Opening an online brokerage account takes some time

— -- Q: You've mentioned online broker Zecco may be an option for investors who can't afford the minimum deposits or commissions charged by larger brokers. How difficult is it to open an account with Zecco?

A: Zecco stunned the online brokerage industry last year with its announcement offering free trades to qualifying customers.

Until October, anyone could get 40 free stock trades a month. Recently, the brokerage withdrew that offer, but its terms are still compelling. Now, if you have an account worth at least $2,500, you get 10 free trades a month. Trades are $4.50 apiece if you exceed 10 trades a month or if you don't have $2,500 in your account.

What's it like opening an account? To find out, I opened an account. The process was fairly straightforward, but there were a few things that could trip up a novice. I still believe Zecco is an excellent option for stock investors looking for a fairly plain online broker and excellent pricing.

Creating a trading account at Zecco is a two-step process. First, you create a myZecco account. myZecco accounts are available to anyone, whether or not you actually create a brokerage account. The myZecco account gives you access to Zecco's general markets information. You choose a username and password to create the account.

After you create a myZecco account, you have the option of adding a brokerage account. Just click on "Open an Account" and fill out an application. You might be surprised you're asked to enter your income and investment experience, but that information is required by regulators and it is asked by all brokers during the account application process.

Don't expect your account to open immediately. It took two days for Zecco to approve and open my standard individual account and there wasn't really a good way to find out the status of the process. All I got was an e-mail saying "We are processing your application. You should receive account information and/or further instructions shortly."

Zecco's chief marketing officer Gabriel Dalporto tells me the broker is working on providing more handholding during the process so customers know where their applications stand.