Merrill Reviews

Their corporate infrastructure allows local agents and offices to conduct themselves in an unprofessional and unethical manner. Then once those practices are brought to light, they will lie and do anything needed to hide their deceptive practices. All then to be backed up by their corporate that has it all setup to work this way in the first place. Take your business ANYWHERE but Merrill Lynch! Lesson learned firsthand.

I should give zero stars. My CD account with Merrill (Bank of America) has been a nightmare. I opened a CD account with Merrill on July 8, 2024. When I checked my CD on July 22, 2024, I noticed that the CD balance was going down every day. When I asked about this, the bank advisor told me "it's a penalty". I was confused because I had no plans to close my CD, but the penalty had already been charged. I realized that Merrill CD was a fraudulent account and I immediately closed my CD account on July 23, 2024. When I called Merrill on July 31, 2024 because I hadn't received a check for a week, the lady who answered the phone threatened me "where did your money come from" and "we need to investigate". Merrill withheld my money for at least a week until I contacted the bank's top director.

Merrill Lynch is the most incompetent financial services institution I have ever dealt with. I am an executor for my mother's estate. It's been 5 months since her passing and her estate still has not been settled despite the existence of clear beneficiary designations. They cannot provide any explanation as to why the funds have not been distributed nor when they will be. 3 other financial institutions completed all disbursements Within 1 month.

My husband and I opened 4 joint brokerage accounts with Merrill Lynch in which one was self directed. They decided to sell ALL our individual stocks in the self directed account without our consent which we had built up for years. They are now trying to put the blame on us saying we didn’t do a verification. The verification we never did in years! The verification of “are we talking to the owner of the account, your DOB and address which never changed and which was actually done and verified but they only applied this information on the other 3 brokerage account which they managed.

I requested a simple rollover of a small IRA from Merrill to another investment firm. It has taken a month with numerous calls, many disconnects and incorrect phone transfers plus having to submit the same paperwork twice due to their ineptitude. If you like going through a hideous labyrinth of phone menus and bad transfers from one department to another, then Merrill is the company for you!

I am a high-tiered customer of Merrill, a financial institution. On Friday, they locked my account without any notice. I called them on Saturday and Sunday, but they did not unlock my account. I am still waiting for them to unlock my account.

Merrill lost over 15k dollars of our retirement money. I mean they are now claiming it never existed. After ending a job at Fred Meyer's over 30 year ago the 401K account was rolled over to a Merrill 401K account. We made one small withdraw 20 years ago and now we are retired Merrill is refusing to acknowledge that the account even ever existed and is sending us on a wild goose chase filled with dead ends.

I have been designated durable power of attorney (POA) for my stepmother. My father passed away in 2021 and stepmom is the beneficiary for his IRA that contained approximately $150K. I have been working with Merrill reps for 4 months and counting with no end in sight to establish POA in their world for his IRA and the new IRA opened for stepmom which is where the distribution of funds is supposed to be deposited. Every step of the way has been met with challenges; questions about the legitimacy of the POA designation, multiple submission of notarized documents that contain errors not detected on previous submissions, new requirements, and now the requirement of a doctor's note describing stepmom as incapacitated and unable to make financial decisions.

I'm the Personal Representative for my mom's estate. Over the last 4 months I've been trying to close out two accounts, submitting and then re-submitting forms, followed by interactions with totally incompetent representatives who claim that I need to re-submit in a different form. Note: These were the Forms they sent me! From there, I waited 8 weeks and then re-engaged, only to get the run-around about how they didn't get the proper forms. After supplying all tracking numbers several times, they agreed that they did actually receive the forms but still only get the run-around. Do yourself a favor and make sure you have nothing to do with this insanely incompetent company.

I have an inherited IRA and I have tried to take a distribution out we are now going on 3 weeks they keep putting a hold on it for no good reason. Turnaround time is 24-48 so they say but they don't even inform you that the request is held up at all. You have to call in again (time consuming) usually about an 20-60 min experience. Each person I speak with says that all is on point and funds will be transferred within 24-48 hours. Since this is 3 weeks now if anyone is trying to transfer funds know that you may not get your money in a timely manner at all. Each person I have spoken with has said the same exact thing I don't understand what the true disconnect is. Bad service!

After my mother died her Merrill Lynch account had to be transferred to the estate because there was no beneficiary. Dealing with their Life Services department has been truly hellish. They have never once returned a call, let me know that the paperwork has been processed, didn’t give me the correct forms, lied over and over about how long it would take, and in the 6 weeks since I started the process the account has lost $10,000 because I haven’t been able to liquidate it. Ask for a manager to call back, they say 24-48 hours but nobody ever calls, and if you ask again the clock starts ticking all over, so they just kick the can down the road. You never speak to the same person twice. This department is just completely poorly trained and incompetent.

It took from the end of December 2023 to May 9, 2024 for Merrill to definitively deny my almost 97-year-old mother, who's in home hospice, the minimum required distributions that she had failed to make. I'm her daughter/caregiver/power of attorney. Merrill has been absolutely terrible to deal with! They kept making me jump through multiple hoops, trips to the bank, post office, forms notarized, proving this and that. I kept providing everything they wanted, to no avail. Their voicemail system sends you through endless loops of hell. It took me 20 minutes to finally reach a live human, who supposedly tried to help me, only to send me back to the same starting place. Whatever they say they're going to mail you takes over 10 business days to arrive! I was told a ridiculous reason for that, as if USPS really takes that long to send a simple envelope cross-country.

I've been a client for 8+ years. The platform has not improved at all during this time besides a few face lift items on the website. In fact, they have gotten rid of the advanced trading platform they used to have (eSignal/MarketPro). Here is a summary of the problems I have come across:

I have a 401k account with Merrill Lynch through my employer, and I can confidently say it has been a consistently frustrating experience. From their antiquated procedures to their untrained employees, Merrill Lynch has failed to meet even the most basic expectations of customer service and efficiency. Firstly, their procedures feel like they're stuck in the Stone Age. Simple tasks that should take minutes often end up taking days or even weeks to complete due to bureaucratic red tape and convoluted processes.

I had to take out a loan against my 401k because my employer messed up my short-term disability leave of absence. I take out the loan and briefed that it will cost all these fees, and I accept, and am told they will expedite the check via mail to my address. They mail the check to the wrong address and failed to update the shipping to the address they asked me for on the phone, after assuring me they would update the address and send my check out.

I deposited $5300 in November, 2023. The funds were put on hold, and shortly after I made the mobile deposit, my account was frozen & I have been unable to access those funds. It is now March, 2024. I still have no access to these funds and have been getting the run around ever since.

My 401k was transfer to Merrill without choice (except for rollover options). In hindsight, I wish I rolled over to a better company before the automatic transfer occurred. They charged "high" fees for selling fund I had for years and transferring funds and to move to other companies. I did a rollover and they botched that up too. Another fee though and early distribution penalty next year. What a terrible experience compared to so many good ones with other companies such as TRowe, Fidelity, Etrade, and others.

I current have Power of Attorney for my mother since I have to assist her with medicine, food, paying bills,... etc. I tried to set up a joint account via Bank of America. I received a call this morning they cannot set up the account without speaking to my mother. She is incapable of answering that is why I have POA. I was told I cannot set up a joint account because they would need to speak with her. I would need to set up my own account and then add her. The process and excuses are inane. The point of POA is so I can handle her accounts. Also this is suppose to be joint with BOA, it really is not. I cannot recommend BOA or Merrill.

I have several bad experiences with Merrill Lynch. Several years ago, I had a quite large account with their financial advisor. When I decided to leave him, he was furious. He called me and hang up on me, when I was trying to say I was sorry. Now, I am stupid enough to use their service again. I opened an account for my son to trade stock, for only $500. Since he was not using it, I decided to close the account. As I am the custodian, I have the authority to close the account. They gave me such a hard time. I have to provide document after document. Every time, you will get a rude rep and ask you to give them a different type of document.

My mother had money with Merrill Lynch. When she passed away, my sister and I inherited it and I was the executor. It took me 4 months and over 30 phone calls to finally get the money. They required me to have the same form notarized 5 times because they kept changing what was required on it. They even pre-filled it a couple of times themselves and then said it was wrong. You are not allowed to talk to anyone on the team that approves the distribution. You have to go through a so-called support team and they continually give you wrong information. I requested 3 times for a manager to call me due to all the problems, and no one ever called. It is the worst example of customer service that I can recall ever having.

My wife and I had a joint brokerage account with Merrill. Upon her death I presented them with a certified copy of the death certificate to re-title the account in my name. I anticipated no problems since this was a Joint tenants with rights of survivorship account, and I had done this with two other accounts with other firms with no problems.

I had worked with other institutions after my Brother's death, as the estate administrator. Others had well defined processes and systems and communicated clearly what was needed. I was able to submit forms and documents securely electronically. People I spoke to were Knowledgeable and confident. This was not the case at Merrill. They filter your calls through a call center that can only enter your questions into their system and read from their system, very little understanding of the process. Merrill does not let you speak to the people who have the knowledge.

I’ve been with other brokerages, and I have to say, Merrill Lynch is one of the worst I have ever conducted business with. My decision to transfer my accounts over to Merrill Lynch was being a Bank of America customer and wanted everything under one platform. I have only had this accounts open for 7-8 months and it’s been one nightmare after another trying to transfer money from one institution over to Merrill. In addition, I have never seen so many advisers who cannot assist you, or return phone calls, reply back to emails, simple customer service skills, and good luck speaking to a manager. Even when you provide poor surveys and comments on the Merrill website, a manager will not speak with you. Which explains the reps…seeing managers set the tone for the office.

The girl on the phone had me answer at least 8 - 10 questions to verify me. All I wanted was my account balance.... She was nice, polite, young lady but Merrill Lynch sucks. I am 67 years old. I will close my account...

I was forced into Merrill Lynch through a employer bankruptcy. They turned my 401K into an IRA. Now I am a senior and I want to go in a different direction with my investments. It's 3 months and I can't get my money.

Merrill Lynch was once a very good brokerage for self directed investors. Unfortunately, over the past several years, customer service has become dreadful. Can't get through on the phone, no communication about special events in the account(s), very late 1099's at year end. I finally had enough and pulled every dime after 20 years with them. I moved both personal and IRA accounts to another brokerage where the service is good and the investment options are very good as is research reports and other things individual self directed investors are interested in having access too. Merrill is one of the oldest investment firms and it is sad to see it deteriorated to the point that it has.

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.