I bought about $3k in stock through TD Ameritrade about 8-10 years ago. The stock did poorly and I didn’t do anything with it. I decided to login and discovered that TD Ameritrade was sold to Schwab a couple of years ago. I searched through my emails and saw where TDA sent an email saying that they were going to close my account due to inactivity if I didn’t sign in and/or add money within 30 days.
It looks like the stock has gone up some from its previous low, so I could probably sell it and recover some of my money. But I don’t know how to access the stock to sell it. My TD Ameritrade account was closed so signing up for Schwab probably won’t do anything for me.
We switched email servers about 3 years ago so any emails prior to that are lost.
I don’t know how to sell the stock since I don’t have any certificates and the account closed. Any suggestions? It isn’t a huge amount of money, so I’m not going to be devastated if I’m SOL - but I thought I would ask (while showing I am indeed an ignoramus).
If they closed your account they probably liquidated the investments, if they were worth anything. In that case they would have sent you a check or made a deposit in a linked account. I would think you’d also have an email to that effect but possibly they just sent postal mail.
I also had ameritrade and was delinquent about transferring - although not as delinquent as you! Just attempt to set up an account at Schwab and see if it is still sitting there. My stuff was all there.
Fully acknowledging my ignorance here, WW, on the finance side of this.
When you note it may have escheated to the state, do you think it’s gone forever, or just being held by the state?
I did my father’s estate early in covid, and am doing another one now for a family friend who died last year (I’m not trusts & estates lawyer, just “the lawyer” in the family circle who’s got more expertise than anyone else to sort shit out.)
In both cases, there were long-lost assets that were being held by the state but were eventually recoverable.
Do you think the OP’s situation is more likely to be “gone forever” or just “held for a period of time, but you can get it back if you go after it”?
I would call Schwab’s customer service line first. They may be able to look up your accounts, and what/where the funds went. Just opening a Schwab account won’t necessarily bring those funds, if they’re available, into the account you open.
Worse case would be it was declared abandoned, or lost property, or something depending on how long it’s been. Then it’s a process to try to recover it.
Probably liquidated the positions and then sent to the Secretary of State as unclaimed property.
That’s based on my understanding how Illinois does it which could be a little off.
Rick’s money is not gone it’s either at Schwab or Florida Secretary of State’s office (and if he’s lucky it’s still in stock but not holding my breath on that)
ETA: I’ve always had a vague question about what a state does with those unclaimed funds. Are they held in a non-interest-bearing account, or can they invest them in something safe like Treasuries and put the interest to use on behalf of the state?
Depends on the state. For most, the money is put into a trust like account and invested, the dividends and interest from those accounts are then dispersed in various state programs.
That’s what I’d expect in some form. Pretty sure a form of that is how our firm’s IOLTA works as well - though I think the account is the firm’s name…but I think we’re holding the principal on behalf of the client until such time as we’ve earned it and can withdraw it to get paid; but the interest gets allocated to the Commonwealth of MA for indigent defense and whatnot. I think. I should know more definitively off the top of my head, but I don’t.
Been there, had that happen. In my case the investment firm simply stopped housekeeping on the stock and instead sold it and put the cash in my account as “available cash funds.” All I had to do was call them, verify who I was, and they sent the funds to the ACH on file, which fortunately, still existed.
They also gave me the option of opening a new account with that cash, but I declined.
UPDATE - I created an account with Schwab and it didn’t show anything. I opened an online Chat and they said that their records show that the stock was sold in 2022. I don’t recall selling it as it was so low that I probably would have sat on it in hopes that it went back up. So either they sold it since I wasn’t funding the account, or I sold it and don’t remember.
At least I know what happened. Thanks to all who contributed information and suggestions. Except for Windy - he will always suck. j/k
As others have said, you should be able to get a check (after you’ve suffered the requisite amount of pain from the process). But, don’t forget to also take the Capital Loss on your tax return. You might have to file an amended '22 return, but it should be worth it. Good luck.
