Escheat: It's Not You, It's Me

That's close to what I said to the E*Trade guy when I called up this morning to close my account. See my previous post, "You're Not a Frequent Trader? We'll Take Your Stuff," for why I wanted to close the account. I sold my last two stocks this morning and then called to close the account and get a check. The E*Trade guy said he would do that but, "Can I ask you whether there's something E*Trade is doing that has dissatisfied you?" or words to that effect. Then my answer: "It's not anything E*Trade is doing; it's what the state government is doing. I appreciate what E*Trade did by warning me that the state government was ready to take my assets."

He knew exactly what I was talking about and referred, as did commenter Ted [thanks, Ted, for the explanation], explicitly to the term "escheat."

What a great term, by the way. And since we're talking State government here, I suggest that we use the term "S-cheat."

BTW, after talking to him, I decided not to close the account. And I should have sold those shares long ago, and especially by December 31, anyway.

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