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Schwab glitch.

CrashCrash
in Other Investing
Deposited $200 cash to be able to trade. Bought some shares in an ETF. Came to $195.93. My intention was to take the remainder and stow it in the SWVXX MMkt. After the ETF trade, the Trade page showed me I had $4.09 in that particular account left to play with. (It only deals with one account at a time, anyhow.) So, I threw it all in the MMkt.

...End of day: My cash balance in that acct. shows MINUS .02 cents. The Chat agent pointed out that $195.93 +4.09 = $200.02.

I trusted him, of course. The numbers don't lie. But Schwab's system DID. Which REALLY sucks. What if the amount involved had been much more than that?

They asked me to make a -.02 cents withdrawal from SWVXX to see if it would work. I complied. They checked, and saw that the order was "good." ...Even though I thought the minimum was $1.00. So, was I teaching THEM? That should not be, but I'm not surprised.

Just wanted to get this misadventure out there for others to see. He assured me that tech support will get on it so that such an erroneous figure won't ever show up again like that. My trust is tarnished. ...

Comments

  • Old_JoeOld_Joe
    Yes, I haven't gotten things as thoroughly confused as you managed to, but I sometimes see mysterious 1 and 2 cent entries pop up unexpectedly in my cash account. Maybe my entries are transferred from your account, so it's all in the family anyhow.

    Maybe I should keep better track on that and when it adds up to $1.00 send a check to Trump for his ballroom. I'll make it anonymous, so that you guys won't give me a hard time.
  • CrashCrash
    Giggle. +1.
  • Derf
    Yes to both of you, as I've seen those cents also pop up from time to time. Probably the fund moved a few 1000/th up or down, just my 2 cents!
  • CrashCrash
    Funny, yooz!
  • Old_JoeOld_Joe
    Seriously, here's a factor to consider: The "cash" account at Schwab does actually pay interest. I don't remember how much, but it's some ridiculous amount, like .001% or some such nonsense.

    I'm guessing that the interest is calculated once a month, at some date known only to the Schwab computer. That calculation likely looks back about a month, and calculates some stupid "average" amount that was in the account at any time during that month.

    I sometimes have a few hundred dollars in the "cash account" for a few days at some point, like maybe interest on a CD or T-Bill comes due, That's probably where the few cents interest is generated.

    I have no idea where @Crash's 2 cents went. Hibernation?
  • CrashCrash
    Ya, it all seems plausible.
    The chat agent wondered if the 2 missing pennies were in any way connected to the (literally) 2 cents sitting in wifey's cash section of her IRA. But I told him that I just never did anything with that account. So, the answer has to be NO. His numbers were correct. The computer was wrong. Stinky poopy. Now I gotta do my own addition/subtraction in the future? Double stinky poopy.
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