I’m disappointed to report that Scottrade will not be getting our business.

I went in to my local branch late  this afternoon, power of attorney for Jill in hand, to open up a traditional IRA for her so she can get her taxes done. (She gets a traditional IRA this year, not a Roth, because her income last year was makes it worthwhile for tax purposes.)

According to the Branch Manager, Scottrade will only accept power of attorney documents if the person is incapacitated. Now, our power of attorney documents are more broad than that; they had to be, since we used them to close on the sale of the condo and the purchase of the house. They entitle us to engage in any kind of financial transaction, including borrowing money, not just saving it. They also cost us a pretty penny (as part of a set of important estate planning documents) and I really hate it when people ignore them or threaten to ignore them.

The Scottrade branch manager asked lots of questions, so we established that I wanted to open the account in her name and fund it from a joint account, but that I didn’t care if they wouldn’t give me trading privileges on the account. (Actually, that isn’t true, but I was willing to put off that discussion.)

And it turns out that they don’t have access to ValueLine stock research. That’s not a deal-breaker, but it had me less sad to walk away. I should be able to get that from the library anyway.

Bottom line: Either Scottrade’s policy is a bad one, or the branch manager is not too bright. I’m not excited to give my business to them either way.

Next stop, looking at Fidelity. The fees are a little higher, but I really like their financial planning tools. Either that, or the very low-fee BuyAndHold, but they haven’t blown me away.