E*Trade Financial Corporation

I attempted to deposit a check, following all posted rules, into my mobile E-Trade account. The check was for $381, but they locked out my account of over $5000 with no real reason. I have suggested just deleting the deposit so I could put in my regular bank, but they said no. I suggested, if they were concerned about the check not clearing, that they only put a hold on the amount in question. They said no. I have requested that the funds not in question either be transferred to another E-Trade account or returned to my financial institution. They said no. At first they told me they need to speak to someone from the company to verify the check. They did that. No resolution. They told me I needed to submit documents that I was employeed by the company. I did that. No resolution. I have requested to talk to a supervisor twice and have not been allowed. This is totally unacceptable.

terrible customer service - held my money hostage in the name of risk prevention - theives

Etrade sent me an offer. The offer was for me to deposit an extra $5000 into my account and they would give me $100. They did not honor the deal. This is false advertising. They even agreed with me that I had deposited the money in the correct time frame.

I would give 0 stars if I could after dealing with their beneficiary services. They send you forms to fill out with no explanation. Example, two of the forms were for opening a new account and adding beneficiaries. I don't want to do either. I want the money out of my deceased father's account. So I send back the only form I find applicable. Keep in mind, to this day (about 2 months later) I've received absolutely no information on the account despite providing all legal paperwork showing I have authority. After turning in the initial paperwork I'm told the money needs to be moved to a new account and the original forms still need to be filled out. I fill them out and best I can, given I have no information on the process or the account, so I email them with questions. I get a response back that addresses the minimum (to use ss# for the account number), and still providing no relevant account info. I turn the forms in and get a back and forth about things that need to be changed on the forms based on the account type and information. Why don't they tell you how the form needs to be filled out, and why, when they send the forms? Eventually, the forms get straightened out and I'm told it'll be 10 days to process and then we can transfer the money out of eTrade. About a week later I get an emailing telling me to login to my new account and all the things I can do. One problem, I have no information to login. No one told me what happens next. I expected customer service to continue the process. I email back asking what to do with this account creation email and get a generic response that doesn't address "how do I login?" A few days later I get another login email. Still no information though. I email again asking for the info and what the next steps are. I get an email that says to call when I'm ready to transfer the money. No phone number given. No steps that need to be taken or information that will be needed. And still no acknowledgement of the new account emails. During this time I've asked to speak to a manager but was only given an option for a supervisor to call me back. She left me a voicemail and I left her a voicemail. I've requested to work with someone new and actually created an email with steps I would expect to see spelled out instead of doing one thing at a time and hoping for the best. The account is most likely near empty at this point. I find this to be a completely deceptive practice by a company who hires people who support that. With every other financial institution we were done within 2 weeks, everything was laid out very clearly, and we didn't have to open a new account first. This is by far the worst customer service I've ever witnessed and it is absolutely outrageous that this is how they operate dealing with people who have lost a loved one.

Made an account online with Etrade. A week later my account is still "restricted" from trading activity, but by some miracle it isn't restricted from accepting my deposits. I finally call in, the lady on the phone says they require more identifying information because I might be a "terrorist trying to money launder".Under protest, I give her more information than any other bank or brokerage company has ever asked for. A week later I attempted to log in but the login will not work and keeps diverting me to call Etrade about my account. When I call, Etrade has terminated my account. They have no information regarding the reason. They really have no information about anything. They can't return my money because they aren't allowed to. They say I might be able to get my bank to reverse the ACH deposits. Even getting the supervisor on the phone, the answers were the same. No information, no clue, no money. I am fortunate that I only put a couple hundred in and not the entirety of my *** account. Etrade is clearly not trustworthy, they make up , and their employees aren't even trusted enough to give people answers about their own money/account.

Closed my account for no reason with an open trade on it!!! Then customer service blatantly lied to me and the 2nd person I was in contact with admitted to this. I was told an entire set of lies from start to finish about my ability to transfer funds, what I would need for that, how long it would take, and was told a letter would come explaining it all, it didn't. I was told today that ETrade can close any account it wants for no reason and no warning. It's been over a week without my money and I have to wait 5 days for a check that MIGHT come(and from what I read here there's a chance it wont!). I have filed a complaint with the SEC today. This is unacceptable and deceptive.

ETrade asked me to linked my account to transfer money to start investing. I linked my Capital One account and jumped through all the hoops as requested by ETrade. However, hereafter, they held my money hostage and refused to let me transfer the money even within ETrade (to a savings account) until I called them to verify. As such, I did so and they insisted that they need to call my bank to verify that the account was mine even though I had already jumped through all the account verification that they had insisted on. They could not get ahold of the bank. I then suggested that they simply return the money to the account in which it came from. That was thereby refused. As such, now ETrade is holding my money hostage indefinitely, with no solution in sight.

I was looking into opening a trading account with E-Trade to be able to buy a specific stock. I luckily found out before I actually opened the account that the security VRUS is not allowed to be traded online and has to be phoned in. Assuming that the reason a broker would do that is for the protection of its customers I asked a simple question of why. Well this is when they choked and did not have a reason at all and could not provide any reason for the restriction. I can say that the customer service agents are absolutely terrible and have no problem lying on a recorded line. To restrict trading on a fully audited fully SEC compliant and current company without providing a specific reason is very bad for business. Every other broker allows trading of this security without issue so we know it has nothing to do with any laws that required them to restrict trading. I will be filing a complaint with all agencies this pertains to until they fix the issue or at least provide a reason why.

For the last 3 months you’ve had an online buy restriction on VRUS, thus forcing current and new prospective shareholders to call in to buy..
The company is audited, fully sec reporting, OTCQB, and it’s clear you’re sandbagging the buying power, possibly being short..
I find it unethical and disgusting that you would work against the financial interest of your own clients.
I’ve submitted my complaint to the SEC for your blatant stock manipulation.
Shame on you.

E*TRADE Bank failed me this week. I needed to make a Wire Transfer of funds for the purchase of a new home. This is what it says on their MOVE MONEY page: “Wire transfer requests received before 12 noon ET will be processed the same day” . They received my request at 11:22AM ET.
During the course of numerous inquiries throughout the day regarding progress I was assured my request form was complete and accurate. I was told they were "expediting" my request. One rep said "I have moved this up to management level for expedited service", because she said she understood how important it was for the purchase process that this transfer happen today.
Apparently "expedited service" doesn't mean "the same day" but in fact means "probably tomorrow morning". When I finally talked to a supervisor he explained that "it takes time to process paperwork". Totally inacceptable. An utter failure!
For the sake of comparison... my partner in this purchase wired funds from her Fidelity Savings Bank account in under two hours.
After 20 years as an ETrade customer I will be closing my brokerage account and two bank accounts and doing my banking and trading elsewhere.

I am a Nonresident Alien residing in Switzerland and inherited two IRA accounts being held at Etrade. I am one of the designated beneficiaries on both accounts. I submitted all required documents from Etrade on March *** and nothing is happening. Etrade claims there is Nonresident Alien Tax Withholding on the inherited account and I submitted response that there is an Income Tax Treaty between USA and Switzerland to exempt from the withholding on April *** no response from Etrade. I spoke to the Case Manager at the Beneficiary Service but he is only a liaison and can only tell me that the case is being reviewed for the last 3 weeks. Today I asked for a supervisor and she was very polite and told me that she would research the case and get back to me TODAY but no response. I requested to speak to someone who is in charge of reviewing the case and was told that their policy does not allow that.

On NYE, a friend told me about a stock. I got excited about this stock.
I opened an account with etrade shortly after January 1st 2019.
On 1/8/2019, I purchased $100 of stock.
Just days later, I log into etrade to check the price of my stock,
and I see this alert,
"Account Restriction
Due to unusual activity in your account(s), certain functionality may be temporarily disabled until we are able to speak with you."
I called the number and was told that "your account was decided to be closed out."
NO REASON GIVEN.
I pressed and probed for a reason. He rambled on about a customer agreement and told me "section 11" in the "customer agreement."
20 minutes later when I finally found this "customer agreement" I saw that there is no "section 11." I told him this.
He said, "Yes, sorry, it's not section 11. Look at the most popular on that page." The customer agreement was 80 pages long, so I searched for "popular" on the page, and had no clue what he was talking about.
I told him this. He said, "It was just decided to close out your account."
There was no "unusual activity" on my account. After I purchased $100 of stock, the only "activity" I did was I logged into ***
After talking with the rep for 25 minutes, he finally said, "You'll be sent a letter explaining why your account was terminated."
I wish he would've told me that (or better yet, I'd get an email) in the first 5 minutes of our pointless conversation.
Etrade offered me a *** experience.
I suspect that they are not this incompetent. The way he waffled on sounded like someone hiding the truth. I do not trust

I have been a client of ETrade for over 10 years. Just recently I bought a September call spread in XLP. On expiration the price of the ETF exceeded the higher call option price. ETrade exercised both the long and short position and put me in a box position. The funds collected from the short position exceeded the funds needed for the long position. Therefore I was never in a negative cash flow position and never had to borrow funds from Etrade. The account statements showed a positive cash flow the entire time. Nonetheless, Etrade charged me margin interest for over 2 month until I noticed this "box position" and had it closed out. ETrade never notified me that margin interest is being accrued as long as I have the box position open. There was never any need or benefit to keep the box position open as the value of the short and long positions are exactly the same. I feel that ETrade wrongfully charged me substantial margin interest when there was never any funds borrowed.

I have an Etrade account and so did my mother. My mother died in Louisiana with a very simple uncontested will dividing her estate to her three children, and leaving no debts. My attorney secured a Judgment of Possession ordering the equal distribution of the funds of her Etrade account to the three heirs, including myself. The same Judgment of Possession likewise ordered *** to do the same with her *** account. I brought the Judgment of Possession and the death certificate to the local *** bank and received a check within two hours. One week ago, I emailed the same Judgment of Possession and death certificate to Etrade, along with a complete set of all estate documents filed with the Court. So far, Etrade has failed to tender any of the funds of my mother's account to her three heirs. Moreover, Etrade was woefully unprepared to even address this. Their two application forms did not include any method to even request the direct transfer of assets pursuant to Court's Order. The only two options were for a small estate (not applicable), or for the transfer of an estate account after producing an Order naming an executor and tax id for the account. Under Louisiana law, none of these items were required. No estate account was opened, and no tax id for an estate account exists. The Judgment directly orders one-third of the account to be distributed to each heir. First, Etrade's legal department summarily rejected the requested fund transfers without explanation. In response, I submitted multiple emails explaining Louisiana law on this issue, and noted Etrade was at risk of being found in contempt of court. Now, I have been told Etrade has a "team" reviewing this "special circumstance." The only special circumstance is that I live in Louisiana and our succession law does not require an estate account be opened. I have no confidence in how this is being handled, and I have no idea when Etrade will ever let go of my mother's funds. I have spent hours and hours trying to get this resolved over the last week without any results. Again, *** looked at the exact same judgment and cut a check within two hours. I can't speak to the laws of other states, but you might want to look elsewhere for a brokerage company if you want it to comply with the estate laws of Louisiana, and not arbitrarily and capriciously refuse to obey a district court's judgment.

If no stars was an option this is what I would leave. I JUST opened an account with this place only to have my account closed by them for NO REASON. when I called I was told that they decided to "exercise their discretion to close my account" I spoke to a few different people, the supervisor, and I intend on contacting more people to find out why my account was closed. It makes absolutely no sense to refuse a paying customer. I simply would like an answer. There are no guidelines to holding an account with them. and if its because I only started off as a new investor with only 100 bucks and I don't have much experience with stocks, then fine.... tell me something and don't just keep giving me *** the answer that you "just decided to close my account". sorry for rambling, this is just aggravating.

E-Trade Securities: I had a brokerage account and my son had a separate brokerage account (with both being access independently by separate user-ID's. We wanted to link them under my user-ID, so that we can check both accounts together and move funds instantly online without making any phone calls, which require the customer to wait for long time. I was told to fill-up the necessary form, get it notarized and send the original by mail, after which it will be done. However, to my utter surprise, when I called E-Trade after some days, I was told that this cannot be done, and that the person who informed me earlier that it can be done gave me an incorrect info. Such kind of customer service is not acceptable and the reason of not able to link the accounts is not justifiable. I had faced other troubles also with them recently, and all this makes me feel that I should start working with some other security company.

Etrade Financial: I've had an etrade account for over 21 years. In February etrade forced me to either sign that I read and understood 6 exchange agreements or I would lose access to my account. I read the agreements but can't honestly say I understood them so I chose not to sign them. I was promptly locked out of my account. Unlike many other brokerage firms, etrade does not assign a financial consultant to an account, so I had no one to help me other than customer service. Unfortunately, etrade customer service not only didn’t help me, they gave me wrong information and failed to respond in a timely manner. Other etrade staff that I talked to didn't understand exactly what the agreements were about either. It turned out the agreements pertained to use of real time quotes. I found that out by talking to someone in TD Ameritrade, because I couldn't get an answer from etrade staff. Etrade staff appears to be woefully undertrained. I don't use real time quotes but etrade did not offer the opportunity to opt out. There were only two choices: sign the agreements or have my account held hostage. Etrade held my account hostage for about a week and then a corporate manager allowed me to opt out of real time quotes, because etrrade apparently got numerous complaints about their behavior. I was locked out of my account during an extremely volatile time in the market but could not access my account to protect my assets. A corporate manager offered me $100 for my inconvenience and losses. I told him that was an insult because I lost several thousand dollars during the time I was locked out of my account. I filed a complaint with the SEC. I'm still waiting to hear what he SEC is going to do. My guess is nothing. The etrade compliance analyst wrote up a brief analysis of the issue and said etrade would do nothing to make me whole. The analyst lied about things I said. I complained to the CEO of etrade. Now etrade told me I have to move my account. I was planning to move my account anyhow but thought what kind of firm screws over a 21 year customer and then asks them to leave?
I am partially to blame for not reading the fine print. Etrade states in the Terms and Conditions of the Agreement Etrade "reserves the right to terminate my account or to block access to the Service without notice, for any reason or for no reason." Trust me, etrade will do exactly that.
Another negative to etrade: Some companies offer a DRIP program where an investor owning shares of equities in the company can reinvest the distributions at a discount to market price. When the investor purchases and holds shares of those equities through a brokerage firm the investor can still participate in the DRIP program, but only if the brokerage firm participates on the investor’s behalf. I hold an equity from a company with a DRIP plan discount and I hold that equity in two brokerage firms, Fidelity and etrade. Fidelity automatically participates in the company’s DRIP plan and my shares are automatically reinvested at the discount price (currently a discount of 2.5%). Etrade does NOT participate in the company’s DRIP plan and distributions are reinvested at market price. While this doesn’t add up to a lot of money, a 2.5% discount can amount to a fair chunk of change if you have a lot of shares or if you hold that equity for a long time. The point is some brokerage firms watch out for their clients and try to maximize their client’s earnings while other brokerage firms twiddle their thumbs and do little to help their clients. Etrade does more to harm a customer than to help a customer. Every dollar counts, so why go to a brokerage firm that isn’t willing to work for you?

Company is terrible. I submitted an order to buy a stock for 500 shares. It got partial filled for 200. Checking the order status, I noticed there was a button for editing the order. So I went in, edited the order and raised the price to buy the remaining 300 shares that were not filled initially. Then I noticed I was charged for commission twice. I called the support, they kept telling me it was two orders hence two charges. However when I edited the order, the app said "edit order", not "new order". When one edits a doc, one ends up with one doc, not two docs. Or the app should at least warn about extra commission charge. The support was helpless and kept saying there were two orders, not one. It's the bad system design that caused two orders. In reality, it's one order but filled multiple times. I am taking my money out

This company has provided the worst experience I have ever had. It took a month to open my account because of identification verification. I submitted all of the required documents and when the hold was still on my account I was told that they "don't read all of the document". They also accepted my money before verifying my identification. How does that work? And when I was told that my account was active, it was deactivated the next day.

They are asking for a promotion back due to me taking my money out before 6 months. But there is saved chat log where the customer service rep tells me it is okay for me to withdraw funds