Filing a Complaint
If you just entered the world of financial industry, there may be a lot of things you cannot fully grasp. The most likely solution is to employ the service of someone knowledgeable, preferably a person who already ten years, or more, of experience in rubbing elbows with financial professionals. This starts your pecuniary relationship with your broker.
However, paying a large lump of money does not give a 100% guarantee that a person would carry out the task you expect him to do down to the tiniest detail. Although it is not that rampant in this kind of industry, you might as well have the knowledge as to how to go about filing complaints against your broker.
If you think that the issue to be addressed is not that grave yet, you might as well get in touch with your broker as soon as possible before it gets out of hand. You give your broker a ring and schedule a consultation or a business meeting. If you are not comfortable with talking in person, you could always write a letter. You have to make sure, however, that you stated the issue in a very clear and detailed manner and also mention that you would like to hear back from your broker. More often than not, problems may be a result of miscommunication and can be calmly settled.
If the issue is not settled as easily as you thought it will be, you have to take it to the next level. This time, the person to contact is the supervisor of your broker, normally regarded as the branch manager. It is best to approach the branch manager through a letter so that you can keep a copy for yourself in order for you to keep track on the case. Once the branch manager learned that your complaint is justified, he would go an extra mile for you. People in this position, generally, seemed to have customer satisfaction as their last names.
If that did not end the issue or you think it is still not resolved to your satisfaction, there is still hope for you. Write a letter of complaint and address it to the brokerage firm’s compliance office. Nowadays, the stock market industry is highly regulated and any violation of a rule can result to serious consequences. Firms are strictly business when it comes to compliance. Enclose a copy of your previous letters, to your broker and to the branch manager, so that the office will be aware that you already took the necessary steps for the problem to be settled but to no avail. The normal period allotted to a compliance officer to take action is thirty days.
After contacting the firm’s compliance office, the chances of the issue remaining unresolved are slim. Slim as it may be, there are still instances when you just have to bring out the big guns. In this case, you have to make contact with the regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, formerly known as the National Association of Securities Dealers. In the United States, a securities regulator is present in every state. They can also be contacted if the issue is yet to be settled.
Of course, before you file a complaint make sure that the fault lies in your broker and not with you. Otherwise, you are causing yourself and many people a great deal of stress. For example, the broker was indeed acting in your best interest and had explained to you the boons and banes of the venture but the investment was not as fruitful as you expected it to be. Instead of taking time to think things through, you put all the blame on your broker and started writing complaints to anyone who would listen, which will not benefit you in any way.
