Schwab site glitch withholds account history
Some Charles Schwab online customers were unable to access their brokerage accounts or receive trade confirmations, the company says.
Schwab switched over to a backup system Monday morning to investigate a system glitch in its main server. While the backup handled most operations, allowing customers to place trades and receive quotes, some customers were prevented from receiving information on past transactions, Schwab spokesman Greg Gable said.
"We are still looking into the problem," Gable said Monday afternoon. "But it doesn't affect site speed and there is no chance of the Web site going down."
In the last year, many online brokers have beefed up their online systems after too-frequent blackouts frustrated users. Though Schwab's backup server limits use, business is going on much as usual, the company said.
Still, not finding confirmations often leads some customers to try to resend orders. That can lead to unwanted duplicate orders and lots of headaches for Schwab. The company posted messages on the site Monday informing customers that their trades were being processed and warned them not to resend.
"Duplicate orders will be your responsibility," said a message posted on Schwab.com
Instead, Schwab asked customers to call its help center and obtain confirmations directly from a company representative.