Morgan Stanley bought Etrade a while back. I have not noticed much different, other than the changes to penny stocks that aren't current. I think all brokers made the same changes.
When a dividend is announced, it is given an ex-dividend date, a record date, and a pay date. The ex-dividend date means (post dividend) so if you don't own a stock at market open on ex-dividend day, you don't get the dividend, the previous shareholder gets that dividend. If you sell on ex-dividend day, you still get the dividend.
The record date is a day or two later, and it is the date at which they determine who is eligible for the dividend - brokerages report how many shares, overall, are to be given a dividend. When USOI pays a dividend, it is distributed electronically to brokers. The brokers then distribute it to their shareholders. The larger the brokerage, the longer it takes to update everyone that gets a dividend. If a stock is enrolled in DRIP, it takes an additional day to appear in the account.
I've been with etrade since 2008, when I converted my 401K to an IRA. I have since built that from $60K to over $2M, all while retired. I have zero debt. Etrade has never screwed up on any transaction for me in that time. I have no complaints. A lot of people bash etrade, but I think that's more through ignorance than experience.
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