Stifel Nicolaus review: IRA Fees

AVOID this company for IRAs. They'll charge an annual maintenance fee -- for doing absolutely NOTHING.

They purchased my old brokerage that held an inherited IRA account. The account had been fee-free for years. Stifel notified me of a fee so I decided to move the IRA. Before I could get the account moved, the fee was charged. The advisor assigned to my account didn't call me back - said since the account was closed, he couldn't access my contact information. Customer service in St. Louis says "we charge a $40 maint. fee on ALL IRA accounts."

The fee for 2010 was charged on May 28 and the account closed less than 2 weeks later. They refuse to refund any portion of the fee. The only thing they've done to "earn" this fee was allow me to store my $$ there. Hard work, eh?

Again, please AVOID this company. There are plenty of places to open an IRA that do not charge fees and actually live up to their customer service promises.