Dear Money Helps: I opened a brokerage account for my son at Success Trade Securities for a school project. He lost most of the money - and his interest in stocks. I tried, first online and then by letter, to sell the shares and close the account but heard nothing until January, when I was hit with a $50 inactivity fee. What gives? - Doug Munro, Warren, Mich.
Answer: No company likes to lose a customer, but some businesses make it harder than others to sever ties. According to Success Trade spokesman Patrick Dorton, you must sell the assets in your account before it can be closed. You should have been able to do that online, but around the time you wrote your letter, Success Trade was bought by Penson Financial Services. You couldn’t log on because the old PIN, the last four digits of your son’s Social Security number, [...]
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