Good News: Fidelity's customer protection guarantee
Fidelity Observer spotted this guarantee, linked on the front page of Fidelity.com. Fidelity has apparently retooled its anti-fraud policies, and will "reimburse your Fidelity account for any losses due to unauthorized activity." The page details what is and is not covered by the guarantee:
Fidelity will reimburse your Fidelity account if we conclude that there was unauthorized activity resulting in a loss and that the activity occurred through no fault of your own. We will also need to ensure that the activity was not initiated by you (the account owner) or by someone you allowed to access your account.There are a couple of other catches in the fine print, including this doozy:
"The guarantee will not apply in any situation in which you do not report unauthorized activity promptly to Fidelity."It's not clear what Fidelity means by "promptly", but obviously this will be a problem for the hundreds of thousands of Fidelity customers who seldom check their account paperwork or online status. I mean, seriously. Fidelity expects us to check our accounts every few days to make sure no one has emptied it? I am not an active trader; it's not uncommon for me to review my account status just once per month, when I am mailed my paper Fidelity statement.
Nevertheless, Fidelity Observer is overall quite impressed by the guarantee, particularly after the negative buzz for Fidelity policies following news of the Strotman memo.
Fidelity also deserves credit for making the customer protection guarantee easy to understand. This is a sharp departure from earlier policy changes, which are usually legalese-filled statements Fidelity periodically forces its customers to agree to online.
Related Fidelity Observer posts:
If Hackers Empty Your Online Mutual Fund Accounts, Too Bad! (Unless ...)
Read this post on the Blogger mirror -- Reader comments often appear there that won't show up on this page. You can leave comments on either page, I'll read 'em all!
A Boston Globe columnist, Steven Syre, has a column about speculation currently swirling around Boston: What will happen to Fidelity after Chairman Edward C. "Ned" Johnson III? Johnson is 76, and his daughter Abigail is a major Fidelity shareholder, but it's not clear what role ... Read
Standard and Poors reports that Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Co. and Empire Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Co. (collectively, Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Group, or FILIG) debt outlook has been lowered (click on "Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Co. And Affiliate Outlook Revised To Neg From Stable ... Read
The Fidelity Report blogger has posted about Fidelity Magellan's massive distribution last week. Read
Fidelity Observer just received this message from a reader, regarding Fidelity Magellan (FMAGX): Read
