Dividend History

[JON]

Original purchase

will give you date of purchase. Use "Big Charts" to price those and get dividend reinvestments for the rest from the company. We hope.

[Roberts]

transfer agent

If the original purchase was in certificate form, consider contacting the transfer agent for the company. They will likely have a transaction history for all reinvestments going back for a significant period of time. Do a google search for "Transfer Agent" and the company name and it'll probably pop up. Computershare is a major provider of the service.

Many brokerage firms purposefully destroy all old financial records NASD time restraints allow them. I was told by a NASD auditor once that companies like Merrill Lynch will destroy records (when it becomes legal) to eliminate potential liability risks.

[FEDUKE404]

Computershare problems

If the original purchase was in certificate form, consider contacting the transfer agent for the company. They will likely have a transaction history for all reinvestments going back for a significant period of time. Do a google search for "Transfer Agent" and the company name and it'll probably pop up. Computershare is a major provider of the service.

You are quite correct on the Computershare issue, as they are the enormous whale that has now devoured the smaller guppies that once served as transfer agents. Within the past couple of years I have noted numerous Form 1099-DIVs et al coming from C'share, whereas previously those documents originated elsewhere.

The problem, as you may surmise, is that when you call C'share they basically will say (on a bad day) "Not our problem!" or (on a rare good day, still after lots of elevator music) "Sorry, the records you need were managed by a prior transfer agent and we cannot access that information."

It is truly frustrating, especially to the client who has lost the cost basis records.

FE

[LawrenceGR]

Good News

I just got off the phone with investors services and lo and behold the history will be in the mail tomorrow. Thanks to all for your help.