e*Trade

I've had an e*Trade account for over 21 years. In February e*Trade 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. e*Trade 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 e*Trade staff. e*Trade staff appears to be woefully undertrained. I don't use real time quotes but e*Trade did not offer the opportunity to opt out.

Great, proactive customer support, both at corporate and branch levels. More customization options would be helpful, particularly on data presentation and download.

e*Trade is the worst brokerage all around. Frequent platform/quotes outages, options platform errors and limitations – all that with some of the highest commissions in the industry. After e*Trade took over OptionsHouse accounts I have transferred out two of my accounts and in the process of transferring out my last account to another brokerage. Last week I lost few hundreds because e*Trade had quotes outage. Not the first time, and e*Trade refused to make it up to me. Did not even credited some commission-free trades. e*Trade’s IT department is incompetent and careless. After taking over OptionsHouse in 2017, e*Trade removed many features from what used to be a very nice platform and managed to break some functionality.

I have been fighting with e*Trade for years to get my Cisco certificate shares. I closed my account long ago and asked for my Cisco shares to be sent to me. When they never arrived I called e*Trade who told me I had to call another company that handles the mailing of trades. They stated they had not received anything from e*Trade for me to be mailed, they stated I would need to call e*Trade back to discuss the problem. I suppose you can see where this is going as this went on for months, including myself trying to get the FTC involved to mediate the problem. Nothing EVER happened. Cisco acknowledges my shares but to have them replaced I must put a stop on them, purchase a surety bond and sign affidavits they lost, all at my cost. Not once did anyone from e*Trade try to help in any way. Very frustrating company to deal with, I would recommend you find someone better to deal with.

This place is not a good place to put your money. I kinda done more in depth research after I opened both accounts banking and brokerage. You really don't see much good reviews of this place but anyway I opened these accounts and maybe almost 2 months later closed with no notice. I logged in to my account via mobile and could not see my brokerage acct so I called and was told my acct was closed. "Why?" I asked then. The rep says she didn't have that info will send a letter blah blah. "Ok. How do I get my money." The rep tells me that they will send it back automatically to the account I made a deposit with.

This is an economical way to trade stocks. I have had excellent support when I have called staff for assistance. I have used this company for years and have no plans to change brokers.

Wish I had found this site before transferring my accounts to e*Trade! Customer Service is terrible. One Customer service rep tells you one thing, then the next tells you something different. Shortly after opening three IRA accounts I get an urgent email alert that said they tried to contact me by phone but couldn't. I was home and my phone did not ring. OK, so I call them and after a short while on hold while they "research" the problem, they come back and say It's no problem, and don't know why I got the email. This happened three times within several days with the same result. Finally got a rep that knew what she was doing and she resolved the problem.

At first I thought these terrible reviews were lopsided given e*Trade's position as a major US online brokerage. Upon experiencing first hand, I can whole-heartedly agree that these reviews are absolutely accurate. Day 1: Account is opened, funds wired. Brokerage account ready to trade. Place a pre-market short trade that gets filled at 8:42am. Everything seemingly working great - I switched brokerages for execution like this. Then at 9:30am market opens soft, I look to get out of the trade at a slight loss and lo and behold, my account is MISSING on the site. Log in works, but no accounts shown, no balances and everything is blank. WHERE IS MY MONEY?

Finally decided to utilize my margin account. Transferred cash and bought. Few days later received a margin call. A small fluctuation and you get a margin call and within hours they sell without giving you a chance to resolve. So, this week there was an intra-day fluctuation in my positions which we all know happens and is normal, but E-Trade went ahead and sold my shares to settle the margin call. I contacted them asking why they sold my shares so fast based on intra-day fluctuation, and without allowing me to resolve.

When I started years ago their rates were competitive -- I never had any problems with the limited service I needed. My last renewal of a CD was for 0.1% -- outrageous! When I went to close the account I was told that I needed to download forms online and then mail them in; impossible to do it online. Then they took about 3 weeks to process the withdrawal. When I went online to check, since my account was closed I was denied all but limited access to my account and even that was impossible to get. I called and their automated phone system kept bouncing me (un-asked) to different options but, to give them credit, when I finally got a person they were helpful and efficient. I'm glad I closed my accounts.

e*Trade's customer service area is horrific. They never give the the same answer, they take several days to complete a simple withdrawal, and never admit their mistakes. I am so disappointed in how they handle transactions, I would never recommend them to anyone, not even small accounts.

Have been doing business with this firm for many years. Recently, their service has been horrible. They tell you one thing and that happens to be incorrect. It is almost impossible to log in to their website. Telephone calls result in transfers to areas that cannot assist you. Can no longer do business with these people. Very poor service and technology.

Maybe it's just that I am new to investing in stocks directly, but when I accidentally tried to transfer an amount greater than what was available for withdrawal in my account, the difference was automatically borrowed on a margin with no attempt to obtain confirmation that this was the action I intended. To me it seems almost predatory that one would not be notified in any way that they are withdrawing more money than what is "available for withdrawal" (and truly, with that phrasing, it seems funny that one should even be capable of doing so).

I set up a custodial account for my niece nearly 18 years ago, and recently received a letter from the IRS stating I owe back taxes for dividends the account received nearly 2 years ago. When I called E-Trade asking why this dividend was reported under my tax ID, and not my niece's, I was told that I, as custodian, am the responsible party for any taxes. This goes against all of the research I have done, and, actually would negate the entire reason for the account if it were true. My complaint about E-Trade is not only that their customer service reps know nothing; I also am upset that this dividend was reported under my tax ID and not my niece's.

One time I had a very large account with them. I engaged a money manager at another brokerage and tried to transfer part of the account to the other brokerage. It took 10 months, because e*trade kept falsely saying there were margin clerking problems. Luckily the money manager was patient and didn't just boot me. Another time I had a dispute of around $60000 with them. Their legal position was ridiculous, that I had to keep re-filing my account documents due to imperfections that were mostly their fault and that anyone else would ignore. The problem was that they would state their legally unsupportable nonsense on the phone but refused to put it in writing on their "Secure Message" messaging system.

My Account was restricted for some mysterious reason and now I have been waiting for a week for e-trade to unlock my account. They keep promising to call me back to unlock it (the department that does this does not accept inbound calls!) But I am still waiting. I now have no access to my money and each person I speak to doesn't really sound like they care to help. No managers available just no, thats all I hear - pathetic!

E*TRADE keeps changing fee structure on its mutual funds and ETFs. I had DCA into few funds for couple of years. These are small amounts I deposit into mutual funds. In my recent account review I noticed that my account value was falling instead of great stock market returns. I came to know that for past 6+ months E*TRADE was charging me $19.99 for each auto deposit of $250 into 3 funds. Apparently E*TRADE changed these funds from NTF to fees based without proper notifications. That's whopping $350 fees they charged me without my knowledge.

I have been trying for 16 years to get the money out of a custodial account originally established in my name for college savings. Clearly, we weren't able to use it for college. Apparently it isn't enough mine to liquidate or change the investments, despite being well over 18, but it IS enough mine to charge me taxes and fees. It isn't enough my parents for eTrade to allow them access either, because I am over 18 (in fact the account is well over 18 years old, so there should be no question of that).

I lost my wife in 2000 and she had an e*Trade account that I automatically inherited. Life gets in the way and quite frankly I forgot about it until I recently came across some paperwork. OK that was my fault. I tried to log in using the information I found without success so contacted e*Trade. Answer back was, "We closed that account (why?) and since we don't keep record more than 7 years, it's done." Tough luck. I've had the same telephone number for years but no one called or emailed. I agree that Customer Service is a joke and virtually useless. Got a voice mail saying "yep, Account closed, money gone - no further action is required on your behalf!" Pressed them for reasons they closed the account in writing and I eventually got a BS letter. That has been passed on to legal representation. $7,000 - 10,000 just vaporized without trace. I call this Corporate Theft.

Etrade shut down my Etrade account without explanation. I had a grey sheet penny stock and Etrade said "Either transfer your shares or we will sell your shares automatically." Etrade will not divulge why they will not service my account. I cannot sell my shares as on the grey sheets. It is not possible. Etrade did find the shares when they sold them for me. Etrade also will not reimburse me for the cost of the trade(s) to acquire the shares.

I have been a customer with e*Trade for 12 years. Sunday, I logged into my account and discovered that all 3 of my accounts had been frozen. E*Trade did not proactively notify me by email or phone. I am lucky that I discovered the fact two days after they froze it. I got grilled to the nth degree by their rep and manager--very private and intrusive questions way beyond the questions they have asked in the past when needing to verify my identity (beyond the 8 question list). These were questions to uncover a crime (but no crime had been committed). Although the reps were evasive, I could tell that some wire transfers I made to buy and sell property were being viewed as "suspicious activity" and that they were getting ready to submit a SAR (or perhaps had already done so).

Rolled my 401K into E-trade, a relatively large amount. Shortly after applied for a loan. Was told it would take 3-5 business days... Three Weeks later... After overnighting additional paperwork on a weekend, (thus not slowing the process, they had it by Monday morning) and instantly wiring funds to make up for a trading shortfall of $90, in order to make certain that the full loan amount was available, and being told about 10 times that it would take 3-5 business days, I am now told loan paperwork is completed, and all is good on the money side... It will take 3-5 business days to receive the funds from the loan...

Out of courtesy, I informed my account manager I was transferring 2000 to another company. After a few weeks, I found out they were lying to me. Even though they had the same SS number on the application and the only thing different was the lack of a middle initial, E*TRADE wanted me to submit a new application for transfer with a Notary signature. I called my rep and he assured me they were sending the check that day.

I contacted E*trade on 11/23/16 to inquire about my account. Something seemed off and I asked the customer service rep if a recent company merger had been reflected correctly with the corresponding shares in my account. The rep told me he had found a discrepancy and would need to do a manual update. On 12/2/16, I spoke to the rep again and he told me I would see the correction in my account after a couple of days. On 12/7/16, I assumed the E*Trade rep was done working on my account. On this day I saw a $3,000 GAIN in my portfolio. I thought I hit the jackpot! After so many months of watching my shares lose money with this company, I thought I finally got a break and finally made a profit. After watching the stock go up and down by a few dollars for over an hour, once it started dipping under $3,000 I decided to sell all my shares belonging to this particular company.

Had very bad experience with their customer service. They make system complicated for us simple people to understand. I do not do taxes or stocks for a living. I am an engineer and would like to stay that way. They put my residency status as foreign national when I have been working here for seven years. When I asked them about it and kindly requested to amend it, they completely disowned the problem. Redirected it to be my problem and refused to help me at any cost. Unfortunately, I have to deal with this problem as-is. Morgan Stanley would never do this.

I have traded for a few years now with Etrade. I understand there are risks involved in the market. As a beginner I was led to believe that you can invest your money and hope to see some sort of gains. After these few years I have learned how manipulating Etrade's platform is. The sad part is they call you a customer elite when you have met a certain amount of trades but when you lose money or need any assistance you're not so elite anymore. Don't be surprised that it is this brokerage firm involved in taking parts of your funds. Every issue I have ever had has never been properly resolved.

After being with E-Trade over 20 years I had not traded in the last couple of years because of investments targeted by the OOovvvomitt administration coal companies to be frank. I decided to set up a traditional Ira and for some reason which they would not tell me they had decided to end our business relationship as they state it. After wasting countless hours talking and being on hold and BS so called customer service I was told the reasons are in the mail? Unbelievable! They can't even be decent enough to tell you texting or by the phone. And behind the scenes closing all my accounts without even telling me!

My wife and I are staying in Mexico and we let E*TRADE know that and I asked them how to remove my spouse from our joint account. E*Trade advised us to explain in a letter with both signatures and that it be notarized. We sent it a notarized letter and they canceled the correspondence with the explanation they don't accept Mexican notaries. Based on that info E*TRADE restricted the account where we have no access to our money. My US Bank accepted the Mexican Notary. I tried to speak with their legal, but they won't unless you are an attorney. E*Trade can restrict your money by repeating we are protecting both parties, when no one requested a restriction in the first place. Still unresolved. E*TRADE won't even let us close the account.

I opened my account with E*trade in 2004 due to my workplace had given us stocks. I also used it for everything. In the last three years when there was funds they would bounce a check. Since they are not local I would deposit funds using my cellphone. I deposited a check that I had no idea was a fake check and they locked ALL my accounts up and I could not get any funds. They kept my funds locked up–which I had 2 times the amount that would cover the check in the account–for almost a month! When I called them they would tell me one thing and do another. They were not honest. I finally asked them to close the accounts and they said they already had and mailed me the checks. It took me 3 weeks to get any funds and I had to borrow due to using them and not a local bank. You live and learn but they were the worst financial and brokerage institution ever! I found a local person who is wonderful.

Trying to make trades with their representatives is a nightmare. They often talk so much and for so long that the prices have gone up by the time they finally push that buy button causing loss over and over. I had 2 accounts. One morning I was trying to use one of them and had no access to my own money for over 8 hours while they were updating or some excuse. They do not return calls, have little to no expertise in even simple things like stopping a check protocol. Worst banking and worst trading experience of my life.