It was free, now charge $100/yr for small investors
see the following e-mail my daughter got:
Please review this important information regarding your Merrill Edge self-directed investing Cash Management Account (CMA):

We are changing waiver criteria for the Merrill Edge self-directed CMA maintenance fee. As part of our move to relationship based pricing, your self-directed account is subject to this $25 quarterly household [1] fee. The third quarter CMA maintenance fee will be charged on October 1, 2010.

You can avoid this fee by meeting either of the following criteria:

• Have combined relationship balances of $50, 000 or more in Merrill Lynch investment accounts and Bank of America, N.A. deposit accounts. Relationship balances are combined for accounts with the same owner(s) as determined by social security number(s). This includes accounts such as:
- Merrill Edge self-directed joint and individual investing and retirement accounts
- Merrill Lynch Wealth Management investing and retirement accounts with a Merrill Lynch Financial Advisor
- Bank of America, N.A. personal deposit accounts including checking, regular savings, money market savings and CDs.

• Or, execute 60+ trades per year/15+ trades per quarter in one or more individual or joint self-directed account(s) as determined by Social Security number(s).

For additional information, refer to the Self-Directed Commission Schedule and Miscellaneous Fees. Please login to merrilledge.com. Click on the Client Services tab, then Profile & Settings tab, and then click on Account Profile to visit the Fees & Commissions section.

You can leverage your total relationship to receive better commission pricing and other benefits as you qualify. Highlights include:
• Online equity and ETF trades starting at $8.95 and as low as $0 [2]

• Online option trades as low as $4.95 plus $0.75/contract [3]

As always, we thank you for your business.
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