Help, problem with a USA broker

[AlmoPa]

Hi everyone,

I am having a big problem with a broker in the US. I recently opened an account and sent funds from outside the US. The funds arrived at their bank a week ago but so far they haven't funded my brokerage account.

Without going into all the details, just to say that I feel some foul play is going on, and I feel powerless over their excuses about their bank having to contact mine for some extra details and so on.

Where can I get third party help in the USA for this irregularity that has my money blocked at some seemingly irreponsible or fraudulent company?

Where should I begin of these two, or is there another better place?:

[amgojmti62]

Anybody can offer a helping hand? You may one day find yourself in the same situation, believe me. I am dealing with people who received a large amount of money to fund my account and have it blocked in their bank account and are now ignoring my emails since last week.

I fear they want to rob my money.

[atasofuzev]

Not sure if you still watching your post but before you transfer money into any brokerage account make sure they are member SIPC. That is a starting point. If not your going to have a hard time getting anything back. Try to find others that have put money into the brokerage house with the same problem, and sue them.....

What brokerage house are they? I would love to do a bit more research and expose the scam if it is, or at least figure out what the problem is..... I have a couple of friends that work some fairly large newspapers, I could get some publicity if it turns out to be a scam.

[Avtvivzt]

Thanks for your interest. I am replyiong to your PMs to tell you more about the issue.
Finally they returned the funds I sent them, but I've lost several hundred dollars in the exchange rate back and am claiming it from them. But am not sure what is the best way to do so.

[avociyefaqipu]

I would suggest in the future first open a US bank account or any bank account that will allow you to deposit
and withdraw US dollars electronically anywhere anytime, then fund any US brokerage account with that,
otherwise this won't be the last time you lose out in the foreign currency exchange rate.

I might recommend Capital One's Money Market, once that is set up you will want to make a one time deposit
of all the money you plan on investing over time, because more transfers is not cheaper, transfer it up one time
and then you can use that.

The bonus is this additional account will also serve as an extra buffer between your current bank account
and your brokerage, in effect doing far more than protecting your exchange rate, brokerages readily
accept US bank account transfers as they are also insured via FDIC.