I'm not wrong, daydreaming. Shares in a cash account cannot be lent out to be shorted without the owner going through hoops to consent to such lending.

However MOST people have margin accounts. A brokerage can lend out shares in margin accounts without consulting with the owners. Most people whose shares are lent out have no idea that it's happened.

Your situation is very different than the way most people set up their accounts.

My point is that Fidelity is known as being kind to shorts and not offering to pay the owners of the shares that they lend out -- as Schwab offers to do.