e*Trade

Fernando of San Diego, CA March 13, 2010

In 1997, my wife and I invested 1000. I kept the money without prior knowledge that we were being incurred a 40 dollar quarterly maintenance fee. Last year our account was zero. We were never notified of maintenance fees being charged after 2002 because I put the account in my wife's name they will not speak to me about this matter.

Mike of Mullica Hill, NJ March 11, 2010

Purchased 5,000 shares of stock for 1,000 back in 2008. Was told by a friend that you did not pay any fees unless you bought or sold shares. Went on line 3/10/2010 and saw the account was closed. Looked at previous statements, and found the 5000 shares had been sold. Contacted e-trade 3/10/2010 to see what happend. Was told that there was a minimum balance requirement of 10,000, and since I did not meet the requirement, they started charging monthly fees until there was no money left to collect against. They solde my 5,000 shares!!!!!!! (For 275) !!!!!

Since the shares were in my name and my son's name, how the hell do they have a right to sell something that is not theirs? They allowed me to open the account, and never said a word about the 10,000 minimum. They never sent me a statement. My son and I looked at this investment as one for future use, since it was a new product and would not gain much for a few years. AVOID E-trade at all costs!!!!

Jeffrey of Hanna City, IL February 15, 2010

Starting in 2009, Etrade financial began charging a 40/quarter fee that was not communicated to me at any time. Devan M agreed to refund the last quarter's account debit to my account so the account could be sold and closed. After the refund was not processed as promised, Tifany G alerted me that the refund could not be processed and that I needed to sell my remaining securities to pay off the balance of fees. I specifically requested to receive paper statements, yet no notification of the account debits was ever provided.

JERRY of FULLERTON, CA February 12, 2010

I am filing this complaint on behalf of my client, Mr. Jerry Lindquist. His mortgage loan is serviced by E*TRADE FINANCIAL. Mr. L. went to E*TRADE requesting postponement of his FORCLOSURE SALE DATE FOR 2/16/2010, Mr. L. has not been able to collect all the supporting documentation pertaining his income and banking information requested by his lender in order to stop the sale since he has been taking care of his ILL WIFE who is in the hospital suffering from TERMINAL BREAST AND KINDNEY CANCER.

Due to deteriorating heath issues and inability of locomotion, Mrs. L. can no longer secure employment due to her illness. She is on the edge of death. The Lindquist relays on her disability income and his self employment income. She needs help from her husband who is next to her bedside taking care of her to be able to survive. Her illness has significantly increased their medical expenses. In addition to her cancer, adverse reaction to the anesthesia have resulted in neurological issues requiring further treatment and care.

Mr. L. has contacted E*TRADE FINANCIAL personally and through, Certified Financial Protection Group, LLC, to postpone the sale date until he can come home and collect all the documentation pertaining to his income, financial status, banking information and every piece of supporting documentation and information they have requested. His income information is with his accountant and this person is out of town. The rest of the information needed is in boxes since he has been packing in case he needs to leave a short notice.

He has called numerous times asking for at least 2 more weeks in order to have enough time to collect this information and care for his wife at the same time. I have tried to complete the financial interview with E*TRADE representatives and I am told that the client has had enough time to do this and that at this point they will continue with the scheduled date knowing that he is moving to collect this information as fast as he can given the current situation. That is cruelty.

Other than that no specific reason is ever given. I am always told that the client should've collected this information beforehand; ignoring the whole reason why we are requesting A BIT MORE TIME to submit paperwork for his modification request. Mr. L. truly believes that some sort of handicap discrimination is taking place since he is asking for just a little more time. His health is also failing and the stress of this seemingly endless lack of care, cooperation and understanding with this financial institution is taking its toll.

E*TRADE is done nothing to address our concerns, or repeated requests for JUST A BIT MORE TIME to collect the modification documentation requested by them. We need your help intervening on the borrower's behalf. Supporting documentation is available upon request. i will be out on the street with a terminally ill wife.

Pamela of San Bernardino, CA February 3, 2010

I have had POA for my mother's accounts for 2 or 3 years. Her funds are exhausting with the expenses for her medical and assisted living. I had opened a brokerage account for her with silver and gold shares....the bank accounts were joint with E-Trade in both of our names. The time came I needed to cash in her shares. The bank said to send in a notarized POA and letter from the doctor. My mother lives in assisted living 45 minutes from my house. To make a long story short, this is the 4th set of notarized documents including the formal POA I have had and 3 times notarizing their POA.

I have had to use mobile notary service which really adds up. Today, I called to see if they are addressing these last documents sent to them and they would not speak to me. They wanted me to put my mother on the phone....she is very sick....and I have already made a totally separate trip there to be with her and put her on the phone which I felt cruel of them. This is a redundant task. I have POA and have already done everything asked. I asked to speak to a supervisor. She put me on hold for quite a long time then told me there was no supervisor there. She said that they need to speak with my mother yet again. This is unlawful, cruel, and unjust.

Ulises of Chelsea, MA January 20, 2010

On December 09, 2009, I opened an investment account online with Etrade Securities LLC hoping to earn some money in order to survive and catch up with bills in this striving economy we are in today. I have set aside less than a thousand dollars to invest. On December 10, 2009 I received correspondence from Etrade Securities congratulating for opening the account and instructions on how log on to my account on line to begin trading.

Well to make my story short, the same day that I acquired the account I made a transfer to deposit into the brokerage account from my local bank in the amount of 900.00 which they later confirmed receiving the request for processing in the following message: "Wed Dec 09 17:17:08 2009 Funds Transfer Confirmation Your request (Reference Number: 11086286327) to transfer 900 from Eastern Bank-3615 to E*TRADE Brokerage-6353062 was successfully submitted for processing on 12/09/2009 at 17:17:08 ET."

On December 11, 2009 I was in receipt of a letter from Etrade, telling me that the account was closed for no specific reason whatsoever and just that "firm has decided to exercise its discretion" Also requesting me that "no longer look to Etrade Securities to assist with my financial needs". To this date, I have not received my money or has it ever been transferred back to my savings account. I kindly to look into this matter and help me recover my money that I really need to get by my daily living.

Joel of Gloucester, MA January 19, 2010

I got a notice from etrade saying that the company was breeched and they were going to issue new credit cards. When I got my new card I activated it and basically the old one cancels. My problem is that e*trade did not transfers all of the funds that were on that card they left around 100 on it. I have called to have them transfer the remaining from the closed account to the new one and they said alright. So next month I noticed it was not complete yet and that’s when I opened a claim to have the dispute office of etrade investigate the situation in October 2009.

From that day to present I keep getting a run around story how its going to be fixed but its like each person I talk to keeps lying. My late fees keep getting higher and higher, me and the people that live in my house are being harassed by credit collectors from the company, and my credit score is greatly being affected which will hurt me in many ways, and one is that I need a new car to get from and to work. The last person I talked to her name was Judy and she works in the disputes office.

I got a call today witch was January 19th 2010 my mom picked up the phone it was etrade and told them to hold on a minute, as soon as I said hello they hung the phone up on me, I consider that harassment. It got to a point in time were I got so sick of the harassment I just called them and asked if I could pay it all off while they straighten out the problem and fix it, e trade said sure. A while later from that point I get a call back from them saying I cant pay it off while its being disputed and they will send the check back by mail. Come to find out they put it towards my current active account without my permission.

When I spoke to the lady Judy from etrade she told me that the only record on their file is when I requested to have the rest of the balance transferred to my new account, the dispute was not on record she said which made me really upset. Hopefully you guys can help me out with the trouble their giving me because they keep lying to me by saying every week it's going to be fixed but they don’t.

octavio of loxahatchee, FL January 19, 2010

E trade ripped me off by charging me 132.00 dollars on a purchase of 8000. shares of Fannie Mae i had always paid 12.99 and suddenly they charged me 132.00 when i contacted them the said they can legally change what they charge at any time its in their contract. unfortunately i did not have a magnifying glass to read the small print.

Sue of San Antonio, TX January 16, 2010

I was hoping to find a way to reverse 5 (FIVE) years of inactivity fees which they started charging me once I turned off paper statements. If I had been getting a paper statement I would have done whatever it took to stop these exorbitant fees. I only had 2 stocks with 2000 in the account and actually forgot about them until I wanted to transfer them to another brokerage account. They have been stealing all of my cash dividends which I have been paying taxes on for five years and STILL charging me 40 a quarter for an Inactivity Fee!

josephine of Gilbert, AZ December 17, 2009

Could this really be happening? A year ago i received a letter from ETrade where I have a small brokerage and money market account saying there was a problem with my social security number. I called and found out that somehow they had an incorrect number attached to my account one digit off my number. A simple typo I think. I sent them a letter at there request saying that one is wrong this one is correct.

Then this year I received another letter from ETrade same thing. This time they said I had to go to the Social Security office (ever been there really nice) and get a form such and such to prove that the incorrect number was not my own. Although there is no form that proves a number isn't yours I got the form they asked for and an affidavit as to what my ssn is. OK send it in.

I then try to transfer the contents out of that account to another firm. This is denied. Why? Because ETrade doesn't have a W-9 on file for the corrected ssn. OK I fill out the W-9 and send it. They confirm they have received it. Hurrah you say oh no. Now i figure I have a checkbook from ETrade, regular checks they sent me a long time ago in a regular checkbook.

So, year end is here and I am making my end of year tax credit donations to charities as allowable under Az law. I think I'll use the cash in this account for them to spend it down. I write the checks and send them to charities and today find out that Etrade is bouncing the checks because THE CHECKS HAVE EXPIRED! Nothing on the checks or checkbook says that these checks have a use by date like milk.

I now ask Max to contact ETRADE because I am so mad I am about to loose it. He does and they tell him about expired checks and how yes, the issues will most likely have to pay fees and I cannot write a check to clear the account. I sold my last security, supposedly today and they say they will send more checks. Really one should do it. My friends if you have an account with these people run don't walk to close it. This is one of the worse companies I have EVER done business with. I have four outstanding checks to charities that will now bounce because ETRADE will not honor them.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Follow us on Twitter.

Back to the top |