Fidelity Investments Reviews

Fidelity started a Crypto account where you can buy/sell bitcoins and ethereum. They advertise ‘no fee’ and until Sometime in June this was the case. In June they announced a 1% spread. This was not clearly visible on their site, but an * pointed to a max spread of 1%. So if you bought assuming no fee/spread/commission you can’t sell w/o a 1% spread.

My previous employer terminated their pension plan and hired Fidelity to handle this communication to retirees and offer for lump sum payment or early annuity to eligible participants. The election period was from September 15 until October 31. I did not even receive my packet until October 7. My name was incorrect, and address was as well, even though I called and updated this information in July 2023, as soon as I receive the first notification that this was going to occur in late summer. When I called to let them know, the information in my packet was incorrect. At that time they informed me they would need to mail me a name change and address change form to correct the information and then would have to send me another packet.

Beware of any Fidelity Investment phone transactions. They can promise you the moon and then deny later. No recording. So if they screw up, they will just play stupid or try to make you feel stupid. Phones have lengthy waits, difficult prompts, lots of transfers and waits again, broken promises for call backs, and on and on. Phone supervisors and Seal Beach Branch were no help. Hours to try for help limited to EST... translated to 2 pm M-F PST. I was a customer for many years. No more.!

Fidelity has great options and tools with the exceptions of the professional managed account called Portfolio Advisory Services. Stay away from this. This account performs well below peer groups and your money is not available for withdraw. They decide when you can withdraw, in fact they will not even issue a sell order until they "get around to". I have been a Fidelity customer for over 20 years and never would believe they refused to sell a mutual funds as ordered but will wait until they get around to it...sometimes a week. One cannot help but to think the delay is to give you the worst possible price, not the true close of business price. The account is called a rollover IRA but don't be fooled, it has nothing to do with a traditional IRA once you "hire" the professional managed account services. Simply expect poor performance and no access to your money.

Fidelity was once a great platform. No longer. They cannot keep their systems up. Last night they sent me a trading alert and when I went to action it, their site was down. Regretably this is not uncommon. The site is down A LOT. The site used to be fairly intuitive - and then they decided to "improve" it. The site has not been worth a ** since. Their IT people are truly terrible. They take the site down on Sunday mornings when a look at the data would tell them that the low ebb on their systems is 3 a.m. on Wednesdays. One would think that an analytical company would perform some analysis to ascertain when it was a good time to take a maintenance window. Avoid this firm.

My experience with Fidelity was what I picture going to hell would be like. First off, they are just an unnecessary 3rd party. They don't trade, or put together mutual funds. They don't watch the S&P 500 or the DOW at all. They don't watch the market, so they can trade stocks appropriately. If you do make any profit on the portfolio someone else put together, Fidelity's job is to skim the profit for themselves. They work with corrupt companies to help those companies better get away with whatever selfish reason that company needs Fidelity to be their fall guy. Fidelity covers crimes, skims profits, doesn't care about your account. They told me themselves, "FIDELITY IS JUST A BOOKKEEPING SERVICE." An unnecessary 3rd party. Find a better financial institute, if you are someone looking to make your future better. Fidelity will not do that.

I have been a Fidelity customer for 30 years. In general, I have been satisfied with their service. However, recently the company sent me an automated email notifying me of an upcoming IPO. Interested investors were directed to the Fidelity website to indicate interest in the IPO. The day before the IPO I received another automated email directing me back to the Fidelity website to confirm my interest in investing in the IPO. On the morning of the IPO I received a third automated email informing me that no shares were available for me. This experience is a microcosm of what Fidelity has become.

Upon Fidelity pitching us to stay with when planning to open a self-directed rollover IRA, we inquired whether a specific investment fund was available. We provided the specific (CUSIP) codes and they confirmed that the REIT investment we were planning to invest in was available via their Self-directed or Roll-Over IRA. A few weeks after opening the account, upon funding and completing all the documentation and paper, only then did they return stating that it's not available to invest in without $1 million minimum investment holdings at Fidelity.

I’ve had investments accounts with this company for a few years. It not only cost me money but my precious time I won’t get back. Don’t waste your time or money with this company. They make it sound good but it’s fraud.

Stay away from Fidelity, they do not disclose documents properly and will end up taking your money without proper disclosures. Will do nothing to fix it. They don’t honor the fiduciary responsibilities. They will say they care about you but they won’t fix the problems they cause. I called twice to get this issue addressed. They took my money without providing me the proper documentation or disclosures. They don’t care if you will write a bad review. Any brokerage is better than how this place operates. Big time buyer beware. Don’t give them your business.