Zecco Adds Minimum Balance Requirement and Reduces Number of Free Trades

By MoneyBlueBook

Was it too good to last? Only time can tell. Zeccojoined the online brokerage scene only a year ago promising free trades and even slashing minimum balance maintenance requirements during the summer. Now the balance requirements are back and they've even reduced the maximum number of free trades allowed per month. Zecco issued the slightly disappointing news release today.

Changes You Should Know

Customers who applied before October 1, 2007 will get to retain the old pricing structure until 2008. However, the policy changes applies to all new customers from here on. Under the new structure, Zecco reduced the number of monthly free trades from 40 times to 10 and slapped on a minimum balance requirement. To qualify for the 10 free trades per month, you must maintain a minimum balance of $2,500. If you have less than $2,500, each will trade cost $4.50. Despite the changes, the cost is still lower than that charged by other brokerages.

I find it sort of ironic that in my earlier post about Zecco I thought perhaps the new brokerage firm was signaling a change in the way online brokerages were going to do business in the future - focusing more on cash interest and other services than relying on commissions to generate revenue. It is quite remarkable how soon and fickle company policies can be. I guess one can never get too comfortable with any one particular financial product. The terms do change and you just have to keep up with the times and changes.

By MoneyBlueBook

Did you know that for the vast majority of purchases, it's almost always cheaper to buy online? The internet is full of great online deals. I've pretty much stopped buying anything at brick and mortar stores aside from groceries and basic day to day personal items. Even for groceries I've lately been researching and investigating how to buy them cheaper online. I'll write a post about buying groceries through the web when I have accomplished something to write about!

Use Shopping Portals Like Ebates, Jellyfish, and FatWallet to Save Money

If you're going to shop online, don't forget to use cash back shopping portals like Ebates, Jellyfish, or FatWallet (formerly known as FatCash). They offer links to everyday stores such as Priceline, Expedia, Target, Macys, and Dell Computers, but best of all they give you a percentage back as a cash rebate for shopping through their links.

How Do I Earn Cash Back Or Points?

Here is how the shopping portals work. You sign up and register through the portal of your choice. If you're like me, you sign up with all three of them and comparison shop between the portals every time you're about to order something. This is because the portals offer slightly different cash back percentages for different store links.

Next you browse around an online store's website until you know what you want to order. When you're ready, you sign into your shopping portal account and locate the store's corresponding link on the portal's store listing. To have