Singapore Expats

Hi,

I saw recently that etrade opened up a singapore site .. etrade.com.sg .. Is anyone using etrade?

Thanks,

I use the AUS version if that's of any help to you? Cheers, Mr. P

I just logged into it using my "normal" user name and password. Looks like it should work fine.

I applied for a trading account with E*TRADE on March 9, as I saw a bottoming of the stock market. It took about three weeks for the US office to get the account ready for trading.

By then the market had rebounded 14% -- oh well, live and let live .

I liked their trading platform and executions are generally smooth. Unfortunately, as soon as I tried to withdraw money from my trade account into my linked bank account within the same login session, I WAS LOCKED OUT OF THE SYSTEM.

Called the US headquarters for help. Although I answered all the security questions correctly, I had to fedex them a letter from the notary public to verify my identity before they will start work on reactivating my account.

I googled the word etrade and complaint. Other users had similar problems -- some users were locked out of the account and their money was stuck with ETRADE for WEEKS. Here's one example I found.

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/3 ... 328237.htm

Then again there were also other reports of online hacking in the past, so I'm not fully against them shutting down accounts too often once there's any suspicious activity.

I thank my lucky stars that I had closed out all my positions before the account was locked out. In any case, you can still close out of your positions over the phone -- that's nice .

The relationship manager (RM) based in Singapore was generally responsive, but once there's a lock out, he told me that there is nothing he can do.

I've been praying pretty hard that the funds will be safe -- hopefully the person who posted on ripoffreport had particularly rough time.

Other practical things I did was to have three complete sets of notarized letters: one sent to Singapore, one to the US and the final one for myself (in case its lost). I also followed up by calling the Hong Kong office. If you speak Cantonese, these reps are the most efficient.

In addition to the documents the account activation department asked for, I included copies of my passport, NRIC and welcome letter -- so that the person in the States can reconcile the name and home address on the welcome letter with my NRIC.

The letter was delivered to Arlington yesterday -- and I am blessed to know that the account activation department has received it.

I was told it takes about two business days to get the account unlocked.

Updates, hopefully happy ones, to follow .

Hi, did you manage to recover your money? Anyone knows what other company provides US stock trading in Singapore?

The account was reactivated within 24 hours of receiving my notary public letter ....

... a step in the right direction

My account was closed a few days after the last post. The overall quality of service is good -- I learnt that it was easier to get service by going through the HK / SG hotlines first and let these guys deal with the staff in HQ.

Singapore is a pretty safe country so I don't think you should worry..

should have seen this message earlier. Now my etrade account is lockout due to "suspicious activity". I believe most likely due to inactivity. I called their call center over idd line, waited & verified my identify over the phone yet they still want documents to be faxed to them to prove my identity. etrade should pay for all this...etrade sucks...now i cannot buy or close my accounts. I wonder what will happen if they still refuse to acknowledge my identity -> digital robbery!!!!