Scottrade won't change my VTSMX to VTSAX

[stein79]

As title suggests, I have a traditional IRA with Scottrade with well over 20k (market value) of VTSMX.  When I started it, I only had around 3k which is why I bought VTSMX to start investing immediately.

I called Scottrade on the phone and they said that I cannot switch the shares over because my account in unmanaged.  And, if I did switch them over i'd have to pay management fees or the like.  It was a car bluetooth conversation, but this was the general commentary.

Is it BS?
Should I even worry/care about it?  The expense ratio is low on VTSMX but I intend to continue contributing to it.
Other opinions?

[Pipboy]

Why not transfer the account to Vanguard? Then the conversion to Admiral shares will be easy.

[NorthernBlitz]

Why not transfer the account to Vanguard? Then the conversion to Admiral shares will be easy.

This. They are saying that they don't value you because you don't pay them enough.

Go where it's cheaper and easier.

[johnny847]

As far as I know, only investor class shares held at Vanguard can be converted to their admiral share equivalents.

[seattlecyclone]

Yes, move to Vanguard. If I recall correctly, Scottrade charges commissions to buy Vanguard funds. Not so when you buy directly from the source.

[Cwadda]

Yeah, just change over to Vanguard.

[MrDelane]

I'll add to the chorus of people telling you to move over to Vanguard.

I did the same thing a few years back (not from Scottrade, but a similar situation) and it's been great.
It was a bit of a hassle one time to make the move, but ever since it's been so much easier since the majority of my investments are in Vanguard accounts.

If you have any questions or issues with moving I would highly recommend you call Vanguard.  For obvious reasons, they were much more willing to help me move my money to them than the previous company was in helping me move my money out.  The Vanguard reps walked me through the paperwork, etc to move my accounts over and made it very easy to make the switch.

And, once at Vanguard I was able to go from VTSMX to VTSAX seamlessly.