Robinhood Application Review Time and How to Speed it Up
In the last decade, we have witnessed the emergence of several trading and investment apps around the world. All of these trading apps have their different application review process and review time, some users could get approval on the same day while others could wait a week to get approved. One of these many trading firms includes Robinhood which boasts over 10 million account holders on its platform. So, with those numbers of users, you may ask, how long does it take Robinhood to review your application?
The process takes about 5-7 days to review your profile and materials to get the account activated; this is usually for those who submit the necessary information needed to set up an account as requested.
Users either receive a confirmation email after a successful submission on the Robinhood app within a trading day or may be required to submit a bit more information for approval which could spiral into days.
Some issues may arise during the review process which could prolong account approval and without proper documentation, a user may be denied access to Robinhood. These issues may include;
How long does it take Robinhood to review your application?
Personal Information
To comply with the U.S government laws and FINRA regulations, users are required to submit certain personal data and financial and tax information.
The Robinhood brand also complies with an SEC customer identification regulation of the USA Patriot Act of 2001.
The rule stipulates that Robinhood must put in place procedures that verify all users’ identity that desires to open an account on the platform.
There must also be confirmed by Robinhood to determine if a person appears on any list of a terrorist organization that has been provided by any government agency to broke-dealers.
Kindly note that Robinhood only requires this information to fulfill all regulatory requirements as stipulated on the website.
For anyone who may fall short of the required personal information, your account might take some time to get started until submitting these necessary data.
Customer Support
For those who might have issues with the submission of vital information and may need to contact the Robinhood customer support, well, that could be quite a long ride.
Like other tech startups worldwide, getting across customer support via a mobile phone may be quite frustrating to many new users who intend to open an account with Robinhood.
Unlike what you might find at other financial institutions near you, there is a shortage of customer support staff.
Users calling the Robinhood customer support line will first encounter a pre-recorded message that redirects you to the other channels such as email or the app to submit vital information.
There is no simple way of interacting with the Robinhood customer support system via your mobile phone, so you might need to get used to other mediums.
This could further prolong your inaccessibility to this platform, which could be quite frustrating to many users.
What makes Robinhood unique?
You might start to wonder why anyone would go through the hassle of waiting days before approval for a platform that could easily be substituted.
Well, Robinhood doesn’t just boast of millions of active investors for no reason. There are quite some amazing features that make the platform stand out from the rest. Some of which include;
Insurance
Every investor needs to be assured of their investment; this applies to both new and old traders.
For brokerage users who choose the Cash Management option to participate in the IntraFi Network Deposit (IND), also known as the deposit sweep program that will have invested cash either automatically swept or may be moved into deposits at a network of conventional banks.
Well, Robinhood through the Cash Management option allows users who have deposited their cash at these banks to enjoy the FDIC insurance, which is up to a maximum amount of $1.25 million.
This means $250,000 for each program bank that includes deposits that may already be held at a bank within the same ownership capacity.
The Robinhood brand is also a member of SIPC; this guarantees customer security and delivers up to $500,000, which includes any claim for cash at around $250,000.
Customers should also note that SIPC protection only takes effect when cash is swept to a program bank and not when on deposit at a program bank.
Additionally, users must also understand that Robinhood is not a bank but delivers Cash Management features, which is a part of the brokerage account in collaboration with program banks out there. You can also get a debit card, which is issued by Sutton Bank.
Seamless Interface
First-time users often admit how easy the Robinhood app is, you get a list of the trendy stocks, and when you click any, you get a green button that pops up that conveys the word “trade” which is quite unusual among similar apps.
For customers looking to trade, there are just a few questions to answer before proceeding. The Robinhood app is so friendly to longtime traders and newbies. How so, you may ask?
Newbies are legally barred from any trading option, but if you select the inexperienced option, you get coached by the app to switch their answers to “not much” experience; this may be crucial in securing your investments.
Large Community
You might be wondering why this was added to the list, many brokerage apps often boast many users. Robinhood takes it a step further.
In May 2020, Robinhood claimed to have had about 13 million registered accounts. What’s the big deal about 13 million users?
Well, they had 10 million users in 2019, so that’s an additional 3 million accounts. Still not impressed? Well, their closest rival, such as Schwab, claimed to have around 12.7 million accounts in that timeframe.
This has lured several venture capitalists such as Sequoia Capitalist and New Enterprise Associates, investing $1.3 billion into the trading brand. There was an additional $280 million received by Robinhood, making the brand a significant trading partner.
Is Robinhood Safe?
Well, this is something every new user needs to know before any form of investment. Successful trading often depends on the trader, your ability to react might help you invest in the right stock or lose money.
Sometimes, users want to cut their losses quickly and take what they have at that moment, and they require their broker to be available at that crucial moment.
Some users have complaints about the app crashing, and Robinhood has issued statements in the past concerning these issues, you may need to consider.
The downsides to Robinhood
We had to get to this at some point; it’s not always so shiny using the Robinhood platform.
This is quite similar to other trading apps; some notable challenges with Robinhood includes;
Software glitches
Though Robinhood claims to have invested in the best technology, in 2018, there was a software release that accidentally changed the direction of trade options.
This resulted in users getting the opposite outcome of what was expected in trades. There was also another glitch in 2019 that allowed users to borrow an infinite amount of money to multiply bets, which led to some outrageous gains and losses.
Website downtime
The website has also had its share of downsides; since March, the Robinhood website has been down 47 times.
There was another outage towards the end of August 2020, and the company has clearly absolved itself of any challenges users may endure through the terms and conditions signed electronically by every customer before using the trading platform.
No hotline
For anyone who intends to partner with Robinhood, you should know that the company owns no phone number customers could easily reach them on.
You can only drop your complaints via email and wait for a response. This could be quite frustrating for those with unique challenges that require immediate responses.
For users who ordinarily prefer reaching out to these firms via email, well, this could probably not be a challenge.
