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Vanguard Referral Bonus: Refer a Friend Program
Vanguard friend referral bonus program offer code for a recommended friend or family member to open
a new brokerage account in July 2025
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Vanguard Friend Referral Bonus
You can recommend your friends or family to open an account with Vanguard using the firm's "Tell a Friend Tool". Information on how to do it is located
under this link.
Unfortunately, at Vanguard neither you nor your recommended friend or family member will receive any referral
bonus or any other perks.
If you want to be rewarded with $50 for referring a customer to a brokerage, use
Charles Schwab's referral program instead.
Charles Schwab Referral
Charles Schwab Referral
Vanguard Complaints Introduction
Vanguard has received much praise over the years for some of its policies, but the firm still gets complaints from some customers. This article will look into these issues and identify brokers that perform better.
Vanguard Complaints List
Vanguard traders have reported issues with the broker's website. It is more difficult to navigate compared to the Merrill Edge site. Vanguard's menus open pages that require additional clicks. It can often be challenging to find information on the Vanguard website. A search bar in the upper-right corner helps find some information, but the website definitely needs improvements.
Vanguard receives numerous complaints about customer service. Firstly, customer support isn't available 24/7. E*Trade, by comparison, has phone support available at all hours. Vanguard also does not provide online chat, nor does it have local branches. Some Vanguard customers have switched to Fidelity because they believe the service there is better.
Vanguard customers can only trade securities. The company does not offer futures or forex trading, while Charles Schwab does.
A major complaint about Vanguard is that the trading tools provided are very basic. Charts on Vanguard's website cannot be detached into their own windows. Only a few technical studies are offered, and charts cannot expand to the full screen width. E*Trade provides much more advanced charting tools. Vanguard also lacks a trade bar on its website and does not offer a desktop trading platform.
Vanguard's mobile app has several drawbacks compared to competitors. For instance, the Vanguard app doesn't provide live financial news streaming, something Schwab does offer. There's also no feature for transferring funds or paying bills. Surprisingly, securities charts are also missing from the mobile app.
The Vanguard website doesn't have a community forum for traders to discuss investment ideas or seek assistance from company representatives. Webull, however, does have such a forum.
Although Vanguard provides debit cards and checks, they come with very high account minimums. Specifically, accounts need at least $500,000 to access cash management services. Even then, the broker charges a $30 annual fee. Clients with over $1,000,000 in assets don't pay the fee. Accounts with less money have to pay for check re-orders and bill pay. Schwab's checking service doesn't have these restrictions.
Vanguard's commissions for options trades are significantly higher than other brokers. At Vanguard, option contracts cost $1 each. This fee structure is much higher than Webull, which charges 0¢ per option.
Vanguard only supports market, limit, stop, and stop-limit orders. Advanced orders such as trailing stops are not available at Vanguard. Charles Schwab, however, offers at least 16 types of orders.
Recap
Vanguard customers have raised complaints, but clients who can invest at least $50,000 in Vanguard funds typically receive competitive rates. Investors seeking lower costs may find better value at
Firstrade.
Updated on 7/1/2025.

Chad Morris is a financial writer with more than 20 years experience
as both an English teacher and an avid trader. When he isn’t writing
expert content for Brokerage-Review.com, Chad can usually be found
managing his portfolio or building a new home computer.
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