Vanguard wants girlfriend to mail in forms?

[icyappraiser]

GF asked me to help her setup a ROTH IRA. After filling out the Vanguard sign-up application, it said they could not confirm her identity and she needed to snail mail in the forms with some documentation on her identity. I remember just doing everything online when getting set up.

Has this happened to anyone / what does it mean? Is it worth the hassle or should she just go to Fidelity/Betterment to set up the account? Is it a security risk mailing forms with her SSN, bank acct #, etc?

Did a bit of reading on Reddit and they seem to think it's related to not having a lot of credit history (which she doesn't).

[bacchi]

Mail in the forms. There is little security risk.

[Roboturner]

You can always call Vanguard and ask, but in my experience Vangaurd asks me to snail mail just about everything, which is the main downside I've experienced with them


PITA yes, but not a huge security concern

[Raenia]

I've had to do this before, it's not a big deal.  Just mail it with tracking, if you're worried.

[bacchi]

And Fido isn't immune either -- they had me snail mail forms for an HSA, even though I had an account with them.

[economista]

When I set up an online account with Ally it allowed me to set it all up online, but when I helped my boyfriend (now husband) set one up for himself the next day they made him snail mail his forms. No idea why.