Merrill-Lynch

Wilshire Consumer Credit Customer Service has provided me with excellent service through some of difficulties I have personally encountered & provided appropriate accommodation to meet my needs consistently. Well appreciated!

My mother is a senior and I handle most of her business affairs. She had a CD at Bank of America for 13 years, which wasn't making any money for several years. We agreed to transfer it to Merrill. The CD was in her and my name, and she was receiving the updates on her monthly BoA statement. She is not computer saavy. Merrill said she would not need to be present to transfer the funds from BoA to a Merrill brokerage account. I made it very clear that 1) the funds are my mother's money, 2) she needs to receive the statement at her address with her name as the primary owner. None of this happened.

I purchased a life insurance policy through Merrill Lynch which was subsequently transferred to Transamerica Life. I invested $70,000 into the policy and that cash value was suppose to generate enough income to pay for the premiums. The policy started losing its value. When I inquired as to who was overseeing my account I found out no one, not Transamerica not Merrill Lynch. Now my account is totally depleted and Transamerica is asking me to pay an additional $10,000 or the policy would be terminated. Twice I wrote to CEO Andy Sieg and he didn't even have the decency to reply either personally or through an associate. Pitiful Oversight. I would suggest not investing any funds with Merrill Lynch.

Merrill Lynch is a despicable company that will tell you anything to get your business, then pull the plug on an agreement afterwards with no reason other than what suits their situation at the time. You can bet on their decisions benefiting them only and not you. This company is not to be trusted whatsoever, and I want to warn anyone reading this to avoid doing business with them. I also found that they did not adequately disclose very important investor information such as your money being put into a cash account collecting minimal interest between the time a trade settles and the time it is reinvested, and worse, it might not be FDIC insured so in the event of a market meltdown you could lose some or all of your money.

I was a long-time IRA holder who suddenly received a letter that I no longer qualified for their managed plans and I was self-managed going forward. Being very unhappy with the new arrangement I transferred my funds to Fidelity. The transfer was fairly fast and I thought I was finally done with Merrill. Three months later I received a statement from Merrill Edge that my closed account now had balance of a few thousand dollars. I talked to two representatives in a two day period. One tried to tell me that the money wasn't actually mine that it was some kind of a mistake. It wasn't. When my funds transferred to Fidelity, I had some shares in a municipal bond that did not transfer I have no idea why it took almost three months for it show up in my account. I sold the shares and the money is now is a cash account. I can not get my money.

Update 11/22/2019:

My issue with Merrill Edge has not been resolved. Although the service rep promised me to resolve my issue, it was not resolved. I called again and again, till today, my account remains locked. No one from Merrill could tell me the reason why my account was locked up, nor the status of my complaint. It is very frustrating and time consuming to deal with them. Not an honest company at all.

First of all, I see all the negative reviews, and I suppose they are all legitimate. With hundreds of thousands of customers, I am sure things go wrong now and again. My experience with Merrill has been very very excellent. I don't get charged for any trades. The people that help me on the phone (which is rarely needed) are professional and efficient. I always get what I need from the people on the phone. The ML website is very nice. It is much better than other investment websites such as Etrade. There are a couple of quirks, but not many. So, I am only one review, but my experience with ML is top notch. I've been there 5 years. I've been with Bank of America for 30 years. I am very happy with both organizations. Go Merrill-Lynch. Stick your savings there for free trades and a nice user experience.

If I could give a zero rating, I would, but that is not an option. Short version of a long story. I never write reviews, but my experience with Merrill Lynch Edge is beyond concerning. Years ago a I electronically opened a ML Edge account connected to my BOA account. I primarily used the ML account as a savings account. After more than a decade of using that account, I discovered that I could only electronically deposit into the savings account, but not electronically transfer back to my checking account. Upon further research, I learned that ML had somehow merged my account with an individual with my last name, but for whom I do not know and obviously was not provided as a joint owner on my account. My funds were froze for an inordinate amount of time while ML “figured out the problem”.

So they call it hardship but they're the only ones giving you a hard time! Rejected 5 times on the same application which if you think about it that’s my money!! I really don’t think they look at the paperwork. Just easier to deny for them. I told them that if I could take all my money out with a penalty I would.

I had moved all my funds out of my 401K into a different account, received a email (my preference for delivery) confirming the termination. Six months later a late company match was contributed and reopened the account on its own - Only to be terminated AGAIN 6 months later. Supposedly ML sent a "force out letter" but I had already relocated. They just reissue a check with fees and taxes attached. There is no way to prevent this from happening, you just must be aware and hope that you haven't changed too far from a terminated account's contact information. Per ML's supervisor, they do not give out any kind of phone calls. Only mail or email and even that is not guaranteed as they cannot verify what was sent.