Blog 3: Will My Money Keep Moving the Way It Does Now?
Most of you do not think about your accounts in terms of platforms and custodians. You think about the deposit that arrives on the third of the month, the check you write to the lawn service, and the distribution that has to come out before the end of the year. So this article answers the question you actually have rather than the one the industry would ask.
The short version is that almost all of it continues automatically. If you write checks, carry a debit card, or use Bill Pay on your account, there are a few dates to plan around, and they are all below.
Checks, debit cards, and Bill Pay
Check writing, debit cards, and Bill Pay are part of what is called cash management. If your account has cash management today, Commonwealth is mailing you a letter this month with the full details. Here is the short version. If you do not use any of these features, you can skip ahead to the next section.
Checks: Friday, November 13 is the last day to write checks from your current checkbook. Because your account numbers are changing, your current checks do not carry over. On Monday, November 16, LPL will mail new checkbooks to the primary address on file at no cost to you, with delivery expected in five to seven business days. You can begin using the new checks on November 17. If you would like your checkbook sent somewhere other than your primary address, call us.
Checks you have already written will still be honored. Checks written on or before the conversion will continue to be processed through December 14, so a check you mail on November 10 will clear even if the recipient is slow to deposit it. If you have written a large check and are not sure it will be deposited by December 14, tell us. Once everything you have written has cleared, you can securely destroy your old checks.
Because the new checkbooks take several days to arrive, plan on going without checks from November 14 until yours is delivered, which may not be until the week of Thanksgiving. If you have something coming due in that window, such as a quarterly insurance premium, a tuition payment, or a contractor, arrange another way to pay it now.
Debit cards: If you have used your debit card at any point in the last 24 months, LPL will send you a new card by overnight delivery on or around November 13, at no cost to you. Cards are issued only to account owners. Your current card works through November 13, and your new card can be used starting November 17.
That leaves a three-day gap. From Saturday, November 14, through Monday, November 16, neither card will work, so plan to use a different card that weekend. Starting November 17, update any subscriptions or recurring charges tied to your card with the new card number. If you have not used your card in the last two years, or you would like an additional card, you can request one through us beginning November 16.
Bill Pay: During the week of November 16, you will receive new Bill Pay login credentials, and the service will become available. Your payees, recurring payments, e-bills, and payment history transfer automatically. If you have a payment scheduled to go out during conversion week, call us so we can plan around it.
Adding cash management before the conversion. If you would like checks, a debit card, or Bill Pay on an account that does not have them today, the timing matters. Enrollment must be completed by October 21 for advisory accounts and by October 23 for brokerage accounts. Accounts enrolled by those dates move to LPL's cash management automatically. You can still enroll beginning November 16, but there will be a gap in between. If you are not sure which kind of account you have, call us and we will tell you. And if you have cash management today and would prefer not to continue it at LPL, let us know before the conversion.
Two categories decide everything else
Every other recurring movement of money in or out of your account falls into one of two groups, and which group it is in tells you whether you have anything to do.
Instructions that live with your account transfer automatically. Anything set up through our office moves as part of the conversion: systematic withdrawals, automatic investments, transfers between your accounts, and standing wire instructions. We are building a record of every one of these so we can verify that each one transferred rather than discover a gap later.
Instructions that live with an outside party do not. This is the one that catches people. Because your account number changes, anything a third party initiates using the old number has to be updated with that third party. That includes deposits coming in, such as Social Security, pension payments, payroll direct deposit, and tax refunds. It also includes payments a company pulls out, such as a mortgage, an insurance premium, or a car payment, and any transfer you set up on your bank's website rather than through us.
For accounts with cash management, the information those parties will need beginning November 16 is routing number 101218856 and an account number made up of 630076 followed immediately by your new LPL account number. If your account does not have cash management, call us and we will give you the correct information along with your new account number.
We cannot make those changes for you. What we will do is make sure you have your new account information and work through the list with you. Some of these changes take a full payment cycle to take effect, so the sooner they are made once you have your new account number, the better.
Required minimum distributions and year-end withdrawals
If you plan to take money out in November or December, please tell us by the end of October. That includes required minimum distributions, Roth conversions, charitable distributions from your IRA, year-end gifts, and extra cash for the holidays. Conversion week is not the week to request a distribution, and we would much rather handle it early than rush it.
If you are required to take a distribution this year, we are not leaving it to the conversion. Our intent is to complete required distributions before November rather than rely on a standing instruction carrying across, and we will confirm your distribution with you individually. If yours normally comes out in December, expect to hear from us about moving it up.
Your prior year-end balances and distribution history do transfer, so the calculation itself is intact. What may need to be re-established at LPL is the standing instruction to calculate and distribute automatically each year, and that is on our list rather than yours.
Income and contributions
If you take a monthly or quarterly withdrawal for income, it continues. If you make automatic contributions, they continue.
What we would ask is this. When your November and December deposits arrive, look at them. If anything is off by so much as a day or a dollar, tell us. You will notice a missing deposit long before we will, and the fastest fixes are the ones we hear about the same week.
What do I need to do this week?
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If your income comes out of the accounts you hold with us, this is the article to call us about. There is no such thing as a question too small when we are talking about the deposit you count on.
