Converting our Vanguard mutual fund account to a brokerage account

[disneysteve]

I decided that I wanted to start investing in a Vanguard ETF in our taxable account. When I tried to do that, I discovered that I couldn't because it's a mutual fund account, not a brokerage account. I went through the process of transitioning it. The only difficult part is that to connect our bank account to the new brokerage account, we need to fill out a Bank Transfer Service Form, have it notarized, and mail it back. It seems like there ought to be a way to do everything electronically in this day and age, especially since that bank account has already been associated with our 5 other Vanguard accounts for as long as 20+ years. So now I have to figure out where we find a Notary and find a time when my wife and I can get there together to have this form processed. What a pain in the butt.

[Jluke]

Somewhat sarcastic but.

I would call Vanguard on Monday and see if there is anything they can do on their end electronically.

If they require the notary, tell them that if you have to go through all that effort you might as well transfer your account elsewhere to get a bonus transfer reward (bluff) or just switch to Fidelity.

End sarcasm.


There are some long threads on bogleheads if you want to do a search there to see if someone else had that issue.

also what are you buying?

[disneysteve]

I would call Vanguard on Monday and see if there is anything they can do on their end electronically.

also what are you buying?

I probably will give them a call. It seems silly to have to jump through hoops just to transition the account type. It's not like we're new customers or using a new bank account.

I haven't firmly decided on the investment but I was thinking about VYM, their high dividend fund.

[kork13]

I've had VYM for a while, and it's done nicely for me. Though I'm actually in the process of liquidating all of my ETFs in order to simplify my portfolio... But that's beside the point.

In any case, you'd be surprised at the number of random folks who are notaries. Just based on responses to questions I've seen on my small-ish (~100 homes) neighborhood's Facebook page, there are at least 3 or 4 notaries living in the neighborhood who are all happy to notarize documents as needed. If you don't have any way to find a notary neighbor, I'd start looking at banks, legal offices, and real estate title companies. They're all over the place. And notaries that you have business with (banks, insurance agents, tax preparers, investment advisors, etc.) will often provide the service for free or for a minimal cost.

They might be able to fix things up correctly over the phone, but I've largely found that when it comes to paperwork, Vanguard is often old-school (like credit unions) about demanding all of the random stamps, seals, signatures, and whatever else when it comes to major muscle movements with your money.

[scfr]

From a copy of the form I found on-line: "All Vanguard and bank account owners/authorized signers must sign on the next page. If the Vanguard account owners/authorized signers aren’t the same as the bank account owners/ authorized signers, everyone’s signature must be notarized."

disneysteve, why do you think you need to have your signatures notarized? Do your bank account and Vanguard account have different owners?

Also, I don't see anything that says it's a requirement for all signatures to be notarized at the same time.
Even if you for some reason do need to have your signatures notarized, it seems like you and your wife could do that separately, at whatever location is convenient to each of you when you are running errands or going to/from work. As kork13 says, there are lots of notaries out there.

[disneysteve]

From a copy of the form I found on-line: "All Vanguard and bank account owners/authorized signers must sign on the next page. If the Vanguard account owners/authorized signers aren’t the same as the bank account owners/ authorized signers, everyone’s signature must be notarized."

disneysteve, why do you think you need to have your signatures notarized? Do your bank account and Vanguard account have different owners?

OMG, thank you! I completely missed the "with notarized signatures if applicable". We do not need it notarized as our info is the same on both accounts. We can just sign it and send it in.

Thanks again, scfr!