Deposit Physical Certificates with the Transfer Agent
Many Dividend Reinvestment Plans allow you to deposit your physical stock certificates with the transfer agent. The shares are deposited into your DRP Plan account and included on your regular statements. You no longer have to be concerned with the safety of the physical certificate.
These shares have all the benefits of the DRP Plan. They can be withdrawn, just request a stock certificate from the transfer agent. They can be sold, the actual process depends on the transfer agent.
How To Do It:
To deposit your shares for safekeeping, check with the transfer agent for specific instructions. Generally, you will simply mail the certificate(s) with the tear-off form from your statement. Do not endorse the certificate. You should also insure the mailing for about 2% of the stock value to cover replacing the certificate in case it is lost in mailing. There is typically no charge to use the safekeeping feature.
