We asked and you answered. We surveyed a portion of our Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade clients during the fall regarding their willingness to use eDocuments and eSignatures and the responses were clear: YES!
We have been working diligently over the past few months to fully understand both Schwab’s and TD’s eDocument and eSignature tools to ensure we can adequately support and prepare clients to use these features. We will be preparing step-by-step guides for clients to reference to assist them in working with their respective custodian’s eDocument and eSignature tools. We have also been looking into a standalone program that can be used internally for our own documents that we share with clients and that can be used with clients who are not on the Schwab or TD Ameritrade platforms.
Using digital resources instead of paper will be beneficial to our client base in several ways. First and foremost, whatever digital services we use will adhere to the most current cyber security protocols available to ensure the safety of our clients’ personal information. This will vastly improve the security of their personal information compared to sending forms through the mail. We will also be able to have forms prepared and out to our clients much faster than in paper format since the forms will be sent through email or digitally from the account custodian. This will speed up the account opening process as well as any ongoing account maintenance-related requests such as beneficiary changes or transfer requests. And finally, the reduction of paper use is beneficial for all of us.
We of course understand that change can be hard, and for those who don’t have an email address or access to a computer, these changes won’t be ideal. In these situations, and for anyone who still prefers to receive their account-related forms in paper format through the mail, we will certainly continue to accommodate this.
We want to make sure that the transition to more digital and electronic document sharing is a smooth process for all of our clients. At any point if you have concerns or questions, would like to discuss the software being used, or discuss your account preferences, please don’t hesitate to contact our office to speak with one of our staff members.