Complain about a product or service

Charles Schwab & Co.

101 Montgomery Street, San Francisco, CA

Joy of Cleveland OH (03/24/09)
February 17, 2009 my mother passed away leaving a schwab account to be split between her five children. The first information I received was a Charles Schwab new acct application with the Beneficiary Auth forms. Mind you this was received 3rd party from my sister-in-law. I contacted Mr. Vidovich with questions. His responses were vague and condesending. I have attempted to email schwab/vidovich to make an appointment to meet with him. No response was ever received.

I have phoned and left messages, still no return call or response. They have all of our phone, address, emails on file. No one from Schwab has ever contacted me directly, only get 3rd party messages through other relatives. Now there is another form we all must sign and return. As professionals why wasn't the auth to sell form sent with the entire package to release the account? It appears lack of organization, lack of customer communication skills run high at this firm.

This is something that should have been handled directly, and quickly. I have been put in a stressful situation and still the account has not been disbursed.

Shirley of Sun City, AZ October 14, 2008

Shirley of Sun City AZ (10/14/08)
I have been with Charles Schwab for about 8 years and I have traded stocks and Covered Options. I filled out an application to purchase Options and they denied the application. When I tried to pin them down to the specific area of why I was denied they were not very clear in the denial. I supect I was discriminated against because I am a woman. When they mentioned lack of experience I asked them how does one get experience behind a closed door and they did not have an answer.

I went down to the local office and the District Manager said I would not be able to reapply for Option purchasing for 6 months. I have more than enough equities in stocks to meet the obligation required and I consider trading Covered Options more of a risk than purchasing Options.

I was denied trading Options during the biggest swings in the markets history as I know it. I missed two great opportunties in both a down trend and an up trend.

Satnam of Fremont, CA October 6, 2008

Satnam of Fremont CA (10/06/08)
I shorted 5000 CEG stocks and the market turned against me. I lost all of my deposit and my account went into negative 4000, charles schwab put my account in mannual review (that is what they told me). After a while I notice that they did not cover my position and my account started going into further negative. I got panic as my account was showing -35000, I did try to cover my postion @mkt while stock price was 32. They did not cover immediately, covered later after 2+ minutes at a much higher price, 39+.

My concern is when account was negative and they put my accout in mannual review, they should have covered me as there was no money left in my account, otherwise they should have covered my position at market order. They forced me to pay 67100. Something is not right at Schwab.

I lost more than 116,000 and peace of mind

Stephen of Latham, NY September 4, 2008

Stephen of Latham NY (09/04/08)
I went to schwab to open up a account and the gentleman asked me if I had ever been with schwab and I said yes.He looked it up and said all he has to do is update my information.I gave him my new address and phone number and he told me to sign here.So I did. I found out that they have pulled a credit report on me and because I have a block on it they can not receive it.They asked me to release it to them and I asked why and they told me that its in article 14 in the form that I signed and i should have read it.I also asked them why are they pulling a credit check on me when I am not borrowing money and the gentleman named Harold said it was because of the patriot act.

I can not believe that they can just say what they want and threaten to close my account just because I do not feel that they have the right to pull my credit to use my money.I am not applying for credit here and the gentleman at schwab updated my information from a previous account and said sign here. I would close out my account today and will probably be transfering funds to another brokerage. As a consumer,should I have the right to refuse a company my credit report when I am not applying for credit.And doesnt a brokerage company have to inform me of my credit be pulled and not just say sign here after he updated my account.

I have received several different responses from schwab and they want to blame me instead of having a set of standards informing the consumer that they are going to check my credit.If I was informed of this before hand,I would never have opened an account with them.Instead they just stated sign here, your account has been updated According to schwab they only check credit on new accounts and the schwab representative stated that he was updaing my existing account. As an american if I am not applying for credit,how can a brokerage demand that I release them my private information.It should be outlawed and I want this matter looked into.

I have until september 30th or they will sell my account and send me back my funds. I am standing up to them on principle,simply because I want to know why I was not explained about this procedure before I purchased a stock.My account is frozen and I feel that I am being bullied. I do not know who they are but after talking with them I question there integrity. I was in the credit industry for years and when i said sign here to the customer,I was required to tell them by signing here you are giving us permission to pull a credit report.They were applying for credit and understood this basic principle.I am not applying for credit and I want Schwab investigated and for them to listen to the phone converstions that schwab said they recorded.

Do I have a basic right to not allow a company into my file?They accused me of having something to hide and I said that is the furthest thing from the truth.I just do not want an inquiry on my credit,especially when I am not applying for credit. Thank You,

I am currently down about 1000.00 on a stock purchase and to me that is alot of money.I also told schwab that if they do not want my business to pay me back my initial investment and I will gladly go someone else.I do not and will not let some one at schwab close my account without standing up for my basic rights.Sorry about the rambling but it just infuriates me.

Charles of Bakersfield, CA April 26, 2008

Charles of Bakersfield CA (04/26/08)
In early 2006 after my 94 year old mother had a heart attack, my 93 year old father decided that it was time to have the trust and all documentation updated. The result was that I have complete durable power of attorney for both my parents as well as succeding trustee of the trust and a 50% benificary of the trust.

A year later my father had a heart problem that resulted in brain damage and he has slipped further and further into dementia which has required having him placed in a facility for the mentally impared. During all this my mother had another heart attack and a slight stroke that has left her in very poor physical condition.

In September of 2007 I took over all of their affairs. Getting control of the financial affairs required that I deal with eight banks, three credit unions, and four brokerage houses. With the exception of Charles Schwab this went as smooth as one could hope for. All were extremely helpful. But,Charles Schwab fought me every step of the way. Starting with refusing to accept my durable power of attorney and telling me that the only power of attorney they could accept was one that was done on a Charles Schwab form and went on to claim that it was required by SEC regulations and federal law. After that claim was challenged it was just one silly excuse after another.

As I saw it I only had one option. Eliminate the problem. While my mother is in poor shape physically, her mind and tongue are still very sharp. So I loaded her up and rolled her into Schwab and moved everything to a friendly broker who was more than happy to get our very large portfolio. People at the Schwab office seemed stunned that we would have the audacity to terminate them. Cost a bit, but well worth the money to be rid of Schwab.

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