One Bizarre Blip From the Schwab-TD Ameritrade Integration

While Schwab Advisor Services executives said Tuesday that this past weekend’s conversion of TD Ameritrade advisors to its custodian platform went had no major problems, at least one investor experienced an unusual issue.

On Monday, “I logged into my Schwab account to find not only my TDA accounts but also the Living Trust of another couple with whom I am not affiliated,” Jared Schreiner, who works in the health sector, told ThinkAdvisor in a message.

The trust had a balance of more than $4 million, according to an account statement shared with ThinkAdvisor.

“I had – from what I can tell – full access to their assets and the ability to trade on them,” Schreiner told ThinkAdvisor.

In a phone interview on Wednesday, he conceded that was not a certainty and he didn’t make any effort to confirm he had trading ability.

“I immediately notified my financial advisor as well as Schwab,” he said, noting his own advisor works for a major financial services firm that has used firms including Schwab and TD Ameritrade as custodians.

His access to the couple’s account “has since been taken away, thankfully, but I have no idea why or how this occurred,” he said, adding, “They said I was listed as trustee. I certainly am not!”

Schreiner told ThinkAdvisor he was concerned to “what extent this error occurred elsewhere” during the integration.