Yes A checkmark with a circle around it close
Skip to Main Content
Sign on
Wells Fargo Advisors Logo The Private Bank Logo Wells Fargo Investment Institute Logo Wealth and Investing Management Logo

Margin Disclosure Statement

IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU READ AND UNDERSTAND THIS INFORMATION PRIOR TO OPENING A MARGIN ACCOUNT.

Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC and Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, LLC (hereinafter collectively referred to as “Wells Fargo Advisors” or “WFA”) are furnishing this document to you to provide some basic facts about purchasing securities on margin, and to alert you to the risks involved with trading securities in a margin account. Before trading stocks in a margin account, you should carefully review the margin agreement provided by WFA. Please consult your Financial Advisor regarding any questions or concerns you may have with your margin accounts.

When you purchase securities, you may pay for the securities in full or you may borrow part of the purchase price through WFA. If you choose to borrow funds from WFA, you will open a WFA margin account. The securities purchased are the collateral for the loan to you. If the securities in your account decline in value, so does the value of the collateral supporting your loan, and, as a result, WFA can take action, such as issue a margin call and/or sell securities or other assets in any of your accounts held with WFA, in order to maintain the required equity in the account.

It is important that you fully understand the risks involved in trading securities on margin. These risks include the following:

  1. You can lose more funds than you deposit in the margin account. A decline in the value of securities that are purchased on margin may require you to provide additional funds to WFA, which has made the loan(s), to avoid the forced sale of those securities or other securities or assets in your account(s).
  2. WFA can force the sale of securities or other assets in your account(s). If the equity in your account falls below the maintenance margin requirements or our higher “house” requirements, WFA can sell the securities or other assets in any of your accounts held with us to cover the margin deficiency. You also will be responsible for any shortfall in the account after such a sale.
  3. WFA can sell your securities or other assets without contacting you. Some investors mistakenly believe that firms such as WFA must contact them for a margin call to be valid, and that the firm cannot liquidate securities or other assets in their accounts to meet the call unless the firm has contacted them first. This is not the case. While we will attempt to notify you of margin calls, we are not required to do so. However, even if we have contacted you and provided a specific date by which you can meet a margin call, we can still take necessary steps to protect our financial interests, including immediately selling the securities without notice to you.
  4. You are not entitled to choose which securities or other assets in your account(s) are liquidated or sold to meet a margin call. Because the securities are collateral for the margin loan, WFA has the right to decide which security to sell in order to protect our interests.
  5. WFA can increase its “house” maintenance margin requirements at any time and is not required to provide you advance written notice. These changes in firm policy often take effect immediately and may result in the issuance of a maintenance margin call. Your failure to satisfy the call may cause us to liquidate or sell securities in your account(s).
  6. You are not entitled to an extension of time on a margin call. While an extension of time to meet margin requirements may be available to customers under certain conditions, a customer does not have a right to the extension.

Securities in your margin account may be loaned to or by WFA. To the extent WFA determines, in accordance with Federal tax regulations, that your securities have been loaned, payment received by you with respect to such securities (including payments in lieu of dividends) may be reclassified as substitute payments. Substitute payments may be reported on different tax reporting forms than payments received on the underlying securities and may be subject to different tax consequences and rates. You are advised to contact your tax advisor to discuss the tax treatment of substitute payments.