How it works from abroad

Four steps. None of them involve an airport.

A FINRA claim is filed electronically, argued on documents, and usually settled before anyone sits in a hearing room. Here is what that looks like when the client is twelve time zones away.

Twelve to eighteen months. Nothing up front.

Step 1
Send your statements

Email or upload recent account statements and any letters from the firm. Photos of paper are fine.

Start with what you have: the last twelve to twenty-four months of account statements, the account-opening paperwork if you can find it, and any letters or emails about restrictions, closure, or a transfer. Photographs of paper documents are fine. If something is missing, we can usually obtain it from the firm later — do not let a lost document stop you from writing.
Step 2
Free review

Richard reads them personally and tells you, plainly, whether there is a case.

Richard Frankowski reviews every inquiry himself. Within a few days you will hear back with an honest assessment: whether the losses look like misconduct or market risk, which firm is responsible, what forum applies, and whether a claim is worth pursuing. If the answer is no, we will tell you why. There is no charge for the review and no obligation.
Step 3
We file with FINRA

A Statement of Claim is filed electronically. The brokerage must answer.

If you decide to proceed, we sign a contingency agreement — nothing up front — and file a Statement of Claim through FINRA’s online portal. The brokerage firm has forty-five days to answer. Both sides then exchange documents under FINRA’s Discovery Guide, and a panel of arbitrators is selected by ranked list. All of it happens on paper and by email, across any time zone.
Step 4
Video hearing or settlement

Most cases settle. Those that do not are heard by video, scheduled around your clock.

Most cases settle before a hearing, often at a mediation held by video. If yours goes to hearing, FINRA panels routinely conduct hearings by Zoom, scheduled with your time zone in mind — a few hours a day over a few days, not a marathon. The panel issues a written, binding award, and the firm has thirty days to pay it.

What you’ll need

Paper wins these cases.

Nothing here has to be complete before you write. Send what you have; we will tell you what else matters.

Account statements: The last 12–24 months. Monthly or quarterly, PDF or photographed.
Account-opening documents: The new-account form and any risk-profile questionnaire, if you have them.
Restriction or closure letters: Anything from the firm about your address, a freeze, a deadline, or a transfer.
Correspondence with the broker: Emails, texts, and your own notes of phone calls — dates matter.
Trade confirmations: Only if you kept them. We can obtain them from the firm if not.
A short timeline in your words: What was promised, what happened, and when you first noticed.

Your hours, not ours

Birmingham, against the clock where you live.

We set a standing call window in your morning or evening. Everything else moves by email and the FINRA portal, at any hour.

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What it costs

Nothing up front. Nothing if nothing is recovered.

$0: To start. No retainer, no hourly billing, no invoice for the review.
Contingency: Our fee is a percentage of what is recovered, agreed in writing before anything is filed. FINRA’s own filing fees depend on the size of the claim; we explain them first, and hardship waivers exist.
Free review: Richard reads your statements personally and tells you whether there is a case. If there is not, you will hear that too — plainly and for free.

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