E*TRADE Reviews

I had a security breach where details of my account was stolen and my balance drained. I reached out to support and they kept playing games with me for over 9 months. It was a truly sickening experience as other brokers I've worked with in the past are energetic when it comes to fraud on their platform. The lackluster behavior they exhibited bewildered me and I had to seek external intervention from cyber forensics to solve what they should have helped me with. Use at your own peril. If you're having same issues, then reach out to cyberforensics on X or go to their website.

They made my new account a margin account and I didn’t ask for it. When I started to trade they used my margin buying power to execute trades instead of my cash on hand which caused a margin balance which I did not want.

I'm a trustee and E*TRADE is refusing to release trust money they hold. I've spent 6 months filling out endless forms, talking to representatives and being threatened with their lawyers, who are unclear about NY trust law. I've dealt with several brokerages and ETrade is the worst by far - they have even out-bullied T. Rowe Price, and I never thought I'd see that. Other large brokerages that are more reasonable and even pleasant to deal with are Fidelity, and Vanguard (though incompetent at times) and smaller outfits like Dodge and Cox and RBC Wealth. If I were looking for a brokerage, I'd avoid ETrade.

Services and customer support has plummeted since Morgan Stanley took over. The online forms do not work, and when you call customer support, there's no interest to fix it. Instead, they encourage you to use paper. Submitted IRA distribution request, and the only way to get status update is by calling in, to these customer reps who seem well aware of the shortcomings. The processing is snail pace, and you wouldn't know that they need more documents until you call them. Then they ask that you call back to confirm receipt and to request that they continue to process the initial request. Takes weeks to complete what took 2-3 days on Schwab. Needless to say I'm moving my funds elsewhere.

After having an account with E*trade for 2 years, they suddenly locked me out and I now have to prove to them that I am the actual account owner by submitting a bunch of personal documents certified by a notary even though these documents had already been provided when the account was originally opened. They are holding my money hostage.

An E-Trade account with shares was setup by a former employer for me and the former employer went bankrupt. Due to the bankruptcy the stock lost all value. Instead of E-Trade closing the account they kept it open. I have other E-Trade accounts and decided to deposit money. As I deposited the money E-Trade charged me a $38.00 Service Fee for a Mandatory Reorganization Fee. I called Customer Service to was not provided a clear explanation why I was charged a fee and not the company that went bankrupt. Also E-Trade refused to refund the Fee. I am closing all my accounts with E-Trade.

I have been a loyal E*Trade Bank customer since back in the early 1990s when it was TeleBank. We have a few rental properties, so the checking account category and subcategory features, which you assign to payees, were very convenient since they would automatically show up in the check register after payment. However, several years ago this feature was broken so I would have to manually enter categories and subcategories in the register for each transaction. Multiple calls to E*Trade support have yet to have any effect on the issue.

I have been an E-trade customer for several decades and they were a good company with excellent customer service and trading platforms before Morgan Stanley came along. Since the take over the trading platforms are in disrepair with no plans to fix and the customer service is horrendous. I talked to someone today who sounded like he was sitting in his kitchen with his wife making so much noise that I could barely hear the guy. I have tried to close 3 beneficiary accounts for over 8 months now, because they have fractional shares not worth $100 and it takes a manager to sell those factional shares. I was calling once a month and now I call every week; they give me the exact same story every time, it's insane! Do yourself a favor and stay away from Morgan Stanley and if you are with E-trade transfer your money elsewhere like I have.

I have used Etrade for about 25 years. For most of that time it was best-in-class. I started with an individual investment account, added stock option management, an IRA, Roth IRA & savings. Then I opened investment accounts for the 501c3 charity where I was CFO. At my own company I decided to direct 401k accounts to Etrade. So I had been very happy for a long time. Shortly after Morgan Stanley took over, Morgan Stanley migrated my accounts from Etrade to Morgan Stanley. The account numbers and the MAILING ADDRESSES CHANGED! For 13 months and counting I have been trying to get Morgan Stanley/Etrade to correct the address issue. I have half a dozen written confirmations that the problem has been solved and yet 401k statements continue to be mailed to someone else.

Terrible customer service. I've tried to complete a stock transfer for nearly a month. Their "transfer group" doesn't accept investor calls, and they've sent rejections to the forms I've submitted four times. I've been forced to speak with their customer service department five times. The last two agents have told me the forms are in order, and the transfer should be processed soon. However, every day I receive a notification that there's still a problem with the forms, even though the forms clearly show there are no issues. The only alternative is to file a complaint with the S.E.C.

The dividends in your account are NOT credited promptly. Most firms credit dividends right after the market opens.... but not ETrade, they HOLD them so they can squeeze an extra day's interest from you!!! NOT GOOD.

First, the people I have reached on the phone - after waiting on hold - have been courteous and helpful. My problem is E*TRADE's website. Like many people in this country who live in rural areas I do not have reliable cell phone service but texting is the ONLY way E-trade will verify my account when I try to log in which means I cannot log in unless I call them and wait on hold. Every other online platform has a backup to texts but not E-trade. I used to think this was an oversight but after reading the other reviews here, I'm beginning to think it's deliberate. Just another way to avoid giving me my money.

Almost two months, I cannot get my money back and I cannot make investments. Customer service send me to Morgan Stanley, there sent me to E*trade App. I talked again with customer service, where I was told I would get my money next day. It has been two weeks, no money, no change to invest it. I hate the moment I sent them my money.

My Roth IRA account has been restricted since 2019. This whole year, I have been trying to either get it unrestricted or transfer my money out. It is ridiculous that this issue is still unresolved. It is worth filing a complaint with FINRA, moving my accounts elsewhere, and passing along knowledge of this long-running issue to others so they can be aware.

I had over $5000 in my account. There was $233 on hold. I was allowed to withdraw $4800 early on Friday morning. Immediately I was notified the transfer was in process. 12 hours later I received this notice. “Due to a technical issue, your ACH transfer request below could not be completed. You can resubmit your request anytime.” I called to ask for explanation and just received nonsense answers. When I asked for a supervisor I was told none were available. I had strange fees taken in the past and tried to get an explanation. After several days with no response I contacted the FTC. They assigned a case number and said it there are any other suspicious activities let them know immediately. I told the representative several times I just needed my money, I had plans and just got the run around. I like the company platform, but the customer service just gives the run around.

AVOID E*TRADE AT ALL COSTS! Absolute Nightmare Customer Service Experience. I've been trapped in a two-month bureaucratic hellscape trying to unlock my brokerage account. Despite repeatedly submitting all required documentation (W9 and Social Security card), E*Trade refuses to unlock my account. CRITICAL ISSUES: Endless phone calls (45-90 minutes each time). Constant runaround from customer service. Perpetually "busy" managers who never resolve anything. COMPLETELY BLOCKED from trading or selling stocks. SUBSTANTIAL FINANCIAL LOSSES due to their incompetence.

They make it easy to put your money in but hard to get it out. I've been trying for over a week to make a withdrawal from my individual investment account. I've literally spent hours on hold and when I finally do speak to someone and then get transferred to someone else, I work through the problem with the person and they tell me the problem is resolved. Then I get another notice that my account has once again been restricted due to unusual activity. Apparently a withdrawal is considered unusual activity. Then it's back on hold again waiting....

I had nothing but a horrible experience with E*TRADE. They lock my account every other time I sign in. I call them and clear the account after spending excessive time on the phone. They assure me that the problem is fixed. Next time I sign in and the problem reoccurs. Sometimes I get prompted to enter my phone number for security clearance. I enter my phone number and the system says the phone number is incorrect. Well, it is my phone number, E*Trade’s system needs to be fixed. I had to call them over 10 times and that was after I reduced my dealing with the bank to minimal necessary to pull my money out of there.

Horrible experience. I contributed my self employed Roth in this e*Trade. They are dragging or unnecessarily delaying the fund roll over since last 11 months. One or other excuse and blocked my account from online access. They won't respond back by mail or email. Take more than a week for just an uploaded document's response.

Etrade customer service is below 1 star rating. I tried to transfer funds from one account to another account within Etrade. So far, it has been 3 weeks with back and forth requesting additional documents and prove of identity. Then, they put a restriction on my account without reason and unwilling to provide any clarification of why they're doing this. Everything time I call, customer service say you need to "talk to them but I can't transfer you, they will call you directly". They never call.

I ended up with an ETrade account because my employer used them for their stock options program. After separation from the company, I kept the $1500 account open and "played the stock game". I settled on a few dividend stocks using DRIP and basically "let it ride". Recently I logged on to see how that account was doing only to find that a security was missing and I had a negative balance. A $150 "gamble" was a "bad bet" ... that's on me ... oh well. The now $5 value security was a bust. Enter the ETrade account bashing - the two 'events' associated with that security were assessed a $38 fee. Appalled to be punished on top of the loss, I elected to get my money out of Etrade... now they are again assessing me $75 "Transaction fees". If I'm lucky, I may get out of this scam brokerage with my original $1500.

Terrible customer support, not knowledge, doesn’t understand their own platform. Their platform has so many bugs and displays inconsistent information between their own desktop and mobile platforms. Developers claim it’s working properly. Once Morgan Stanley bought Etrade, their products and services went in the garbage. They withhold your dividends for extra days compared to other brokerages. Stay away from ‘etrade. Much better brokerages out there. No wonder better business bureaus rating is an F.

Horrible, incompetent, paranoid, hostile, and unreliable! If you enjoy being locked out of your account several random times a year for no reason at all then E*trade is for you. If you enjoy losing thousands of dollars while helplessly watching your portfolio go up and down while you wait for over a month for restored access to your account then E*trade is for you. If you enjoy being lied to and treated like a criminal and repeatedly asked for ID proof that you have already sent them several times then E*trade is for you. Worst experience ever! Don't say you weren't warned.

I have broker and IRA accounts since 1999. This week in the broker account E*TRADE put a stop on my trading securities and will not allow me move existing cash out into my checking. I cannot get help from customer service. I have other broker accounts including Fidelity since the 1980s and have never experienced anything like this.

Both during the recent GME meme stock rush (2024 one) and also during the yen carry trade crash their website went offline for multiple hours. You can't trust them to be available when there is volatility. The reason is because they now use Morgan Stanley as their backend who its pretty obvious goes lowest bidder and is not able to scale rapidly when conditions require it. Also Etrade has many fees Fidelity doesn't and just about everything has gotten worse since Morgan Stanley took over including execution time and ETrade also does payment for order flow so they front run you as well.

These greasy, thieving dirtbags have started emailing me about a "Max-Rate Checking account" which is nothing more than an obvious phishing scam to get my identity information to commit further frauds such as taking out loans in my name and seizing control of my bank account. If these **hats continue they'll end up in prison. They've also been doing this to thousands of other people.

Customer service is horrible, they are extremely unorganized and lose pages of documents between departments. I have been trying to open a corporate account for over 3 months now. Still getting told pages are missing every time I call to see why it's not active yet. They will not not notify if there is an issue either, you literally have to call them every time and do the same process over and over with no results. I cannot believe the lack of communication there is with these departments "Customer service and back office". I will pulling my funds and moving brokers at this point.

Etrade has the worst customer service of any financial organization I've ever worked with. I had several million dollars invested there and could get no service whatsoever. Getting my money back out was a nightmare. Avoid these people at all cost.

Customer service is atrocious. Check BBB reviews. I have tried for 8 months to complete a cash transfer from my brokerage IRA account at Etrade to my brokerage IRA account at T.Rowe Price. Each time they come up with a reason not to transfer the money. I have complied with all their requests but am still unable to get them to transfer the fund. They have refused to let me talk to a supervisor. At wits end as how to get this simple transaction completed.

I've been with E*trade for 14 years but Since E*trade partnered with Morgan Stanley its Customer service has taken a sharp nose dive. They are quick to enforce the PDT rule but no longer give you a proper warning before making that 4 trade and speaking to customer service is a waste of time, they have no interest in helping you and don't know how! E*trade was one of the few that HAD knowledgeable people who were there to help....no more, customer service clearly has been replaced with low paid employees that can only give pat answers on limited subjects. To make matters worse unlike E*trade before Morgan Stanley if you're flagged as a PDT your account is restricted until you bring it to $25K. No more 90 day restriction like E*trade. It's permanent....25k or leave. It's clear Morgan Stanley has no interest in small traders but small trader or investor stay away, there are better options.