Vanguard Adds Fees for Some Brokerage Services
Vanguard will charge $25 to buy or sell its ETFs and mutual funds over the phone, with some exceptions.
Vanguard Group customers wanting to buy or sell Vanguard mutual or exchange-traded funds over the phone will have to pay $25 per trade effective July 1, unless they have at least $1 million in the investment firm’s ETFs or mutual funds.
The Independent Vanguard Adviser, a weekly publication for Vanguard investors, posted the company’s updated brokerage fee schedule this week with an article citing various service charges being imposed in July.
The $25 broker-assisted commission for Vanguard ETF and mutual fund trades doesn’t apply to accounts enrolled in a Vanguard-affiliated advisory service, the fee schedule says. Vanguard currently charges nothing for trading its own funds over the phone.
“Vanguard is committed to helping clients navigate toward secure, simpler, and more seamless digital pathways, and constantly evaluates our brokerage services and products, inclusive of the commissions and fee schedule,” a Vanguard spokesperson told ThinkAdvisor via email, adding that Vanguard mutual funds and ETFs could still be traded online without commissions.
Related: Fidelity to Charge $100 Fee on 9 Firms’ ETFs
“While Vanguard’s mutual funds and ETFs remain low-cost, Vanguard Brokerage Services is a different story as fees, particularly for smaller investors, keep cropping up,” IVA editor Jeff DeMaso wrote in the May 1 newsletter.
“I suppose this is the ‘new’ Vanguard. But, frankly, it feels like we are being nickeled and dimed,” DeMaso wrote.
“The $25 fee to trade on the phone is particularly disappointing. I won’t be paying that fee because I trade online. Do you know who is going to pay that fee? A retiree who has been a lifelong Vanguard investor but isn’t confident or comfortable with the internet! Why is Vanguard imposing this tool on grandparents?”
Vanguard also may charge clients with less than $5 million in qualifying Vanguard assets a $100 processing fee to close an account or transfer its assets to another firm, the updated schedule says.
The brokerage will charge $100 to deposit physical CDs, and will deduct 20% from any class-action settlement funds recovered on a client’s behalf before proceeds are deposited into their account, the schedule says.
Vanguard Brokerage also may charge a $250 fee to research and remove a restriction on a security in a client’s account, according to the document.
Image: Bloomberg
