« Earn $40 from Citibank - follow-up | Main | 401(k) vs. Traditional IRA vs. Roth IRA »

August 15, 2006

E*Trade bonuses just don't add up

I don't like E*Trade. I don't like their fees to trade stocks. I don't like their fees to cash in options. I don't like how long they keep me on hold. I don't like that they've charged me fees when they shouldn't have (like incorrectly applied low balance fees - twice), even though they eventually refunded those fees when I complained. I don't like that they take so long to answer email. Sometimes, they don't answer email at all. I don't like E*Trade.

So now that I've switched jobs and lost all my (worthless) stock options that my employer put into an E*Trade account, I don't have to deal with them anymore. Still, I'd like to complain about them one more time.

I got an offer for a $50 account bonus to fund a money market account. Ok, I like free money, so that was nice. The catch? The money market account pays 4.25% and you have to fund the account with at least $25,000. Yeah, a 0.25% bonus in a money market account paying nearly 1% lower than the rates at Citibank, HSBC, MBNA, Emigrant Direct, etc. is really going to entice me. So even their sign up bonuses are insulting.

I don't like E*Trade. Did I write that yet?

But here's the deal. If you're a new E*Trade customer, you can get $50 for a $1,000 deposit and earn 5.15% for three months. You just have to keep the money there for 120 days before you can close the account and walk away with the cash. That works out to nearly a 20% return.

Posted by brian at August 15, 2006 05:31 AM

Comments

Posted by: ybarra at August 15, 2006 09:52 PM