Individual investors have displayed a new and growing interest in direct registration services, shown by issuers including DRS statistics and by the existence of developing advocacy projects such as WhyDRS.

Some brokers have been allies to individual investors through the growth of direct registration, and provide multiple methods to direct register shares or provide the service as a complimentary feature. Other brokers charge fees for direct registration transfers, and there are even brokers which do not allow account holders to initiate direct registration at all. In these cases, an individual would need to transfer to a different broker which does offer DRS before they would be able to start the process.

The WhyDRS Database also collects information on all Brokers which deal in U.S. securities, including their contact information and fee structure. Direct Registration should be a choice available to all investors - if your preferred broker includes a fee structure to direct register or doesn't offer the service at all, you can use this email tool to reach out and request that they revaluate their policy to better help individual investors.