More and more people are realizing: I now have to invest in stocks to secure my pension. Why not become a customer of a neo-broker? Affordable prices, fast and clear trading on your mobile phone. One of the largest German providers: Trade Republic.
But: the company is currently battling a shitstorm on the Internet. There is plenty of criticism of customer service and an alleged failure to pay dividends on time. BILD highlights the points of criticism and confronts the Broker.
In the battle for new customers, Trade Republic (co-founded by Christian Hecker in 2015) pulled a trump card out of its sleeve: With a banking license from the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), Trade Republic now acts like a financial institution: strong 3.75 percent interest on all cash deposits with no limit and now even a credit card. The account and the virtual card are free of charge.
Christian Hecker founded Trade Republic in 2015
The result: Within five months, one million people were already using the bank card. The company is now worth well over a billion euros and is considered one of the most important neo-brokers in Germany.
But the rapid growth has apparently damaged the company. At least that is what Andreas Hackethal, Professor for Finance at the Goethe University in Frankfurt (Main). Customer service can no longer keep up. Apparently, around 20,000 customer inquiries piled up in the spring, some of which were more than 30 days old.
The specialist portal financefwd.com reports: Especially now, in this difficult phase, Trade Republic is outsourcing customer service: around 60 employees have lost their jobs. In future, the service will largely be taken over by outsourcing providers. Is this the wrong time for implementation?
Trade Republic also has tricks up its sleeve:
▶︎ The Baden-Württemberg Consumer Center issued a warning to the billion-dollar startup in January. The neo-broker promised a so-called cashback when using the credit card. However, this repayment is not in cash, but as a bonus in a savings plan.
▶︎ The neo-broker advertises 3.75 percent interest on cash deposits. What some new customers overlook is that this interest rate must be activated in the app, otherwise customers will miss out.
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This is what users criticize:
▶︎ Dividends are not paid out on a daily basis. Trade Republic says today: “All customers were ultimately paid their dividends within a few banking days.”
▶︎ In individual cases, deposits are not credited. A spokeswoman said: “This can happen if money is not transferred from the reference account.” What hardly anyone knows: The account of the first transfer is automatically considered the reference account.
▶︎ The chat only provides standard answers. Trade Republic wants to improve this.
▶︎ Incorrect tax deduction despite the existence of an exemption order. Trade Republic says: “We have changed the infrastructure. Now everything is running again.”
The current state of affairs: According to “Handelsblatt”, BaFin is investigating the complaints.