Scottrade

Bottom line is this has been the worst brokerage and banking relationship I have ever experienced. Considering I have always attempted to try to build a solid relationship with any company I deal with, in this case, being with Scottrade, especially in the end, it was highly disruptive to my life financially.

A day ago, this company closed my account without warning, claiming I was using my account for business purchases and that it was company policy to do so. Sure, there was much activity in my account. But who's to say I was making these purchases for personal reasons?! And further, who the heck tells me how to spend my money?! I work ** hard for the money that I both earn and trade, and it carries heavy weight in my everyday life. So when Scottrade disabled my account with an over $60,000 balance, it created a strong hindrance from that point on.

Bill payments had to be delayed, and simple everyday operations had to be placed on hold. Never in my life had I receive such low disregard and terrible treatment for a loyal customer. And to further the disgust of company operations, when I wanted to speak with a supervisor about all of this, I was transferred to my local branch instead and had to deal with a middle associate.

I would love to point out that there weren't any illegal transactions made, no negative balances occurred, or no tainted or disrespectful conversation or acknowledgment toward staff. I honestly can't think of anything I did to deserve this type of treatment. I only made purchases and completed needed transactions when I needed to. I only used a bank account in a way that a bank account was used for. Overall, this company should be much better than it is. And I wouldn't return within its ranks, even if it paid me $100K to do so.

When I decided to change to another online account, Scottrade was the leader. Little I did know, they say one thing and provide another. Their online platform is terrible and very confusing. It's not customizable.

Thank you very much for your reports and recommendations about NSRS for the last few weeks. I have traded stocks with TDAmeritrade for the last 18 years, and I am very happy with them because they always executed buy and sell securities accordingly to the way I have requested. Currently, I received a lot of great reports about NSRS security, and I decided to take this opportunity to invest this stock through Scottrade, because TDAmeritrade would not allow me to buy this stock.

On Thursday morning, February 9, 2012, I went to a local Scottrade office in Pearland, Texas to open a new account and deposited a cashier's check with the amount of $1,500.00. Unfortunately, I could not trade any stock on that day, because my account was not ready for trading before the market closed. Early Friday morning, February 10, 2012 about 2:00 AM way before the market opened, I requested a buy for 3,000 shares of NSRS at limit of $.35, because the share of NSRS was closed at $.53 on Thursday.

Around 9:30 AM, the security NSRS went down to $.30/share; but Scottrade did not execute a BUY on my account even though my request was put in correctly. On the same day, around 1:30 PM, NSRS security went back up to $.70 and closed at $.67. Obviously, I missed the great opportunity to make profit of $.32 per share (from $.35 to $.67) for 3,000 shares in which the total gain on my count should be around $960.00. I am not happy about it.

On Friday night, February 10, 2012 around 10:00 PM, I called Scottrade's main office and spoke to one of the representatives about this transaction. He checked all data such as the time, date, and order that I had entered into my account; and he confirmed that everything was put in correctly. However, he did not give me a clear answer or good reason as to why Scottrade did not execute this transaction accordingly. He promised me that he would put a note on my account and have his upper management review this situation on Monday, February 13, 2012.

During this waiting process, I would like to seek for your help and suggestions as to what I should do on this matter. Scottrade may not honor this transaction due to its illegitimate excuses. What do I need to do in this situation? Since I am a new Scottrade customer, I feel that I was cheated by Scottrade on my very first trade.

If it happened to me, it could happen to other valued customers.

I was victimized and robbed by Mark C with Scottrade. Mark C just closed my account because I am a minority and terminated my debit/credit card at the worst possible time. I begged him to let me use it to get a withdrawal to purchase groceries but he laughed and said he wouldn't. He told me to fax in an authorization and that his preference was that I never walk into a branch again. Mark C with Scottrade is a liar, a cheat, a thief and a ***. Mark C should go to prison! Do not trust Mark C with Scottrade!

I started opening my account with Scottrade about a few weeks ago and after the requirement of the documentation submitted , Scottrade approved my account. I have been transferred the stocks from my husband's account and also deposit more money into the account.

But suddenly yesterday, the broker called me and said that my account was restricted as I need to submit another document for opening the account. Things got worse when I called Scottrade Complaints Center. The person implied to me that the account will remain frozen, that I can only sell but unable to withdraw the money from the account until the document required is submitted.

I wasn't able to close my account either until I would be able to submit the required document. Even my request to transfer the stocks and balance cash into my husband's account was also rejected. Isn't that crazy? This is the most unethical business ethic I have ever encountered in my whole life. I feel cheated and now my worry is getting bigger of the consequences.

My experience was a 4 or 5, until the experience which caused me to switch to another online broker. Specifically, Scottrade made one questionable and another flat out wrong interpretation of Regulation T and restricted me from buying with unsettled funds.

In the second case, they sent me an email saying if I deposited $8,500 before the trade in question settled (I messed up and sold something I was intending to buy), there would be no violation. Then after I deposited the money, which I really couldn't afford to do right at that time, they said oops, we were wrong, because I bought a couple of other things with unsettled funds (which I didn't sell) the same day as I bought the shares I inadvertently sold and covered with the deposit.

Buying other shares is completely irrelevant. Regulation T isn't clear on a lot of things, but it is clear that depositing the dollars to cover a violation before the sale settles solves the problem. They kept jerking me around and finally said I would get an answer from their Compliance Department in 7 to 10 business days.

So, my account has been frozen and I have been unable to add back the short protection from which I was stopped out last week. Which I tried to do Tuesday before the two days of sell offs. I've lost the entire deposit (which was nearly five figures) and more. Their "customer service" reminds me of Citi.

I discovered that $25,000 was transferred from my checking account to my Scottrade account without my approval. I contacted Scottrade and was informed that I would need to fax in a wire transfer form to get the money returned to my account. Later, I was told that I would need to wait 3 business days before they could return my money. Because my overdraft protection was only good up to $500, my bank said that they would reject the transaction and return the money to my account since I was overdrawn by $4000.

My bank was gracious enough to waive all the fees associated with this transaction. Scottrade, however, sent me a letter blaming me for this incident; saying that I had inadvertently disclosed my account credentials or had a malicious virus or spyware on my computer and wanted me to sign an agreement that would basically blame me for any future security breaches if I did not change my password every month. It turns out that it is totally their fault because last October, someone hacked into their eCheck secure and stole everone's information. I am now requesting that my Scottrade account be terminated. I have also placed a security freeze on my credit at Trans Union, Equifax, and Experian.

The Scottrade Elite active trader platform has many glitches and flaws in it. Many technical difficulties plague this system. I get the worst possible execution on trades compared to my active trader accounts with TD Ameritrade and Fidelity. I have filed hundreds of complaints, with Scottrade's admission to the problems, but they refused to offer fixes for them. My local Scottrade branch has demonstrated itself with an utter failure in offering any help. My accounts with Fidelity and TD Ameritrade have never encountered a problem, not even once! One should seriously consider another online broker other than Scottrade. Scottrade will rob you and they just don't care. Good luck if you choose Scottrade as an online broker. Really, good luck --you will need it!

I like using Scottrade Elite and their trading platforms. However, I really get disturbed when their stock options window freezes up from time to time especially when I'm trying to unload a losing position costing me big bucks in the end. It seems a bit suspicious to me because it only occurs on the positions I'm holding. Other stock option windows work fine. Yes, I know I should probably just drop my business from them altogether.

Scottrade placed a short in my IRA account due. There's an error on their part. I was forced to cover the $26000 dollar short. I lost $26000 hard (factory) earned dollars.

My broker company, Scottrade, Inc., made a big mistake with one of my previous securities GBOE(D) and caused me financial loss because of their mistake. They have restricted my account and funds even though it was their mistake.

GBEO(D) had a reverse split but Scottrade did a mistake and made a forward split instead. I thought there's no way such a big broker company would do such a big mistake and I trusted their trading platform, which needs to be completely precise. After all, money is at stake. When I signed up with them, I expected a fully professional and precise trading platform. And in this case I had to trust their system as there was no time for me to call Scottrade and make sure such a big company has made or hasn't made a mistake. It's not my job to make sure they didn't make a mistake but they need to provide error-free service that prevents novice-traders and other investors to get in such situations, that security's share price was plummeting and I believed a forward split was made and that I had to protect my profits. And because Scottrade made a forward split instead on GBEO(D) so I believed a forward split was made and that if it was really a mistake then sure Scottrade would have a restriction on that security. But that wasn't the case and Scottrade let me trade it.

I put those shares for sale and had no restriction to sell it. Usually Scottrade has trading restrictions on R/S or F/S stocks but not so in this case. They only restricted the stock after I called them. They also issued no warning or statement to this date whatsoever. The trades went through but all the trades then got canceled within about one to two hour(s). Then I immediately called them to make sure all was okay and they told me they made a mistake with having confused a reverse split with a forward split and that all the trades were canceled. My account money balance and brokerage market value was restored back to its previous state and I specifically asked if all was good now and if no other implications were expected and they said yes, all good. That was also recorded on their phone-call system that day which can be retrieved. I did not/do not possess any of those trades or money from that day at all, and yet they have restricted my account and money, and are not willing to give me a time-frame for their investigation.

Weeks passed by and I almost forgot about the whole thing as there was no reason to think otherwise. There were no restrictions on my account and Scottrade told me all was fine too, on that same day I called like I mentioned. However I then wanted to get some money out of my account and suddenly their compliance department told me they couldn't do it and have to restrict my account for their investigation about that incident.

I have listed all my points to the Scottrade compliance department and manager Mark **. I also have made screenshots from that day's incident with further documents and proof that Scottrade made the mistake. I'm also aware that there are more shareholders who got hurt in this confusion caused by the company.

It's now three weeks since my account got restricted and I can't access my money and they are still not giving me any time-frame upon my request. It's absolutely unacceptable that they're holding my account and money hostaged, because of their mistake and that caused a lot of confusion amongst the shareholders of the GBEO(D) security as well as made some of them perform these trades when they trusted Scottrade's trading platform. Now I'm being hurt financially because of this. Mark ** seems not willing to cooperate and it seems that Scottrade is trying to look for any possible opportunity to blame their customers but themselves for their big mistake.

It's Scottrade here who needs to be investigated by Finra/ SEC and fined for this big mistake and confusion they have caused as well as them not being professional at all in regards to this case. They also need to be immediately forced to lift the restrictions of individuals like me who got confused and hurt financially. I have already talked with a legal council/ law firm and they agree with me, that Scottrade can't restrict me like this as well as they should've given me a time-frame for how long my account restriction lasts for their "investigation" (which they still didn't provide me with).

And now I'm setting up a legal action/ law suit against Scottrade as I have no other choice since they did not seem willing to cooperate even though I wanted to solve this in a friendly manner. If anyone has any opinions, advice, suggestions or interest to get in touch with me about this case I'd really appreciate.

I have a question for other Scottrade users. Do they notice that when they place a buy order, it always is purchased at 1 or 2 cents higher than the quote given only seconds before?

Their system seizes up several times a day making a quick trade near impossible. The entire money balance, even if you are sitting on all cash, fluctuates wildly right in front of your eyes. Limit orders do not kick in and then they blame a "fast moving market" even if the market is slow and records show that it crossed higher than your limit sell price (if you were trying to limit sell for a profit). Anything that goes against you in the system, they blame you - nothing they do is ever wrong according to them.

On May 6, 2010, they blamed fast moving markets for the now acknowledged technical glitch and refuse to reverse any erroneous trades. Each transaction has to be baby-sat because their system is weak and potentially very dangerously flawed or worse, intentionally corrupt. When first setting up the account, they shredded valuable documents that had to be all redone. That should have been a huge red flag. This caused financial losses.

After admitting their mistake, they said that I broke the rules (on their advice) and my account would not be reinstated...They are incompetent rude morons that try to deflect blame and dont [care] about anything else except their own paycheck. If you are using Scottrade in Hawaii, Beware! They dont know the rules of trading stocks and I would not trust them with any lick of confidence!!

It took about two weeks, but Scottrade resolved the issue with the trade as described. Credited for the difference in the closing price/value of XAU October 180 put option on day of expiration.

I placed an option sell order at the market price on the expiration date of 10-16-09 at 3pm. The option was 'in the money' by over 4 ($400). It did not execute for 20 minutes, so I called the local Scottrade branch. There was heavy phone traffic so I was re-routed to the Main Office in St. Louis. I spoke with a rep there about the trade and was told that the XAU exchange was having 'technical' problems and their trade system was down. He instructed me to leave the order open, so that it would expire that day and be settled on Saturday (which is when options settle) based on the price of the index at closing.

At that time the options were valued approx 3.20 ($320 each). The XAU ended the day at 176.50 -- so the options were worth 3.50 each, or $350. I checked the account at closing, and the options were sold at 1. I later was told they sold at 3:56pm, 4 minutes before the end of the trading day. When I called the local branch I was told there was nothing they could do. I asked to speak with someone about the trade, then called the main office. They made me wait several hours and finally said there was nothing they could do.

They told me to file a complaint with their Compliance department. Their email says it may take 7 to 10 days for review. The first rep I spoke with should have canceled the live order; when it did 'transact,' it traded 2.5 points below the index price at 3:56, nowhere near a fair price. Instead of solving the issue, they make snap judgments and put people on hold and send them to another department. Then they misquote you back from your phone calls that were taped, escalating the issue. Please be advised: some of their statements may not be accurate. It was a small error: the first broker should have canceled the open hanging market order, or instructed me to do so. He told me to leave it open so it would settle the next day. So, caveat emptor.

Scottrade sold me bonds, but fails to act as a normal broker. They cannot offer my bonds for sale on the open market, only to select market-makers (at a steep premium over market prices). One of my bonds is undergoing a reorganization. Scottrade refuses to process my ballot, claiming that there is no such offer, even though I have received the official SEC-registered ballot and there is an immediate deadline. Scottrade allows no customer contact except through the local branch office, which refuses to provide information or even to discuss the issues with bond holdings.

When I opened this account over 2 years ago Scottrade hit me with 2 different fees. One was to get my monthly statement! The other was for something called ScottradeELITE. I quickly saw what was happening (They were scamming me out of $17 a month!!) and called the Madison Wisconsin branch to cease both optional items and they said no problem. I have been actively trading and never saw another statement until recently, when my wife was looking around on the site and ran across one.

Guess what? For over 2 years they have been charging me $15 a month for ScottradeElite even though I only opened it one time the first week I had the account. My reaction was to ask for all of my money back ($15 x 24 months or more = $360. They wrote back saying I could have 3 free trades!

I asked how I could sever my relationship with them and they said I would have to sell all of my stocks (that is all I have in the account) before I could close my IRA account. (Schwab said that is absolutely not true). $360 lost for NO PRODUCT due to a person at the Madison Wisconsin office not doing his job and the customer service people online being butt heads.

In August of this year, I sold 28 January 2010 calls on a J P Morgan stock based on information provided by Scottstrade's software program. The software program posts profit or loss values to assist the trader in making decisions on whether to close an option position. Scottstrade made an adjustment to my JPM call report that made a trade in the option look profitable.

For some reason, unknown to me, they eliminated my cost basis that made a sell to close my position look like a profit. Not realizing that they had changed my cost basis, I traded the options in anticipation of a profit because their software program showed a trade to be profitable.

Mr. Bach said that it was my mistake to rely on the posting in their program that showed a profit and that the disclaimer on their software program releases them from any liability.

This may be legally correct but it is ethically reprehensible.

3- I use the scottraderelite program. I hit a limit sale on AIG. The sale went market costing alot of money. Having happened once before. I would keep multiple transaction windows open. I did what the branch manager said to do- call him ASAP for him to correct. I called him immediately. He said he could do nothing stating his computer said their techs said I clicked market. I have since discovered phantom transaction windows are open because of their program design.

4- I bought a stock they list at a 52 week high of 72$. I bought the stock in the 80's and 90's.

SCOTTRADE says there is nothing wrong with their system. I want to hear from others who hit limit with a sale that went at market. I want to hear from others who hit market for a sale that went limit. My branch manager told me, days before the SEC adressed flash trading, Scottrade adresses trades in order of their determined priority. My trades could take up to upwards of 15 minutes to transact. Scottrade is not adressing how the 52 week high of a stock I transacted through them was 30$ plus less than the purchase price.

the bid price, however the order didn't execute. The options plattform I was using was quoting bogus bids so I called the technical support people where they monitor their servers etc. and they had the same bogus bid quote.

They showed me an alternate way of how to get a real-time option bid but that was after I had lost a large portion of my initial investment.

I've also had problems with they're servers cutting off, restarting again, then freezing up. I've noticed also the data transfer rate (in kbps)to be extremely slow at times to the point
of freezing up. I call them about it and it usually is resolved but not every time.

I've noticed again that from the options platform, quotes come in real slow at the opening bell and especially when the trade is in my favor and by the time I want to sell the option the time delay has cut into my potential profit.

Tried to open an account but apparently the staff there are the dont cvare attitude kings and after nearlly 4 weeks still cant get an account. dont expect them to return a call aor offer any help, they are rude and cocky.

After my complaint to ConsumerAffairs on 1-21-2009, I have filed my complaint to SEC on 1-22-2009 to get their attention, because what Scottrade did might cause their customer loss like me. After Scottrade rejected my request for their response in writing (They said that they only give me when SEC inquiry to them), I faxed my written request to Scottrade branch and ask them to forward to their compliance department for writing their response.

I have sold some of my stocks on 1-21-2009 and sold all rest stock on 1-27-2009. Those fund about $3,000 from sold stocks on 1-21-2009 should be available in yesterday (1-26-2009, T+3), but today (1-27-2009) I have found that my fund is still not available to me due to Scottrade freezing those fund. I called Scottrade branch and they said that those fund should have available but then they changed to that my fund, including those sold on 1-21-2009, will only available to me on 1-29-2009 (T+3 for my second stocks selling).

Scottrade freezes all my fund without any legitimated reason. And I plan to pull all my fund out and to file a second complaint to SEC. I believe that this event should let all investors know, therefore, I file this complaint to ConsumerAffairs again.

Scottrade sent me an alert that I was PDT (Pattern day trade) yesterday 1-20-1009. But, I had only one partial closed position in same day yesterday within five business days due to an understandable personal reason. Another two trades were repurchase only and should not be counted as day trades at all and Scottrade admitted that today 1-21-2009. Therefore, just one trade and now they still insisted on their restriction on my account and asked me to put more fund into my Scottrade account. SEC-NYSE 2001 rule 431: 1.

The term pattern day-trader is defined as any customer who executes four or more day trades within five business days. 2. The minimum equity requirement for pattern day traders is $25,000. 3. The amendments redefine the term day trading to treat the sale of an existing position held from the previous day as a liquidation, and the subsequent repurchase of that position as the establishment of a new position not subject to day trading margin requirements.

There were another same alert in November 2008 after I had pulled fund and left only little over $25,000 in my account, and in that time they included those trades when my account was still above $25,000 and also included my repurchase that should not be counted as day trades. Scottrade branch staff insisted that repurchase must be counted as day trades and I must put more fund back into my account. I didn't check SEC-NYSE rule 431 at that time and I just added more fund into my account. Now, with only one trade on the same day with a particular personal reason, they put on restrictions on my account immediately even without 1 week waiting fund adding time like in November, and just asked for more fund.

Now they claimed that this is due to my previous PDT alert in November, which should not exist neither if they really follow SEC-NYSE 431 rules. With these two (faked?) PDT alerts, I start to doubt that Scottrade might just try to collect more cash fund from their customers in current credit freezing financial environment. When market went unstable, I have started to pull out profit and fund from Scottrade since last October. I don't know if this is the way they are trying to force me to put fund back into my Scottrade account, and rule 431 has just become their excuse only. But, they definitely should never do this.

1st, you have to be a person never Open an account with Scottrade before! If you have an account with Scottrade say 5 years ago, even you close that account and open a new one, they will not give you any free tread! Lie Two,

you have to call to local office to ask for the free treads! If you forgot to call, you will not get any free tread!!

Michael

Scottrade looks for any excuse they can to restrict opening transactions. This ranges from forms (even those that their lawyers have come up with since you opened your account) to owner verificiation (they will deposit your money...you just can't use it to buy anything). It unbelievable. All I can figure out is they want to keep my money in a cash account paying almost no interest so they can profit off of the spread.

It's difficult to determine the amount of money I have lost due to their deliberate obstructive actions. I have not tracked the potential value of my trades....water under the bridge.

Scottrade restricted access to my equities, limited trading ability, and refused to allow access to cash in my account, all without any valid reason. Scottrade claimed that a approx. 1.5 year old, previously resolved IRS notice gave them authority and responsibility to restrict my account. This is despite the fact that the IRS claimed that no such instruction or authority had ever been given to Scottrade. Despite repeated requests that Scottrade contact the IRS to specifically inquire about this issue, they, incredibly, repeatedly refused to do so.

To this day, Mark Clardy, the Scottrade Compliance supervisor responsible for this debacle has never contacted the IRS to verfiy his error, never mind fix it. This Scottrade employee even recently sent me a letter cancelling my account, claiming that I was too high maintenance for them. This is outrageous because I simply insisted that they investigate the problem and fulfill their responsibilities to me, thier client, by determining correct procedures instead of making presumptous and damaging decision based on thier groundless personal opinions, which is all they are working with, still. It was all incredibly insulting and unreasonable, not to mention expensive.

The IRS agents I spoke with all agreed that Scottrade was acting inappropriately and without any instruction or authority from the IRS. I emailed the CEO, Rodger Riney, repeatedly to make him aware of this debacle, to no avail. I did not receive as much as a response from him or his office. This debacle was only resoved after the IRS overrode thier own protocol and sent Scottrade information to resolve the problem. By resolved, I mean access to my cash funds was finally granted however other restrictions remain on my account. I will be happy to provide more details and copies of correspondence to appropriate investigators.

I was unable to trade, transfer or reinvest my equities, nor access cash in my account. This problem has been ongoing for 1.5 years! I still can buy and sell equities on this account.

I am using Scottrade for my equity trades. The company has a real time platform to buy and sell stocks. The company software miscalculated by buy price by over 40 dollars. Since this is what a trader looks at to buy and sell stocks in real time..it is a big deal. Unfortunately the company manager does not see it this way. The problem has not been rectified. On my paper statement the correct buy price is recorded

When you are dealing with over 200K in equities this is a concern. Especially since lead to a loss of time at work and miscalculation of my trades for that day. The potential financial consequences are concerning.

Received today a corrected 1099 form. This had to be addressed by my accountant and became part of the fee I was to be charged for my tax work up. Scottrade assumed no financial responsibility for this error on their part

Additional cost for tax preperation. I just walked with my account to another firm