Checking Out Your Broker

If you want to check a stockbroker’s background before opening an account, there’s plenty of information available.

Before you get started, it helps to get what is known as a CRD (Central Registration Depository) number from the broker. If you don’t have the CRD, though, providing the broker’s full name should be sufficient to find the records.

State securities departments often are the best sources because state regulators typically are permitted to provide the most detail about disciplinary problems.

In California, you can call (213) 576-7649 or (213) 576-7650 for information on brokers’ backgrounds. You also can write to the California Department of Corporations, Securities Regulation Division, 320 W. 4th St., Suite 750, Los Angeles, CA 90013-1105. In addition, you can e-mail your request to webmaster@corp.ca.gov.

For information on how to reach regulators in other states, call the North American Securities Administrators Assn. at (202) 737-0900. Or visit NASAA’s Web site at https://www.nasaa.org.

If you strike out elsewhere, you can try the National Assn. of Securities Dealers at (800) 289-9999. Or you can go on the Internet to https://www.nasdr.com and then click the “about your broker” tab.

If it turns out that your broker is one of the less than 10% in the industry who have disciplinary issues on their records, you can request that the NASD send the disciplinary information to you by e-mail or regular mail.