Fidelity - no longer any fees, 5.21% Money Market, $100 bonus, Airline Miles

montee4 said: haydeecm said: I just funded my account. When I try to set up an ATM card online, seems to give me the option between a visa gold and American Express gold, even though in the previous page it says the American Express gold is not available. Whats this all about? Are they both ATM cards, is it one or the other.

I applied two weeks ago for the AMEX Gold card and just got it yesterday. So even though it says it is no longer being offered, they are still sending it out if you apply for it. Fidelity pays the annual fee ($75) on it as well.

Does AMEX or Fidelity do a HARD credit report PULL for opening the American Express Gold "ATM card"?
Does PNC or Fidelity do a HARD credit report PULL for opening the VISA Gold ATM card?

TIA.

I had a hard pull on Equifax for the AMEX Gold Card. Didn't check the other bureaus.

I haven't received my $100 bonus yet, however, i am in the midst of transferring my assets to Fidelity. I must say i am quite pleased with the website interface and features as well as the customer service - almost every single rep has been very helpful - not always the case with other contact centers.

bill777 said: montee4 said: haydeecm said: I just funded my account. When I try to set up an ATM card online, seems to give me the option between a visa gold and American Express gold, even though in the previous page it says the American Express gold is not available. Whats this all about? Are they both ATM cards, is it one or the other.

I applied two weeks ago for the AMEX Gold card and just got it yesterday. So even though it says it is no longer being offered, they are still sending it out if you apply for it. Fidelity pays the annual fee ($75) on it as well.

Does AMEX or Fidelity do a HARD credit report PULL for opening the American Express Gold "ATM card"?
Does PNC or Fidelity do a HARD credit report PULL for opening the VISA Gold ATM card?

TIA.There was no hard pull for me for the Visa Gold ATM card...

MitzEclipse said: I haven't received my $100 bonus yet, however, i am in the midst of transferring my assets to Fidelity. I must say i am quite pleased with the website interface and features as well as the customer service - almost every single rep has been very helpful - not always the case with other contact centers.Fidelity's representives are one of the best that I have ever worked with. I continually am amazed about how good they are.

I got the $100 bonus. Thanks OP!

I now want to get the 25,000 bonus flyer miles. It seems that I need to first sign up for with Mileage Plus to get a number. But my question is, what can realistically do with 25,000 miles?

djspray said:

I think they might have caught onto the double-dipping though, as I had my $100 bonus applied 3 days after deposit, but my first 15,000 miles haven't deposited yet(17+ days). I signed up for both before starting accounts, received non-first-account eligibility email(like others), and have been transferring in and out 10k/15k increments to hit 50k net deposit. Still no miles.

same here, though it's only been about 10 days waiting so far, but i am not holding my breath.

FatWalletLurker said: Just as a gentle note to the readers of this LONG thread, as has been described above, you only need 10k to get the full 25,000 United Miles.

Just deposit the 10k, withdraw it, then repeat four more times.

The interest rate in the FCASH account isn't perfect 3-4%, but the interest you'll lose between this and a 5.5% account in the month it takes to settle these five deposits/withdrawals is not significant (45$ in interest versus 25$). You get an additional 10k miles, which are worth 80-150$. For people near airports with traditionally higher rates (ie, not LAX or NY), these miles can be worth even more.

To answer the PMs I get when I mention this:
Yes, I have done this with the 100$, had no problem with either.
No, I did not leave the money in there. I have ~50$ total in my Fidelity account right now. I'll withdraw it after the 6 minimum months have passed.
techboyds,
Not so.

techboyds said:
ScootyPuffSr,
Thanks for the tip about re-investment. I just set up my FSLXX to reinvest its dividends into my FSTMX. Nice. I never would have thought of trying that had you not mentioned it.
I agree - didn't even know this was an option. Will try this out.

techboyds said:
On the other hand, there is a disclaimer at the bottom of that very page which reads

Note: The only option allowed for the following funds is Reinvest in Security: Fidelity Cash, Fidelity Cash Reserves, Fidelity U.S. Government Reserves, Fidelity Select Money Market, Fidelity Municipal Money Market, Fidelity Tax-Free Money Market, Fidelity California Municipal Money Market, Fidelity Connecticut Municipal Money Market, Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Money Market, Fidelity Michigan Municipal Money Market, Fidelity New Jersey Municipal Money Market, Fidelity New York Municipal Money Market, Fidelity Ohio Municipal Money Market, Fidelity Pennsylvania Municipal Money Market.

So, I guess we'll see in a couple of weeks...
Mine won't stick when I set it online. Perhaps calling and having them enable it gets around that policy.

I agree that Fidelity has awesome customer service and an all-around professional internet interface for everything. One question, does anyone know when money transferred through their money-line service starts earning interest? It would appear that as soon as I enter the transer, I can go ahead and move it into a money-market fund, so is it already earning interest in the core account the first day and the MM the second day, before the money is ever transferred out of my other bank?

markkundinger said: When you first order a Moneyline, it appears in your history with a date in the future. This is really a "pending" transaction.

Generally you expect the money to post to both Fidelity and the other bank on the next business day. (Order the transfer late wednesday night, expect posting in both places on Friday).

On the Fidelity side, on Friday morning the cash will appear as "unsettled cash". You should be able to trade with it. If you do nothing else, it will be swept into your core at the very end of the day.
Pretty sure you can trade with it on Thursday in your situation.

From my experience, you can trade with it the business day before it is processed. So, if you do on Wednesday night (after the 3:30 PM cutoff), you can trade with it Thursday (including buying MF's where the sale is processed Thursday evening), and the money will be transfered overnight on Friday. If you processed a transfer on Thursday, before the 3:30 PM cutoff, you can trade with it immediately after submitting it.

I'm not sure how it relates to the core account, I usually buy my moneymarket fund right away.

This may have to do with the, for lack of better term, "float", between the date of transaction and the date of settlement, which you get with just about any kind of equity purchase. It is a subject about which I know very little.

Unless you are a day trader does the settlement time really matter on stocks? I mean if I transfer money in the morning and I purchase stocks that morning, I've locked in the price of those stocks from that point on. Does it really matter if it doesn't settle for a day or I didn't officially own them yet? Or that the money won't be pulled from my bank for a day or two?

Anyone know that Fidelity has a A2/A rated 28 day ARS with min $50K buyin which reset at a rate of 5.57% today that converts into 5.72% APY. That is a dam good rate.

sonnysighedup said: Sorry, dolmar, the only A2/A rated 28 day ARS that reset today was HEF 2004-1 B-2 144A, which reset @ 5.37%. Perhaps, I'm looking in the wrong place? Or is there something else I'm missing?

Wait till tommorow. You will see the rate. Durning Market hours they were showing "Next Anticipated Rate" at 5.57% and current rate as 5.37%. The 5.37% rate was last reset.

missedit said: I want to transfer my account from ameritrade to fidelity. Should I open an account first and then do registration for the $100 bonus and miles or vice versa? Thanks

I'd say it is much better to register for the bonus first. That way there can be no accusation that you are not eligible because you are an existing account holder which they do seem to be cracking down on.

I was going to invest a $10K+ lump sum anyway so I tried for some miles. I got a notice I wasn't eligible and it has been 3 weeks and they did not show up. Oh well, I got $100 on opening the account.

I liked the services offered so much I decided I'll be doing business with them for a while. So I opened a joint account, registered it for the $100 and got it. I didn't bother to register for the miles since that is pretty clearly for new customers. But the $100 promo has a space to click to register an existing account for the promo.

The small print does say limit one per household, but not that it needs to be a new account. I honestly didn't expect to get the $100 for the joint account since I had already used my address to open my account. Since it's only been a couple of weeks I guess they could still decide to take it back.

sonnysighedup said: Sorry, dolmar, the only A2/A rated 28 day ARS that reset today was HEF 2004-1 B-2 144A, which reset @ 5.37%. Perhaps, I'm looking in the wrong place? Or is there something else I'm missing?

Also, for the low-rollers like me, there's an A2/A rated 28 day with a min of only $25k which reset @ 5.47% on 5/18, scheduled to reset again on 6/15 (CLC 2006 B-1).

As lhendricks92 asked in dolmar's Retail Cash Management FAQ, does anyone have experience with purchasing ARS with Fidelity. Specifically, is there a commission charged for buying online and/or closing out a position over the phone? NorCalSci? bubba111?

I have not sold an ARS yet, but have purchased a few over the Internet. There was no commission charged in each case to purchase, and I imagine there is none to sell as well. You need to sell over the phone. I am very pleased -- I have a municipal reset, AAA-rated ARS that is providing me with a 4.2% federal-tax free 7-day yield.

The user interface for purchasing is very clean and easy.

ahself said: ThreeDJMay said (on 1/8/2007): How the AA Miles work TOO!! (at least how it worked for me)

a) Register with the link for the AA Miles with your e-mail address and keep link open.
b) Register for the $100 bonus using the same e-mail address
c) go back to original AA link and sign up for the account.
d) Fund the account with (or sign up for Moneyline and transfer over) the $10,000
e) Wait to receive e-mail confirmations of the account opening, and bonus additions

The $100 bonus was received within the week, and the AA miles a few days after I received the $100...

It looks like I only have to keep $3000 in my account because of the investment I chose, so in a few weeks, I'll move the rest over to other investments!!

Very glad I jumped on this offer...

Using ThreeDJMay's process outlined above, I signed up for the $100 and AA promos and received both bonuses. I signed up for and funded the account at the same time. Received an email two days later letting me know I completed the steps necessary for the $100 bonus, which was credited that same day. The next day, the 15k miles were posted to my AA account. Very easy bonuses and very fast considering I received them both within three days after opening the account.

Now, considering I wasn't planning leaving the money in this account, I'm trying to decide whether I should deposit another $40k to get 10k more miles. Based on how quickly the miles posted before, I'm leaning that way.

A couple more notes:
- I currently have my 401k with Fidelity and was still able to receive both bonuses.
- I signed up with the Fidelity Municipal Money Market as my core account.


I also went through the steps above and received both $100 and the AA miles. By now, Fidelity must be well aware of the double-dipping. If they wanted to stop it, they would've by now. But what's a few airline miles among friends?