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About E*TRADE
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E*TRADE is an online broker of investment trading. The company offers investment accounts for individual investors and small businesses in the form of stocks, mutual funds, futures, options, bonds, CDs and prebuilt portfolios. In addition to individual online trading, the company offers portfolio management services for an additional cost.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Educational materials
- Online platform and mobile app
- Commission-free options
Cons
- High broker fees
- Limited local branches
Bottom Line
E*TRADE is an online trading platform and investment firm that offers individual trading and managed portfolios. It provides commission-free trading on certain investment products.
E*TRADE Reviews
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A horrible horrible mistake was made in signing up for a premium savings account with this crap show of a company. I literally haven't been with them more than a few days, and now I have my money held hostage. I tried to add the account to Venmo, didn't work, triggered some security flag. Called in on a Friday evening, couldn't get anyone -- with no indication on the phone that I'd just be on indefinite hold. Tried again Saturday morning after long hold, finally get someone from their "account servicing" team, told me I'd get a call back from their colleague. TRAP: I didn't get any callback. Whole weekend goes by, still no access to my money. Sure enough, you can still deposit or pull funds, classic. Now I have to call back in again and spend more waiting time finding someone. Just look at all the other reviews of people with similar issues. Stay ** away; you've been warned. If you transfer money to them, you may as well considered it lost.
Only myself and my family knows how much I regretted investing with E*TRADE. DON'T DO IT!!!, I was able to escape with the help of **. They got my returns after a lot of effort. I really appreciate all they did on my behalf. Stay far far away.
Etrade restricted my account when I tried to transfer money out of the account. The 50 plus transfers in were ok though from the same banks. I closed my brokerage account awhile back because the company is horrible and there are better brokerage firms. However the same account that was associated with brokerage account is also linked to savings account. Etrade made 2 3 way calls to my banks asking all kinds of questions. They wanted to call a 3rd bank but somehow I was able to stop that.
My transfers were stopped everyday for over a week. Etrade kept my account hostage. It's very hard to get in touch with the activation department. I asked what policy states that my account was restricted and needed to verify and they could not provide one. You literally get a person on the phone who thinks of what is required to unlock your account. You cannot cancel any transfer, make a transfer etc. They try to tell you they are protecting you but I said I'm not worried about the transfer that I authorized to my bank. I had to pay bills and lost interest and fees due to Etrade. Please have Etrade refund my losses and hopefully they will lose 1 customer due to this review.
My account was restricted and on 6/3, I uploaded what was requested, called on Saturday and I was told the quality was not sufficient - uploaded upgraded quality, followed up a few days later and I was told my handwritten letter did not contain data that was necessary. I uploaded the handwritten letter with the additional data and was told when I called on Friday 6/10 that the file was being processed. I did a 2 hour 1 minute 32 second phone call on Monday. 6/13 finally being transferred to account activation and asked to hold while Johnny reviewed the file. After an inordinate amount of wait time Johnny returned and told me he needed to transfer me. I ended up with the feedback service which comes on after the Customer Service person hangs up the phone. This gives rise to fear and suspicion in my thinking because there never should have been an issue in the first place. I have never received an explanation for their action.
They closed my account for no apparent reason. Keeping my money locked up for months. Finally when I called them (they never communicated to me anything) they asked me to SNAILMAIL them countless docs. Still waiting. These guys are just plain horrible. I wonder if I'll ever see my money.
I’m a professional Insurance Broker for over 25 years, meaning that I interact with customer service and performance of big companies daily and never work with an entity with so unprofessional lack of training CSR waiting time and unfair Co. After opening or trying to do so with no reason after over 12 calls and waiting on hold for over 12 hours they decided to close my account (that was never really open) with no explanation because they said they don’t give reasons when they “Closed an account”. They make me send copies of all types of ID’s. They made a three way call with my bank they verify everything, why they did that? Well who knows because not even a supervisor knows.
What I know now is that my money is there in their account and now I have to wait for over six business day to get my money back, of course if is true what the last supervisor told me because every time you call that company they told you one thing and they do another. Worst, worst company to do business with, I never like to write reviews but I think this E*TRADE deserves it.
If you have a problem expect wait times of a least a hour waiting to talk with someone. I deposited $500 with Etrade thinking it would be fun to learn about trading. A day after I deposited the money I got a message they want a copy of my social security card and W-9 to prove my identity. I'm 70 years old and have never had anyone make such a request. I want to transfer my money back to my bank and there is no way to do it. I've been sitting here listening to their hold music for over an hour now waiting to talk to someone again. I would not recommend this outfit to anyone unless you want to be angry and frustrated.
Shawn, or Shaun however he spells it, is a skilled careful agent. It's rare to find a real person, let alone one that actually cares and is effective. I will spare you the ad nauseam, just let me say, I recommend E*Trade online help and specifically Shaun. Morning of 04-28-22, 9 to 9:30 or so.
Greg **, account holder
First of all customer service wait time is over 40 minutes. Second of all if your check bounces they require a letter from the check issuer. They restrict accounts if you make profits and want you to close the account by making it impossible to trade and imposing restrictions. Avoid E*TRADE. Terrible company.
Attempting a simple inherited account transfer - multiple problems:
2) Incorrect social security numbers blocking beneficiary IRA transfer - cannot contact e-trade - multiple 30+ minute holds and then phone cut-off, no e-mail or chat, impossible to contact and resolve.
3) Non transferable asset identified but account locked so can't sell asset and then see #2 above.
Attempting to transfer into Fidelity which is night and day better with instant professional response with no excuses. Net, E*Trade misses on its promise of customer service.
Shocking in one word. I wanted to open a new account with them and uploaded all the required documents as instructed by their customer service 3 months ago. Over these past 3 months, I have talked to nearly 20 people from their customer service to see what is taking so long. They answered all differently and asked for different documents, messaged me later to say they don't need them anymore, and in 3-4 more days it's all done. When I followed up after a week, they told me they do need them. They finally rejected my application after 3 months and said I have filled out an out-of-date form which I was given by a customer service rep. Close to 20 people checked my files and at no point they told me they need a new form, and what was the out-of-date form doing on their website?? God knows. I am really surprised this business is even running.
I transferred $20,000.00 to start investing on E*Trade, then for no reason they blocked my account. After 1 hour and 15 minutes on the phone, they finally unlocked it. I tried to use it and it was again blocked. I'm on the phone again for more than 30 minutes and it goes far. If you have all day long to be with them on the phone, you maybe be lucky to get your money back. It is a nightmare.
I am handling the estate for a family member who passed in Sept. 2021. I have settled all of accounts with all other financial institutions but I am still struggling with E*TRADE. I started the E*TRADE process in November 2021. Every call requires 3-4 hours on hold. Case Emails take weeks to get a response, if you get a response at all. I have been through two support persons. I finally received the New Estate Account 10 days ago or so. I have been contacted by a new accounts person who has been super helpful and has provided a direct email and phone number. They are working to help get the "cash" transferred from the old account to the estate account.
How E*TRADE is allowed to continue this horrible level of service is beyond comprehension. I have to admit I was not surprised to the all of the similar complaints posted here. I have also reached out and filed complaints with my local news networks to see if they can offer any assistance. Something has to be done and I plan to use every resource I can to hopefully improve things for the next family.
Awful customer service! Hour long hold times and I have had to call FIVE TIMES to simply get a back-door Roth conversion done. This is not something they allow you to do yourself online and they ** it up every step of the way... My wife did this in one 20 minute call with Fidelity. It was all handled. I have spent an entire day of my time on it due to the incompetence of Etrade service reps...
I am going to keep this brief because E Trades does not care but people should be warned. I have spent literally hours approx 28 hours on hold over a three week period. I left 18 messages with beneficiary account manager in which I never received a call back. I final sent an email blast plus 12 physical letters before I heard from an "executive". Because I went to these lengths they will not release my deceased husband’s funds. I have hired an attorney who has sued Etrade many times and has said this is normal practice. I have recorded this nightmare and will continue to do so.
My mother passed away in July 2021 and in October we began the process of having her E*Trade assets transferred into an estate account. We sent in all the required signed and notarized paperwork in early September. It is now late December and after four previous occasions of waiting on hold for more than an hour each time, and finally talking to representatives of the Beneficiary Services Department – we are still waiting for the funds to be made available for transfer. This extraordinarily poor level of customer service needs to be publicized so they might do something to fix this situation. I am writing this while on their call in line again – waiting.
I've been an Etrade customer for about 20 years. They were never great--their website and mobile app have always been broken, and they've given me false information from time-to-time, but overall, they used to be decent, and they offered flexibility with things like their bond-purchasing platform that were useful. Since I had a lot invested with them, they used to even answer my phone calls immediately with their "elite service" they offered.
Now that they've been acquired, I've had them give me blatantly false information when I've called multiple times. They refused to cancel a security transfer even after being given a valid request, which they are not supposed to be allowed to do. Now, I'm on hold with "elite services" which said it has an estimated wait time of 30 minutes, and I think will be much more by the time I get through. They are sketchy as hell now, snotty when you make a request, and unresponsive and unavailable. I think it's finally time to jump ship. Compared to TD Ameritrade or other online platforms, they are no longer even in the same league.
We invested and built our life savings with E*Trade, however as time went on, we were occasionally directed to funds or investments that maybe were more lucrative for the financial advisor or e*Trade and less suitable for us. When we tried to move our accounts, 5 total, with our life savings, the financial consultant with e*Trade all but threatened us with dirty tricks. We didn't realize what she did until we found our money in limbo for months with no way to get access or redirect our investments during these tumultuous times (pandemic, with market going up and down with less pattern). This action, really showed that "our" financial assistant was not "ours" but was out for themselves.
I have read all the reviews and shocked this company is allowed to continue business without an FTC, SEC, and FINRA sanction. My funds were put on a security hold to verify my information "due to suspicious activity". I appreciate they are looking out for me but after reading the other reviews, I believe they are trying to systematically usurp customer funds, deny widows and orphans access to their money, and intentionally make it impossible to get a hold of anyone. I will be looking to file a class action.
Opened an account over a month ago, it has been locked since I opened it. I declined the two step verification and bam! Lock on the account. I can't access my account to trade or withdraw my money. They have total control. I've been on hold for upwards of two hours every day. I've emailed, texted...I even drafted a letter and uploaded it to the account. Nothing!
This platform is great for beginners and even experts. E*TRADE guides the new users through its app and online platform and educates them with infographics and charts. Really simple and entertaining.
I had an account and used some of it. Later found out they allowed my account to be transferred into 4 other stocks without any notification to me. Always stay on top of your account and keep passwords a secret even from spouses, family anybody that is not you.
I have had to work with E-Trade for two death claims. One in 2018 and one in 2021. eTrade transfers out the bulk of the assets and then posts the dividend/interest payment to the decedent account. Multiple calls in 2018 and confirmation that the dividend/interest would be transferred over and it is still in the decedent account at eTrade and I'm now receiving escheat notices from eTrade. I had given up when it seemed the funds would never be disbursed to me after multiple assurances it would transferred and the account closed out.
Fast forward to 2021. Again the bulk of the funds were transferred and then funds posted to the decedent account. I called last week and talked with a representative in the decedent area and they assured me the funds would be transferred to my eTrade account that was set up specifically for this process. (No explanation why the dividends did not automatically transfer over). Representative assured me the funds would be transferred and it would take 2 - 3 days. One week later I'm on hold because the funds were not transferred. This is a familiar feeling. Is this just eTrade's way of making more money or something? I don't get it.
Since this seems to be such a difficult task maybe you should look at your process/systems and post the dividends/interest BEFORE transferring the funds. Would never use eTrade personally based on my experience and eTrade's inability to complete requests. I guess I should be grateful the bulk of the money was transferred at least. :-(
It has been over a year trying to close an estate of my husband. The account is an joint account, but that does not matter to them. You do not have rights to account even though it is joint. Every paper I fill out has more to follow. Finally they okay it telling me my transfer will take place 5 to 7 days. It has been over 18 days. I sent a letter of demand, but no response. I have to get the lawyer involved. Widows should not have to go through this. I will be closing my account moving to different broker.
E*Trade set up traps for unsuspecting traders. There is a common rule that if you buy one stock twice and sell shares of these two orders once within a single day, it is one day trade, because you close a position once, although open a position twice. I opened position of same security 3 times and sold by one order all shares during the day. E*trade deemed it 3 day trades and said, that, unlike other brokers, they count trades by BUYS not by SELLS. It was my first trading day with E*Trade. Maybe they can invent and use their own rules on day trade if SEC allows this, but at least they have to put a note about it somewhere. I spent and hour with their Elite (mind it!) and Certified (!) trade specialist Jason **, who said he would find this rule advertised on their site. He could not. They counted my one trade as three and won't change it! Grossly dissatisfied with E*Trade and their customer service.
They take your money and then ask you to verify your account to be able to access it so you have no choice to submit to all their commands if you ever want to be able to access YOUR money again. Webull, Robinhood, Chime they all do this before so that they have not robbed you. I am a prisoner of paperwork. They had no problem holding my 10000 hostage. This should be illegal.
E-trade provides extremely poor customer service. Must sit on hold for a very long time and they don't return phone calls. You click the "chat" button on their website and for many weeks you get an "out of service" page. Transferred my funds to a competing firm; they answer the phone promptly and you speak to someone that is fluent in America's mother-tongue. Adios etrade.
My 91-year old father-in-law invested roughly 200K with Etrade. After losing about half of it, he tried to transfer it to another brokerage. ETrade refused the transfer. He went into assisted living and turned over the account to his daughter who tried to get the money transferred. They refused. She sent them a financial power of attorney. They still refused. Sent them a court-ordered temporary guardianship and conservatorship and doctor's diagnosis. Still refused. They even stated they will refuse any request from my father-in-law directly to transfer the money. So 100K remains sitting in an account nobody, even the person who opened it, is allowed access to.
Meanwhile, they are happy to make trades in the account, but refuse to provide access to the money. Bottom line, if you want to open an account, they'll gladly take your money and help you lose as much of it as you want, but don't you dare try to take it back. Oh, and only call between the hours of 9-5 ET or they won't talk to you about it, assuming they will even then.
I have had a very difficult experience dealing with my deceased mother's ETRADE account. I need to know how much money is in her account before I start the laborious process of getting my siblings in various states to get documents notarized, etc. Because she was just getting online statements, I don't know what the balance of her account is. I asked if they could send a paper statement and provided the documentation to show that I am the executor of her will and trust. The representative several times said that he would send a statement to the address on record, which he never did. No 1099, no statements. Strange.
It really baffles me that some brokers think they can always get away with taking your money. Traded with E*trade and they suddenly closed my account with a lot of money in it. Tried a couple of chargebacks, nothing worked until I found a good lawyer off globalreclaimai.co that handled my case and I got my investments back.
E*TRADE Company Information
- Company Name:
- E*TRADE
- Year Founded:
- 1982
- Address:
- 1271 Avenue of the Americas, 14th Floor
- City:
- New York
- State/Province:
- NY
- Postal Code:
- 10020-1302
- Country:
- United States
- Website:
- www.etrade.com
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