoid making the transition close to an ex-dividend date. It seems the default is to reinvest dividends and needs to be over-ridden. There seems to be lag in conveying this information to the brokerage account.
UP date. Dividends were reinvested in several of my funds instead of into the cash reserve. The default in the updated brokerage account IS the Settlement fund - cash. Instead they were reinvested to buy shares I did not want. I have an appointment with my customer rep. I hope she can trace what has happened.
I was only checking the distribution dates for VTSAX as I am buying shares. Yes, avoid dividend distribution time to update brokerage account.
But why did my standing instruction not hold? How to overide the default reinvest?
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PinotGris
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by PinotGris »

PinotGris wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 10:36 am
PinotGris wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 9:41 am
ee_guy wrote: Thu Jun 30, 2022 3:26 pm
PinotGris wrote: Thu Jun 30, 2022 1:29 pm Two days ago I hit the transition button. This is what happened. My instructions on dividend distribution has always been for some time to exchange them all into money market account and I checked it again recently so no shares are bought in funds I am trading in. Yesterday Lifestrategy Growth just bought itself some shares with my dividends. When I got hold of a" consultant " and asked her to explain this , she was stumped. She agreed my instructions were right and were made in a timely manner and she will find out what happened and will call me back. No call back. I called today still no explanation but I noticed the purchased was reverted with 6 different transactions.
I am losing confidence with Vanguard and their system. What else is going wrong? This transition has been on going for what 3 years now? Do you think they could have ironed out all the bugs by now? Shocking I got hold a talking person on the phone both times and no wait, I got a call back. But no explanation.
Thank you for this post. Based on your experience, one should avoid making the transition close to an ex-dividend date. It seems the default is to reinvest dividends and needs to be over-ridden. There seems to be lag in conveying this information to the brokerage account.
UP date. Dividends were reinvested in several of my funds instead of into the cash reserve. The default in the updated brokerage account IS the Settlement fund - cash. Instead they were reinvested to buy shares I did not want. I have an appointment with my customer rep. I hope she can trace what has happened.
I was only checking the distribution dates for VTSAX as I am buying shares. Yes, avoid dividend distribution time to update brokerage account.
But why did my standing instruction not hold? How to overide the default reinvest?
Further update. Spoke with our customer relations person and everything has fallen in place. One piece missing but will get resolved overnight. She was quite helpful and inspired confidence. All good now. Took a while to get used to but I do like the new platform, more information at finger tips.
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PinotGris
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by PinotGris »

PinotGris wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 5:27 pm
PinotGris wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 10:36 am
PinotGris wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 9:41 am
ee_guy wrote: Thu Jun 30, 2022 3:26 pm
PinotGris wrote: Thu Jun 30, 2022 1:29 pm Two days ago I hit the transition button. This is what happened. My instructions on dividend distribution has always been for some time to exchange them all into money market account and I checked it again recently so no shares are bought in funds I am trading in. Yesterday Lifestrategy Growth just bought itself some shares with my dividends. When I got hold of a" consultant " and asked her to explain this , she was stumped. She agreed my instructions were right and were made in a timely manner and she will find out what happened and will call me back. No call back. I called today still no explanation but I noticed the purchased was reverted with 6 different transactions.
I am losing confidence with Vanguard and their system. What else is going wrong? This transition has been on going for what 3 years now? Do you think they could have ironed out all the bugs by now? Shocking I got hold a talking person on the phone both times and no wait, I got a call back. But no explanation.
Thank you for this post. Based on your experience, one should avoid making the transition close to an ex-dividend date. It seems the default is to reinvest dividends and needs to be over-ridden. There seems to be lag in conveying this information to the brokerage account.
UP date. Dividends were reinvested in several of my funds instead of into the cash reserve. The default in the updated brokerage account IS the Settlement fund - cash. Instead they were reinvested to buy shares I did not want. I have an appointment with my customer rep. I hope she can trace what has happened.
I was only checking the distribution dates for VTSAX as I am buying shares. Yes, avoid dividend distribution time to update brokerage account.
But why did my standing instruction not hold? How to overide the default reinvest?
Further update. Spoke with our customer relations person and everything has fallen in place. One piece missing but will get resolved overnight. She was quite helpful and inspired confidence. All good now. Took a while to get used to but I do like the new platform, more information at finger tips.
Spoke too soon. my two funds still show reinvestment that i did NOT request, although they have made accounting adjustments. I have to see how my quarter end report looks.
Now my husband transitioned to the new platform and I asked him to work with our customer rep. so it goes smoother. Now I lost all visibility to his IRA accounts, except for one. he has 3. and he has visibility to all of mine. the rep emailed him to complete the authorization and when he did it requires him to print, get notarized, and send it by MAIL. I cant help thinking there is some amount of sexism involved here.
Bob6590
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by Bob6590 »

Have waited several years to do the Brokerage Transition, mainly because so many folks here reported problems. I started the process in early September for both my wife's and my own account because we did not want to pay the annual fees, which would amount to around $250 for both of us.The process actually just completed October 4, when the last of several mistakes, errors and omissions were finally fixed.

To make a long story short, I had to make at least 6 calls into the Vanguard system to address the issues that arose, and until the last agent I connected with, each and every one I spoke to made one if not more incorrect statements, and also at least one failed promise to fix the issue at hand.

The most important issue was loss of Full Agent Authorization which my wife and I have had set up since 2018. Some of each of our accounts did come through properly, but NOT ALL of them. Getting this corrected took most the time, and was particularly frustrating because until the right agent got on it at the end, nobody really had a clue what to do, and most insisted we had to refile the long 8 page, fully witnessed and notarized Agent forms again.

So here is what to look out for if you forge ahead with the update: 1. Agent Authorizations will likely get scotched as ours was. 2. Any accounts you have check writing and checks for will be be cancelled. If you want checkwriting as a Brokerage customer, it will only be available on your sweep accounts, which are Fed MMF at present. 3. Your investment options such as Reinvest or Transfer to an account each period, may be scrambled up, since some of ours were and some were not kept the same 4. Found out that if we had a balance on VG of over $1MM, we could have kept the old setup and had all fees waived, if only we had asked before the transition! So keep that in mind- one phone call instead of the mess we ended up in.

And to those who say "Why not go elsewhere if you are unhappy?" Seriously? There still is no low cost alternate to the VG enterprise that I can find. In fact most charge at least 2 or 3 times the amount for any given kind of account. And until this little fiasco, have had nothing but great customer support for many years. So still here, a little shell-shocked, but hoping for smoother sailing.
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by mkc »

Bob6590 wrote: Mon Oct 10, 2022 8:39 pm Have waited several years to do the Brokerage Transition, mainly because so many folks here reported problems. I started the process in early September for both my wife's and my own account because we did not want to pay the annual fees, which would amount to around $250 for both of us.The process actually just completed October 4, when the last of several mistakes, errors and omissions were finally fixed.

To make a long story short, I had to make at least 6 calls into the Vanguard system to address the issues that arose, and until the last agent I connected with, each and every one I spoke to made one if not more incorrect statements, and also at least one failed promise to fix the issue at hand.

The most important issue was loss of Full Agent Authorization which my wife and I have had set up since 2018. Some of each of our accounts did come through properly, but NOT ALL of them. Getting this corrected took most the time, and was particularly frustrating because until the right agent got on it at the end, nobody really had a clue what to do, and most insisted we had to refile the long 8 page, fully witnessed and notarized Agent forms again.
Your experience mirrors my own. I only transitioned my tIRA so I could transfer another tIRA into it and the access issues cascaded into our joint accounts, even though I didn't touch them. I completely regret doing transitioning that account. Contacting agents (for months now) has been useless. The latest one told me that while they could find the original authorizations, it was too late to have them re-applied and we would have to get forms witnessed and notarized.
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Nate79
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by Nate79 »

Pain now or pain later when they continue to remove functionality to fully shutdown the mutual fund platform.
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starboi
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by starboi »

Bob6590 wrote: Mon Oct 10, 2022 8:39 pm

There still is no low cost alternate to the VG enterprise that I can find. In fact most charge at least 2 or 3 times the amount for any given kind of account.
Which retail brokers charge money to have an account?
sycamore
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by sycamore »

starboi wrote: Mon Oct 10, 2022 11:16 pm
Bob6590 wrote: Mon Oct 10, 2022 8:39 pm

There still is no low cost alternate to the VG enterprise that I can find. In fact most charge at least 2 or 3 times the amount for any given kind of account.
Which retail brokers charge money to have an account?
+1

As a Do It Yourself investor, I pay nothing to simply have an account at Schwab, ETrade, Fidelity, and Merrill Edge. In terms of fees:

- ETrade has no transaction fee for Vanguard mutual funds, all except a handful of money market funds.
- Schwab gave me a transaction fee waiver on Vanguard mutual funds. Admittedly not everyone can get that waiver.
- Fidelity and MerrillEdge both charge a transaction fee for Vanguard mutual funds.

Of course a transaction fee is easily avoided if an investor uses ETFs or isn't restricted to just Vanguard mutual funds.

Bob6590, what kind of account are you talking about? There are quite a few robo-advisors (similar to Vanguard's PAS) that charge about the same, certainly much less than 2 or 3 times.
Bob6590
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by Bob6590 »

Sorry, I was not clear on what I said regarding charges. I should have said that there are not many funds with as low a cost structure as Vanguard has, often the charges and costs in the other funds out there can run 2 to three times what VG charges for similar type funds.
sycamore
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by sycamore »

Bob6590 wrote: Wed Oct 12, 2022 9:54 pm Sorry, I was not clear on what I said regarding charges. I should have said that there are not many funds with as low a cost structure as Vanguard has, often the charges and costs in the other funds out there can run 2 to three times what VG charges for similar type funds.
There are some expensive brokerages out there such as Edward Jones and the like.

But nowadays Vanguard no longer offers the lowest cost funds. Take a look at the comparable index funds from Fidelity. Their ERs are lower than Vanguard's!

Same thing with Schwab's index funds.

Might be a different story with active funds though.

Worth noting that all the major brokers have no commissions for ETFs, including those from Vanguard. So cost in general isn't much of a reason to stay at Vanguard.

Huge thanks to John Bogle & Vanguard for pushing the low cost no load fund revolution. And thanks to some competitors for going along. Now the competition is on customer service, digital/robo advising and other things.
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Nate79
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Re: Vanguard Brokerage Transition - Issues Encountered

Post by Nate79 »

Bob6590 wrote: Wed Oct 12, 2022 9:54 pm Sorry, I was not clear on what I said regarding charges. I should have said that there are not many funds with as low a cost structure as Vanguard has, often the charges and costs in the other funds out there can run 2 to three times what VG charges for similar type funds.
VG is not the low cost leader. At least not this century. Maybe last century they were.
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