Current Vanguard Margin Rates
Debit Balance
|
Margin Rate
|
under $19,999
|
9.75%
|
$20,000 – $49,999
|
9.25%
|
$50,000 – $99,999
|
8.75%
|
$100,000–$249,999
|
8.25%
|
$250,000–$499,999
|
8.00%
|
$500,000–$999,999
|
6.50%
|
above $1,000,000
|
6.00%
|
Vanguard base lending rate on margin trading account is 7.00%.
Lowest Margin Rates
Broker |
$0 - $4,999 |
$5,000 - $9,999 |
$10,000 - $24,999 |
$25,000 - $49,999 |
$50,000 - $99,999 |
$100,000 - $249,999 |
$250,000 - $499,999 |
$500,000 - $999,999 |
above $1,000,000 |
M1 Finance
|
4.25%
|
4.25%
|
4.25%
|
4.25%
|
4.25%
|
4.25%
|
4.25%
|
4.25%
|
4.25%
|
ZacksTrade
|
5.90%
|
5.90%
|
5.90%
|
5.90%
|
5.90%
|
5.40%
|
5.40%
|
5.40%
|
5.40%
|
TastyWorks
|
8.00%
|
8.00%
|
8.00%
|
7.50%
|
7.00%
|
6.50%
|
6.00%
|
5.50%
|
5.00%
|
Online Brokers Margin Rates
See Broker Margin Rates Comparison
Vanguard Review

Read full Vanguard Review »
The Vanguard Group offers a broad suite of financial services to the individual investor, including many options for
investing inside of an Individual Retirement Account (IRA). As you may be aware, there are different types of IRA
accounts available, including the traditional IRA, the Roth IRA, and others. Vanguard’s site provides a tremendous
amount of information at many levels of complexity, catering to novices as well as the most sophisticated investors.
This will enable you to select the right IRA structure for your financial situation, or even open multiple IRAs with
Vanguard to give you added flexibility.
Once you have opened your IRA, you have automatic access to any of Vanguard’s
mutual fund offerings. If you also open a linked Vanguard Brokerage Services account (no fee for this), you will have
access to practically any type of financial instrument available through Vanguard.
In general, investing with Vanguard mutual funds is widely regarded as an excellent option for individuals with long-term
investment goals because of their lower-than-average expense ratios. The mutual funds available to IRA holders are typically
among the cheapest in the industry. Vanguard attributes the reduced cost of investment to the fact that they are “client-owned,” claiming that because their financial goals are aligned with the customer they are uniquely motivated to keep fees and expenses as low as possible. Brokerage clients additionally have access to Vanguard ETFs, which are very cheap to invest in, and other non-Vanguard products, which are decidedly NOT cheap to invest in. The bottom line is that IRA investing in Vanguard-owned mutual funds and ETFs is among the least expensive long-term investment options available.
It should be pointed out that the commitment to low-cost investing does not seem to apply to the purchase of financial instruments outside of Vanguard’s offerings.
Investing outside the Vanguard family is probably not advisable for most IRA holders, as the transaction fees can be quite substantial. So, as long as you stay with
Vanguard products, your costs will be low. For this reason, one strategy is to set up an IRA or other
long-term investment account with Vanguard, but to do your single-stock and other short-term investing elsewhere.
This will allow you to take full advantage of the Vanguard’s lowest-cost offerings while avoiding the more expensive Vanguard services.
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Can I buy Vanguard funds through Scottrade?

Great news! Vanguard’s funds are all available to purchase through Scottrade. Scottrade offers a huge number of domestic ETFs and Mutual Funds, so it’s not extremely surprising that a juggernaut like Vanguard would be included in their offerings. The screenshot above shows Vanguard’s popular VTSAX fund.
The bad news: It’s a little more complicated than just buying the fund. Even though Scottrade allows its customers to purchase Vanguard mutual funds, the funds are a “transaction fee” mutual fund. This means that Scottrade will charge a $17 fee each time a customer orders a fund with the “transaction fee” designation. A normal purchase of an ETF or individual stock at Scottrade costs only $6.95. It should also be noted that there is a (very manageable) $100 minimum for this particular fund.
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If the restrictions are prohibitive, individuals who want to purchase a Vanguard fund are encouraged to look at their ETF offerings. The underlying funds tend to be the same as the mutual fund versions; there are just some (very) minor differences in rules between the two. Put a different way: same candy bar, different wrapper.
The great thing about Vanguard ETFs over at Scottrade is that they carry none of the restrictions of the Vanguard mutual funds. This means no minimum investment and the regular $7 transaction fees.
Vanguard Margin Rates Disclaimer
Vanguard margin rates are as of 2019 and are subject to change. For the most recent information on Vanguard margin interest rates visit their website.
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