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Strategies & Market Trends : Value Investing -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Carl Worth who wrote (26046)	2/16/2007 10:45:10 AM
From: Paul Senior	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 78958

Carl Worth: Because 1) it's a bazaar out there, not a department store. It's a list price vs. a negotiated price. (In other words, the advertised rate is not the same for all customers.) 2) rates are changeable with no forewarning based on something named 'broker's call rate'. Maybe also called base rate. That rate fluctuates and has something to do with what it costs the broker to borrow the funds it lends. And of course, the broker at any time can raise or lower the amount charged over or below this base rate due to competitive conditions. When I see "$xxx dollars based on average daily margin balance of $yyy dollars for the period 1/15-2/04" deducted from my account, and knowing that margin rates fluctuate, I believe I should also see at that point, the remainder (hidden) portion: "based on a margin rate of z.zz%". And I am upset when I don't see this. (And yes, it can be roughly calculated (annualized), but I want to see how the exact rate changes month-to-month without me having to make rough calculations. The broker makes the exact calculations; I feel I should be able to see what the exact margin rate was for the period.) In my limited experience with other brokerage accounts, it's only Etrade that does not provide this information.