Merrill Lynch

Worked with a Bank of Boston representative for Merril Lynch to obtain a $100,000 1 year CD. We verified with her in every way possible that the most we could forfeit is the accrued interest if for some reason we had to withdraw the money prior to the end of the year. She was emphatic that there would be no penalty, and there might be a percentage of the interest accrued that would be lost. SHE LIED!!! After six months we ran into a hardship due to my mother inlaw’s illness. We needed to take out half the money.

First, please note you have to be a US citizen or PR to be eligible for opening a Merrill account. If you don't have such a status, Merrill will not allow you to open an account with them, and actually, that is a GOOD thing for you because Merrill's products and services are really terrible. Without BOA's acquisition, I don't think Merrill would be alive right now. I found the following things after opening a Merrill account:

I was calling Merrill to ask about options trade, before anything (john or josh) started asking me these questions: ss# (8 digits), spell my name and last name, dob, name of company I work for, name of my current position, my password to access my account and my personal ID, that is crazy!

I have been banking with Bank of America for many years, so when I decided to roll over my 401k, I signed up with Merrill Lynch (owned by BOA). That was a mistake, and I will never use this company again.

Danger, Will Robinson. ML controlled money for years belonging to my kids that was left by their mother who died of colon cancer. Merrill Lynch has charged thousand of dollars in fees per year per child for each account worth around $40k. The kids have requested funds be released as early as possible, that we be allowed to move the funds to another financial firm, that a specific Cincy financial advisor be removed from the account and that a full accounting of fees be provided.

I moved my IRA over.. It’s a substantial amount and now they do not want me to use it. I am retired and I really need the income. I think they want to keep my balance high so they can charge more fees. I notice they take fees out all of the time. So far they have lost $30k and charged me 3 times is three weeks. It might be a coincidence but they charge the fees when the market is up. I have already paid $1500 for 3 weeks of management. I will be changing companies if this continues.

Merrill has become impossible to reach by phone and the website is malfunctioning, They have my funds and are controlling them, but I can't contact them. And I am having difficulty removing my funds from their care. I do NOT recommend doing any type of business with Merrill.

We are first time homebuyers and my husband's 401k is allowed to be used for a down payment under a hardship withdrawal. We have been waiting 22 days for the money. We literally only need this check to be able to close on the house we are purchasing and underwriting has been complete for 19 days. I can’t imagine if we had a true hardship (god forbid such as a death) and needed the money urgently. They refused to direct deposit it. And now Wells Fargo will no doubt put a hold on the check. Our withdrawal has been approved since last Thursday (even though it shouldn’t take that long) and we were assured they would next day us the check. The check was not mailed until mid day Tuesday and they didn’t even send it urgently. Now it may arrive up until 7pm. Merrill Lynch has the worst practices of any banking entity that I have ever experienced.

My father passed away in January. He had several accounts with this company. My mom is hard of hearing pretty much deaf so I have to handle all her affairs. We have reached out to the associates that opened up my fathers accounts since his passing and it’s impossible to reach anyone. They never answer almost never return voicemails I leave. I have emailed and faxed all documents they requested, even took them into the bank as well and still have not heard back from anyone. It has been months with no answer. As I type this I am literally trying to get through to the estate unit and have been on hold over an hour and fifteen minutes. This is horrible that both of my parents have accounts with this company yet this is how they treat their customers. I would never recommend this company to anyone ever. I have even reached out to supervisory office and of course no one answers.

You do not get true advice and support. Everything done by the agent was to get credits for self-earnings including bank transactions usually done for free. For example, transfers between the existing accounts in the same bank of America. My adviser was able to take my money and after $23,000.00 was lost in three months, she was able to transfer it back to my bank account. No actual advice was received regardless the money paid for it. Just to add, I invested with Merrill Edge because no one responded when I was trying to invest with Fidelity. It was disappointing three months ago, but now I understand that not taking money at that time was the best advice. I am sorry, I used Merrill Lynch Edge.