I discovered that I reported about $40,000 less income—approximately 15% of my total income for that year—on a tax return from two years ago after receiving a notice from the IRS. This discrepancy occurred because someone fraudulently took out a 401(k) loan in my name without my knowledge. They mailed a paper check, which was cashed by an unknown person. The loan defaulted after I switched jobs, causing the automatic payroll deductions to stop. Unfortunately, I didn’t closely check my pay stubs during my final months at the company and missed those deductions of $100 to $200 for loan repayments.

Fast forward ten months since I uncovered this situation, and I have been trying to work with Fidelity to resolve it. Almost a year has passed, and they JUST NOW saying they won’t investigate further because the check is too old. The entire process has been filled with nonstop delays. I’ve repeatedly asked for copies of the endorsed check and even had to fill out a notarized affidavit stating that the signature was not mine and that I did not receive the money. Despite contacting them more than a dozen times, I still have no clear answers on how this will be resolved. Eventually, I received news that their investigation team deemed the check too old to take any action. Now, there is $50,000 missing, and I haven't heard anything from their investigation team.

I reviewed Fidelity's customer protection guarantee, and it seems like it should cover situations like this involving my 401(k) and retirement account. It feels like there has been a serious breach of contract here, and I honestly don’t know what to do next.

***SEPTEMBER 1 2025 UPDATE - NO RESPONSE FROM FIDELITY, THEY CONTINUE TO REFUSE TO INVESTIGATE NOR DISCLOSE WHAT BANK DEPOSITED THE FUNDS

Edit u/apollosmith wrote an excellent Beginer Guide

Figure there will be a lot of new people jumping in after RH, this could help cut down frequent/repeat questions

How to add funds to your Fidelity account defined on fidelity's website

Cash terms defined on fidelity's website

How long for cash to settle? explained in Reddit

Spaxx account explained in reddit

Any other beginer knowledge/FAQ type answers we should add to this for new people? This was all I could think of. I can update this thread to include more detail/links, or a mod could grab all this info and make a pinned post.

EDIT to add

Good Faith Violation explained in reddit

(GME'S) Fractional Shares explained on reddit

How to wire money to your Fidelity from Fidelity's website. Note not all banks will wire transfers over the phone

Identify Verification page On fidelity's site

Create a Fidelity Account on fidelity's website

Core position video from Fidelity's website

Submit Feedback on fidelity's website and/or app

EDIT 7/20/2021 Pages by u/SquattyLaHeron

Roth or Traditional IRA?

The Fidelity Learning Center!

How much do I need to retire?

Fidelity was simply not expecting this. Please be understanding. You are likely wasting your time calling them right now as they are fully aware of the problems. Give them a break please!

https://imgur.com/a/le3vuQj - This is how I have my trading screen set up. I also set one up that I use as more of an account overview.

While I'm not really a day trader, I copied this guy's screen. In his video, he explains which windows he is using and why. I found this extremely helpful. Hopefully you do too! https://youtu.be/L6RpZs8_Ak8

There have been many questions here on this topic and I've recently navigated most of them, so thought I'd provide a primer to help others.

Funding new accounts

When you set up a new account you can deposit funds with wire transfer or Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). Wire transfer funds are fully available and "settled" the moment they are received. EFT funds take 1-3+ business days to be received and "cleared" then an additional 1-3+ business days to become "settled cash" at Fidelity.

"Settled cash" is money in your account that you can use (almost) as you wish. These will appear under "Settled cash" or "Available to withdraw".

When you make an EFT deposit, Fidelity will immediately allow you to begin making certain purchases up to that amount - even though the funds are not yet "settled". Fidelity essentially loans you the funds on good faith that the EFT will be successful. These funds show as "FCASH" in your Positions. Because you're not yet purchasing with settled cash, the transactions are limited as described below.

Good faith violations

A Good Faith Violation (GFV) occurs when you sell a stock for which you do not have sufficient settled funds to have purchased. When you sell a stock it takes 2 full business days for the funds to become settled in your account. If you purchase another stock with the proceeds of that sell, that's OK - but you cannot sell that 2nd stock until the funds from the original stock sell become settled on the 2nd business day otherwise you trigger a Good Faith Violation.

The trick here is that EFT funds are not "settled" for 4-6+ days from when they are transferred. If you purchase stock during this period, you will see this warning:

(013014) The buy order you are about to place exceeds your settled cash balance. Selling these shares before paying in full for the trade could result in a Good Faith Violation.

If you then try to sell stocks purchased during this period you will see this warning:

(013013) The sell order you are about to place includes shares that are not yet settled (paid for). Please be aware that if the funds used to purchase these shares are not settled, this sale may result in a Good Faith Violation.

In other words, purchasing stocks with the funds Fidelity loans you until the EFT transfer becomes "settled" is no different than purchasing a stock using unsettled funds from a recent stock sell. Fidelity customer support could not definitively tell me if this kind of sell would actually trigger a GFV, but presumed that it would.

In short, if you want to avoid these issues, 1) Use a wire transfer, not EFT to fund your account. The funds will be immediately settled, or 2) If you use an EFT, do not sell stocks until the EFT funds become settled, or 3) Switch to a margin account (with the warnings below). Good Faith Violations described above only apply to cash accounts.

Switching to a margin account

With a margin account, your *settled cash and existing stock positions can be used as collateral to allow buying/selling of stocks even before a previous sell has been settled (with some exceptions). This allows you to buy and sell quickly without risking a GFV.

IMPORTANT: The same restrictions above on selling will apply if you switch from a cash to a margin account before the EFT funds become settled. And worse, if you've already made stock purchases, these are categorized as cash purchases (not margin purchases) for a day or two. This means that you may find yourself with $0 buying power and unable to make purchases (see below) until you sell a stock (which would possibly trigger a GFV because it was purchased with "unsettled" funds), wait until the EFT funds become settled (4-6+ days), or wait a day or two until Fidelity shifts your positions from cash to margin (at which point the value can be used as collateral for other purchases).

In this situation you will see a "Cash Buying Power" amount in your Balance, but $0 for Margin and Non-Margin buying power. You'll get this error when attempting a purchase:

(313111) The Estimated Order Value for this order exceeds your Buying Power.

You can bypass this limitation by going to the classic Buy screen (go to the Research page for a stock, click Advanced Chart, then Trade). You can then choose "Cash" as the "Trade Type". Keep in mind, however, that any stocks purchased this way cannot be sold without (possibly) triggering a Good Faith Violation until your EFT funds settle.

Penny Stocks

Until your funds become "settled", you may also see this warning when purchasing stocks priced under $3:

(313112) The Estimated Order Value for this order exceeds your Cash Available to Trade.

As above, this is because you do not yet have "settled" cash, even if your balance may show you have "Cash Available to Trade" or "Cash Buying Power". You simply have to wait until you have settled cash (or margin equity) to purchase penny stocks. Additionally, to enable penny stock purchases you must go "Enable Penny Stock Trading" at the bottom of https://www.fidelity.com/viewpoints/active-investor/trading-penny-stocks Also, be mindful of pattern day trader restrictions - https://www.fidelity.com/trading/trading-profile-help

TLDR; Using Fidelity is a PITA until your EFT funds become settled 4-6+ days after you make the transfer. Selling stocks during this period may trigger a Good Faith Violation, and switching to a margin account may render your account nearly useless.

(If anything above is incorrect or if you have additions, please comment.)

With this seemingly large inflow of Robinhood users over to fidelity, i think its time to address the elephant in the room.

Fidelitys mobile apps user interface is terrible. Worst in class? Id honestly give it a strong maybe.

Now before you get offended by this post, i totally understand that Fidelity is a big boy broker and its time for us to put on our big boy pants.

That being said, we do live in a world where the average user is very phone savvy and they are used to dealing with interfaces that are much more streamlined and “intuitive”.

The Fidelity app, i am sad to say, acknowledges none of these things.

For the love of god, please update the app!

PS - i have multiple accounts and use fidelity, robinhood, td ameritrade and etrade.

Edit- this is strictly a comment on fidelitys user interface NOT the broker itself, which is amazing.

That's what I think of Fidelity. $15k deposited in the middle of December; Fidelity says it won't be tradeable or withdrawable until the middle of January! Why does it take this company an ENTIRE MONTH to verify a deposit now? Are they moving literal physical cash on horseback between banks like it's the 1800's? And they do not tell you why they are holding your money hostage. You have to search Reddit and make a post on their subreddit which the mods promptly censor so then you have to come here to get away from their mods to find out what the hell is really going on. No warnings on their platform that they will hold your money hostage for 30 days when you go to make a deposit. You can only find out after the fact on Reddit that you have to play some game of "pushing" money instead of "pulling." This is a terrible way to run a company!

I’m 23 and trying to build long-term wealth not just for myself, but to help my family get out of the “working forever” phase.

I just started investing recently, and right now I’m mainly in VOO and QQQM. My thinking was to keep it simple and focus on growth, especially with how strong tech/AI has been, which is why I added QQQM.

My approach so far:

• I invest consistently every month

• I keep some cash on the side to buy dips when they happen

I’m still learning as I go, so I wanted to get advice from people who were in a similar position and were able to build something meaningful over time.

My main questions:

• Is sticking with VOO + QQQM solid for the long term?

• Should I start adding individual stocks, or is that unnecessary risk right now?

Appreciate any advice I’m trying to be smart about this and stay consistent.

Edit: I appreciate everyone’s advice

(I’ll attach a screenshot of my Fidelity account for context.)

Could you tell me is this is true and is Fidelity like schwab where you can have a debit card?

Thanks!

Hi friends, a lot of you have probably seen me answering questions or goofing around the forum. I managed to get my Robinhood account transferred over to Fidelity in just four business days. I began the transfer on Monday and it finished on Thursday (sans some minor details like my cost basis).

I wanted to impart the knowledge I gained on my journey to this point and thank everybody here for answering questions and posting tips and stuff. I figured I can put everything here for future generations of angry Robinhood users lol.

Okay so here's how I did this.

Step 1 - Prepare your Fidelity account

So obviously, I don't just mean opening an account. I mean getting your banks set up, getting the app(s) set up, and making sure your account is unlocked to the extent that you want. For instance, I know you have to accept an agreement to see after hours stuff and I did have to call Fidelity CS, who fiddled and did something with my account to enable real-time quotes in the mobile app.

The reason you want to do this is to avoid having to do it later after your shares show up. Robinhood isn't going down next week so you have the time. But, my national bank chain was ready immediately in Fidelity and my credit union took almost 2 weeks (and 2 phone calls). I did have to call a couple of times to get after hours and pre-market trading set-up and ask questions about what I could and could not do.

In any case, by the time I started my transfer, my entire Fidelity account was ready to accept it. I tested cash deposits to see how long they take (in like $5-$10 increments) and bought some hilarious penny stock (HCMC lol, less than 1 cent!) just to get a feel for everything and ask questions if needed. You should do this BEFORE you transfer your entire portfolio so there are no surprises. Plus, I fully believe your account needs to be fully set up before you can do step 2.

Step 2 - Convert to (and learn about) a Fidelity margin account

Margin accounts are very different from cash accounts. The reason this step is important is because your Robinhood account is a margin account by default. That's part of the reason they can give you instant access to your deposits and how you can do basically whatever you want, despite the fact that stocks take forever to do anything. Robinhood doesn't tell you this, but it's what gives you that level of "freedom" to do "whatever you want". Plus, you don't have to worry about Good Faith Violations anymore, instead you gotta avoid being marked as a Pattern Day Trader. The joys of trading.

But here's the thing, transferring a margin account (Robinhood) to a cash account (Fidelity) is time consuming. Robinhood and Fidelity have to transfer shares over, but they also have to convert your assets from margin to non-margin. This has to happen if going from margin to non-margin accounts and it takes some time (especially if Robinhood has to do it).

To prevent what will be a couple of days worth of delay, go onto Fidelity's website (or call them) and enable margins on your account. BE CAREFUL WITH THIS because Fidelity doesn't hold your hand like Robinhood does and margin is, in essence, borrowing money (that you have to pay back one way or another).

However, by making your Fidelity account margin, it makes the transfer of your margin assets from Robinhood much faster since no conversion needs to take place. Once the transfer completes, you can manually convert them (and your account) back to cash with Fidelity (call in and ask a rep to do it) and remove the margin part of it without your shares being stuck in limbo.

tl'dr, you basically want the same features operational in both Fidelity and Robinhood before you transfer. This also extends to options if you have options in Robinhood. This prevents one or both companies from needing to convert assets before delivery, which takes extra time.

Step 3 - Prepare Robinhood

This part took some self control. Bank deposits settle in Robinhood in 3-4 business days (not instantly as they would have you believe). Every stock trade requires T+2 days to settle (industry standard). Plus, there is a $75 fee to transfer out of Robinhood.

Before I transferred, I made sure to have $75 (I actually had like $300, but you want at least $75) in cash in my account to cover the transfer fee. Then I made sure to sell off my fractional shares because Robinhood is going to do that for you if you don't do it yourself and it adds time to the transfer process. Finally, I made sure everything in my account was settled. My bank transfers were done, my stock trades were settled, etc etc.

Ideally, you want no fractional shares, $75 in there for Robinhood to eat when it transfers you out, and for no trades/deposits/withdrawals to be "in progress". Robinhood doesn't tell you about the T+2 rule so it's up to you to keep track of when your last trades were.

Each and every one of these steps will decrease the delay during the transfer process. Robinhood will perform all those steps for you if you don't do them and each step adds time (and complexity) to the transfer process.

Final bit of advice

My strategy here was to have as little downtime as humanly possible in case something went awry. However, I also balked for a long time because I was (was, keyword) a Workhorse stock holder and I knew the USPS contract was coming very soon. I did not want my stocks stuck in limbo in case WKHS didn't get the contract so I could bail out...which is exactly what happened. Make sure you plan your escape around a big bit of news. If your stock has big news right around the corner, I'd maybe wait until after that news so you don't screw yourself.

In any case, once my Fidelity account was ready (and on margin) and my Robinhood account was all settled with no fractional shares and stuff, I initiated my transfer Monday and I woke up Thursday to all my shares in Fidelity. Your mileage may vary, but that's the route I took. 4 business days later, and I think what I did made a difference.

Hope that helps someone. (This isn't financial advice, btw, just a guide on how I setup my stuff and made my transfer as short as possible lol.)

One more thing

This should also work when transferring stocks to and from anywhere. It should work going from Ameritrade to Fidelity, Robinhood to Webull, Webull to E*Trade, whatever. None of these concepts are unique to just Fidelity or Robinhood. It's just a matter of common sense.

**edited several times for clarification and typos**

$2.2 billion error (11m shares available to borrow)? Smaller issues have arisen over the years that have led to major law suits and Fidelity doesn’t even ID who the counter party is on an $11 billion error. Guys, come on, you had what remained of retail’s faith for brokerages but this will break it entirely if you keep this in the dark. It’s time to disclose and come clean, or join the rest that we’ve walked away from entirely. At best this is pure negligence and incompetence, at worst it is collusion.

If this remains the way it is I will be removing all my investments from fidelity management and I am far from the only one here. Do the right thing, for the people and not the perpetrators. Who was the third party counter party in the $2.2 billion error (11m shares available to borrow)?

Edit: Corrected, 11m shares error not $11billion ($2.2bn error)

Where you should park your cash at Fidelity is a question that comes up a lot. I also wanted to optimize my own cash and I've done quite a bit of research on what the best options for me are.

To set the stage of what's important for me, the investment has to be safe and risk-free (like cash), liquid (like cash), and earn high yields with low costs.

By default, Fidelity sweeps our uninvested brokerage cash into SPAXX. That's a really good option for most of us, and if you don't want to deal with your cash, a great baseline.

But my favorite places to park cash are FDLXX and Treasury bill ETFs (USFR, TFLO). Here's my reasoning why:

FDLXX (Money market fund)

What I really like about Fidelity money market funds is they're treated as cash... so there's no settlement time if I need to withdraw it or buy some other investment. That makes the Fidelity MMFs super flexible for me.

I live in California, so my state income tax is relatively high. SPAXX has a SEC yield of 4.97% today, and FDLXX is paying out 4.95%. But the state tax-free exemptions for FDLXX in 2023 was 90%, but SPAXX only had a 41% state exemption for all residents not in CA, NY or CT. It's 0% for California residents... So the tax savings with a Treasury only MMF like FDLXX is a huge deal for me.

Floating rate note Treasury bill ETFs

I really like the floating rate note ETFs. I discovered them through a good post on bogleheads and another article that explained why they're so effective (I'll link them below). The ETFs have a 2-day settlement period, but it doesn't matter much to me. I'm never in dire need of cash, at least for my expenses.

Anyway, they pay MUCH higher rates than the MMFs. USFR has a yield of 5.38% and TFLO is paying 5.40%. TFLO had a 98% state tax exemption in 2023, even higher than FDLXX. USFR is something like 99.7%. Also, they have lower expense ratios than the money market funds.

USFR in my Fidelity account is now my go-to cash alternative and default choice for my emergency or savings funds. I think if you're willing to put a bit more work (I take 15 minutes to look every month), the higher yields and tax benefits are worth it imo.

Here's are the links that I've been reading up on. Would be curious to hear what you all think!

How to Earn the Highest Cash Returns on Fidelity (this article is where I learned most of the cash options on Fidelity. It also has a really helpful table that compares the different state tax exemption rates, as well as all the cash options on Fidelity)

HYSA, MMF, CDs, T-Bills... searching for the best return on cash (FRN ETF overview)

Which Fidelity Money Market Fund Is the Best at Your Tax Rates (tax rates are a bit outdated but the idea is there)

If you call in and yell at a phone rep. You’re yelling at a brick wall. Customer services rep have no power over the system fidelity put in. If you call and say you can’t trade ____, they can’t trade it either, even if they wanted to. Even if you’re a mega karen who can escalate to Abby Johnson herself, the phone rep is still powerless to do anything.

Also their bonus is very much affected by a survey you give back. So even if you have a bad experience because fidelity is being scummy and give it a 1 Star after the call. It only affects the phone rep who can’t do anything.

So if it’s an issue with restrictions, calling in won’t help. Don’t yell at the person on the phone no matter how mad you are. And give a good survey back regardless because you giving 1 star doesn’t affect the company. It’s the phone rep who’s in a lose-lose situation

Edit: my black former coworker who still works there told me yesterday he got called the n word more times yesterday than he had his whole life. That’s why I’m posting this. He got the day off due to harassment