Your Account
What is a Fidelity Account®?
The Fidelity Account is a full-featured portfolio and cash management brokerage account offering discounted commissions. Use your Fidelity Account to invest in mutual funds, individual securities, options, bonds, CDs, Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), IPOs, precious metals, and foreign securities.
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What is my Core account?
Your Core account, used for processing cash transactions and for holding uninvested cash, is established automatically when you open a Fidelity Account.
- When you sell a security, the proceeds are deposited in your Core account.
- When you buy a security, cash in your Core account is used to pay for the trade. This happens automatically. (Unlike the cash in a money market mutual fund, you do not have to "sell" out of your Core account to make a purchase). Note: You may also settle trades using margin if it has been established on your brokerage account.
Your Core account is also used for processing:
- Checks
- Electronic Fund Transfers (EFTs)
- Wire Transfers
- Direct Deposits
- Fidelity ATM, and Visa Gold Card transactions
- Payments made through Fidelity BillPay® Service
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What are the investment options for my Core account?
For Retirement accounts Fidelity Government Money Market Fund, a money market fund, is available as the default for your Core position. Fidelity Cash Reserves, a money market fund, is also available for your Core position after you establish your account. For certain Fidelity IRAs (including traditional, rollover, and SEP-IRAs), and Fidelity Roth IRAs and Fidelity SIMPLE-IRAs, an FDIC-Insured Deposit Sweep core is available as an alternative for the core account position. For more information, please refer to the FDIC-Insured Deposit Sweep Program Disclosures(PDF)  . This page will open in a popup window. document. See the current interest rates . This page will open in a popup window. available through the FDIC-insured Deposit Sweep Program for your Fidelity IRA.
For Brokerage accounts, your Core is an interest-bearing cash account called FCASH2, unless you specified otherwise when you opened your Fidelity Account. FCASH should be used for cash temporarily awaiting reinvestment; it is not intended solely for the purpose of earning interest. Investors should consider higher yielding investment alternatives for funds not needed immediately. You can change your Core account at any time by calling a Fidelity Representative at 1-800-544-6666. You cannot change your Core account online. You can review additional core account choices below the following table.
| FCASH Rates - As of 7/15/2011 |
| All balances |
0.01% |
- Fidelity Municipal Money Market Fund (FTEXX), a national municipal mutual fund seeking income free from federal income tax.1, 3
- Fidelity Tax-Free Money Market Fund (FMOXX), a national municipal mutual fund seeking to provide income free from federal income tax and the federal alternative minimum tax.1, 3
- Fidelity state municipal money market funds, which seek high current tax-free income1, 3 for residents of AZ, CA, MA, MI, NY, OH or PA.
Although you can have only one Core account, you can still invest in other money market funds.
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Where can I find my account number(s)?
All brokerage securities held in an account are listed under a single brokerage account number. This number always has nine characters and can be found on Accounts & Trade > Portfolio Summary  A separate account number may be added to your account if you establish Direct Deposit.
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When are deposits credited?
Any deposits to your brokerage account are made to the Core account, including:
- Your initial investment
- Deposited checks and direct deposit of pay
- Trade proceeds
- Cash dividends
Collection periods vary depending on the deposit method. The collection period for check and EFT deposits is generally four business days. There is no collection period for bank wire purchases, direct deposits, or Federal Reserve Treasury checks. Trade proceeds vary according to the security being traded. See a table of settlement times for trades.
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When do trades, checks, bill payments and check card purchases clear my Core account?
- Trades are settled, and checks are cleared automatically, using the money in your Core account or available margin. Trade settlements vary according to the security being traded. See a table of settlement times for trades.
- ATM withdrawals and debit transactions using the Fidelity Visa® Gold Check Card are debited immediately.
- Cash withdrawals are debited the same day.
- Payments made with Fidelity BillPay® normally take several days to clear. See the BillPay service agreement.
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How is interest calculated?
A benefit of the Core account is that it allows you to earn interest on uninvested cash balances. Interest is calculated on a daily basis and is credited on the last business day of the month.
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Where can I see my balances online?
You can see your available balance by logging into Accounts & Trades > Portfolio Summary and then selecting Balances from the drop down list. You can also arrange to have balance alerts sent to you electronically.
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How do I add or change the features offered on my account?
Many account features can be added or changed online. You'll find a complete list on Accounts & Trade > Update Accounts/Features. These features include:
Some changes must be made with a signed paper form per industry regulations.
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How do I give someone else the right to view or transact in my account?
Trading authorization allows another person to trade in your account:
- Limited trading authorization allows buying or selling securities in your account.
- Full trading authorization allows buying and selling securities as well as withdrawing money from your account. Full trading authorization has limitations for some types of accounts.
Trading authorization forms are online at Accounts & Trade > Update Accounts/Features > Account Access Rights
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How is my account protected?
Protecting Your Account Assets
Fidelity's brokerage businesses (Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC and National Financial Services LLC (NFS)) are members of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), and brokerage accounts maintained with Fidelity are protected by SIPC, which protects brokerage accounts of each customer when a brokerage firm is closed due to bankruptcy or other financial difficulties and customer assets are missing from accounts. SIPC protects brokerage accounts of each customer up to $500,000 in securities, including a limit of $250,000 on claims for cash awaiting reinvestment. Money market funds held in a brokerage account are considered securities. For more information on SIPC coverage, please review the brochure "How SIPC Protects You" available for free download at www.sipc.org . This page will open in a popup window..
In addition to SIPC protection, Fidelity, through NFS, provides its brokerage customers with additional excess of SIPC coverage from Lloyd's of London together with other insurers1. The excess of SIPC coverage would only be used when SIPC coverage is exhausted. Like SIPC, excess of SIPC protection does not cover investment losses in customer accounts due to market fluctuation. It also does not cover other claims for losses incurred while broker-dealers remain in business. Total aggregate excess of SIPC coverage available through Fidelity's excess of SIPC policy is $1 billion. Within Fidelity's excess of SIPC coverage, there is no per account dollar limit on coverage of securities, but there is a per account limit of $1.9 million on coverage of cash awaiting investment. This is the maximum excess of SIPC protection currently available in the brokerage industry.
Both SIPC and Excess of SIPC coverage is limited to securities held in brokerage positions, including mutual funds if held in your brokerage account and securities held in book entry form. Neither SIPC nor the additional coverage protects against loss of market value of the securities.
Note: Certain assets are not eligible for SIPC protection. Among the assets typically not eligible for SIPC protection are commodity futures contracts, precious metals, as well as investment contracts (such as limited partnerships) and fixed annuity contracts that are not registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under the Securities Act of 1933.
In accordance with the SEC rule 15c3-3, often known as the "Customer Protection Rule", Fidelity protects client securities that are fully paid for by segregating them and ensuring that they are not used for any other purpose, such as for loans to investors or institutions, corporate investment purposes, and spending. This practice helps ensure that customers have access to these securities at all times. Customer assets may still be subject to market risk and volatility.
Protecting Your Personal Information
Access to your account requires you to log in with either your Social Security Number or unique username and a password. Fidelity recommends using an alternative username as opposed to your Social Security Number. When you enter information on a Fidelity.com page, the website uses the strongest encryption commercially available to protect your data as it travels over the Internet.
As part of our ongoing commitment to our customers, we're proud to offer our Customer Protection Guarantee: We will reimburse your Fidelity account for any losses due to unauthorized activity. Certain restrictions apply, see details of what Fidelity's Customer Protection Guarantee covers, and how it works.
See more information about Fidelity's Security and Privacy policies, and review the steps Fidelity is taking to protect your information and assets.
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What is an interactive statement, and where can I see my interactive statement online?
An interactive statement gives you:
- Quick links to important information about your holdings, including quotes, research, and performance.
- Easy-to-read portfolio and transaction information.
- Links to valuable portfolio planning and analysis tools.
- The ability to customize your statement by adding or hiding accounts.
You can view up to nine years' worth of interactive statements online from the Accounts & Trade > Statements tab. Your tax documents will still arrive by mail.
Sign Up for eDelivery
Save time, money, and space in your closet—sign up to receive an e-mail notice whenever your next statement is posted on Fidelity.com. You can also sign up (requires log in) to receive your Fidelity statements, trade confirmations, prospectuses, financial reports and other documents electronically.
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