SPDR S&P 500 (SPY)

[learningboutinv]

Need a new brokerage account. So I currently use Etrade and have 50% of my assets in them. I also have Scottrade and 401Ks with other companies. But, I am sort of scared about all of this Bankruptcy talks and how etrade in 2 months lost $30 billion in accounts due to people leaving for other brokerages. The most fearful part is not being able to get my money back through SPIC or FDIC, or even having your account become frozen until a new company acquires Etrade or all of this bankruptcy matter is sorted out.

I am looking to switch to another brokerage account. My dad has Schwab and hates them. He prefers Scottrade over Schwab. Bank of America is where my checking acct is and Bank of America states that they have $0 commissions for less than 30 trades per month. It's $5 for commissions if you are an active trader trading more than 30 trades/month. All you need is a minimum of $25K in the account. Has anyone used Bank of America?

Any brokers they would like to recommend with cheap commissions? There's a couple for $3.95 like Glendale and Marsco but I don't know if I trust them per se.

http://www.bankofamerica.com/investing/index.cfm?cm_sp=BAI-SD-_-DDT-_-sd-general