Many people have asked, “How did you find clients to tell their Schwab stories?” With Wanda Starks, the answer was as close as Schwab.com. Wanda is one of the thousands of clients who have taken the time to submit ratings of Schwab accounts through Clients Speak™.

Then I met Wanda. From the minute she answered the door of her Atlanta-area home, I realized she’s one of those people for whom “service” is not just a word. It’s a way of life.

Her day starts at 6 a.m. – waking her 18-year-old daughter for nursing school, making coffee for her husband before he leaves for work, and getting ready for her own job as a client care specialist for a local car dealer.

Even at work, Wanda spends her day taking care of others, responding to e-mail inquiries about cars advertised on the dealership’s website. “It is definitely a heavily customer service position,” she said. “We’re sometimes the first voice that they hear.”

It’s just part of Wanda’s DNA to listen. As she put it:  “If a customer called in and I answered the phone at work and they told me that they were interested in a particular vehicle and I proceeded to get the information on a totally different vehicle, then that would mean that I was not listening to them. Listening to a customer is very, very important.”

So when Wanda needed someone to listen to her – when a Pell Grant fell through 24 hours before her daughter’s tuition was due – she called Schwab. And the person on the other end of the line listened.

“It was obvious they heard what I was saying and that they were there to help me,” Wanda told me. As she wrote in her Clients Speak review, “They turned a day that could have been stressful into a stress-free day.”

During our interview, I asked Wanda how that made her feel. “Schwab is the only company that makes me feel like they really enjoy having me as a customer,” she said.

So what does that mean?

Wanda thought for a minute. “Enjoying – meaning they are concerned with me and my well-being.”

I couldn’t have written a better review myself.

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IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES

Brokerage Products: Not FDIC Insured • No Bank Guarantee • May Lose Value

The experiences herein have been edited.The information provided is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered an individualized recommendation or personalized investment advice.

The experience of Wanda Starks and the ratings and opinions submitted by other clients to Client Speak™ are not meant to suggest future performance or the suitability of any account type, product, or service for any particular individual and may not be representative of the experience of other clients. Schwab cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information included in client reviews. Please see http://reviews.schwab.com/1022/allreviews.htm for the most current ratings information and details surrounding calculation of the average rating scores and Publishing Guidelines.

Due to the client's unique immediate need for college tuition, she withdrew money from a retirement account. Drawbacks of taking such withdrawals include potential income taxes and penalties. Please consult a tax expert for your particular situation.

The Charles Schwab Corporation (“Schwab”) provides a full range of securities brokerage, banking, money management and financial advisory services through its operating subsidiaries. Its broker-dealer subsidiary, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (member, SIPC), offers investment services and products. Deposit and lending products and services are offered by Charles Schwab Bank, Member FDIC and an Equal Housing Lender.

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