Merrill Reviews

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.

I retired Jan. 1 2021 and had all my retirement money under advisement. $1.4M was transferred in Feb 2021. I sent email April 2021 asking why positions not taken. Finally, in May $300K was invested, then $400K in Sept, then $700K in Nov. I was now pretty much screwed having most of my funds invested at market all time high. When I sent inquiry/complaint, they said they did nothing wrong and matter was closed. Thank God I closed my accounts and now repairing damage. Beware!! - they are not looking out for your best interest. You are a number, nothing more.

I closed my Merrill Edge 401K account because I reside in/am a citizen of Australia. I asked Merrill to wire the funds to my Australian bank because not a single Australian financial institution will accept a check denominated in US$. So Merrill sends me a check in US$ that is literally worthless because I can’t cash or deposit it in Australia. I have spent 10+ frustrating and expensive hours on the phone from Australia trying to get customer service to solve the issue, but instead get transferred repeatedly (even when the agents tell me they won’t transfer me) or give me useless advice like "google how to deposit the check" or "open a bank account in the US" or “use the app”. Is there anyone out there in Merrill world who can help me escalate and solve this? I need my money here in Australia … And it cannot be in the form of a check in US$!

I have been trying to work with Merrill Lynch to assist my elderly mom with getting critical items handled so that we can use her IRA to pay her bills. The wait times are unacceptably long. One day we waited 40 minutes only to be cut off, then called back and waited 2 hours and 7 minutes before hanging up. This is not an unusual occurrence. When we finally do get through, we are given conflicting information from different representatives. I have spent anywhere from 7-12 hours this past month either trying to get through, or trying to re-explain our issues and still have not resolved the problem. We may try to move her accounts altogether due to their incompetence and complete lack of customer care.

After discussing the situation with the broker, I feel better - he explained the market conditions and the misleading information that appears on their web app. By showing me detailed data, the damage is less than what appeared and their choices of options turns out good in comparison with the market in general.

This company has the customer service I’ve ever came across. I’ve had to call for a number of times a week for month just have them address one issue. If you don’t call to follow up the they will assist you. Extremely long hold call times.

Well, after 3 weeks, almost a month, to transfer an IRA into a State Retirement Account, I called dozens of times, I spend at least 8-10 hours a week calling Merrill Edge, sometimes 12 hours a week. They never email me, and pretty much say that they are working on it, give them another week each time. Even though when I talk to customer service, I submitted the paperwork and started calling them on 03/06, they said even today on 03/25, we just got the paperwork and started working on it. Every time I call every other day since 03/06. They just got the paperwork and started working it, give them until next week to do it. That was weeks ago they said they would be done.

They absolutely waste your time. Tried to call 4 times. Was on hold for a total of 5 hours and still have not talked to anyone. Don’t waste your time with these guys. Complete idiots. Recommend taking your business elsewhere.

They posted my 312 page 1099-B tax form with the acquisition and sale dates swapped. This is a major problem because it requires manual correction on every transaction in the tax software. I've attempted calling them and cannot get anyone to answer. Very strange a company this large and dealing with finances does not have a call-back option. They devote sales people to call me every few weeks but they can't staff their support department? Come on.

I have now called three times and have been on hold for a total three and half hours. Do they not know people's time is just as important as their money. EXTREMELY frustrating. Switching my investments elsewhere.

I have a plan at Merrill through a previous employer. Merrill has made my rollover to a new plan near impossible. I have been asked to mail in forms, which was a painful process that I completed many weeks ago with still no acknowledgement. I have been forced to call them with huge wait times, not returned calls, and an inability to help me in this process. Returns have been average.

Completely pissed off at this company. I'm American I want someone who speaks English not Indo-English and hard to understand. Wasted 2 hours and 40 minutes without a resolution other than, "Sorry we can't help you".

I was not able to speak with a real person and their automated voice message system did not understand anything I said. I have an American accent so that was not the issue. The options were unhelpful and it was incredibly difficult to work with.

Have been w/ ML since the '80s. Have had other co.s also. Basically had one contact all those years. He has retired. Your contact people make the difference in any company. If you still have same broker and are more than pleased, stay there.

I filled out a Beneficiary Required Minimum Distribution Service form on their website. The copy they sent back to me was incorrect, and they refused to fix it. They said I have to call back another day to cancel the first form and start all over. I've already wasted an hour of my time filling out the first form online and trying to get it corrected by phone. So much for 24/7 customer service.

OK we just changed my password and you made me pick a different one than I am used to. Now I try to get in to my account to access the money I am desperate for to pull my teeth at the dentist and you lock me out my account then say the only way to fix it is call customer service!?!? You are also closed on Sunday so no customer service at all! Great. Thanks a lot!!!!

I applied for a hardship withdrawal. To prevent an eviction. My landlord raised my rent $400.. and on top of that, I ended up having a serious health issue. It's been 3 weeks, and I still don't have a diagnosis yet. I'm mid 40s, and have a very physically challenging job, working in a constant subzero (-25°f) environment. So when my health began to decline, I tried to push through it.. but I can't.. It started a few months ago. For the last 5 years I've been working 5 to 6 days a week, 9 to 11 hours each day. Because where I work, you're scheduled 3 days on, 4 days off. However, we have never been able to keep the staff at more than about 70% of what's needed. Roughly, that's about 250 people less than a full staff. Even worse, that 70% usually only lasts a couple of months.

Especially during these difficult time, my financial advisor is always available. I don’t have to worry about dealing with technology and press this button to get an automated system that is not helpful. It's great to speak to a human being and get advice and guidance from an actual person.

My financial advisor has been with me for over 10 years. He is attentive, responsive and always puts my needs first with an excellent plan. I trust him completely and have referred several friends who have also been very pleased.

I have a small account with one stock. I moved & wanted to change my address online. I received a message, while trying to set up an online account, to call to be able to get online. The first person was no help with getting online &/or changing my address, but wanted to start charging me money to keep the account. Then I was passed to three other reps one by one that were equally unhelpful. Run away from this company if you value your money & sanity.

Was transferring in a 401k, went to Merrill, they provided me instructions via their web chat. It was blatantly obvious that it was for a 401k (they even provided me the 401k telephone number). Once I received a check, I went to submit it. They indicated that the 'to' line was filled out for an IRA, not a 401k, so I'd have to re-processes. They then gave me the runaround and wouldn't support trying to resolve the issue. After which I was forced to pay a $75 fee to re-issue a check. They wouldn't accept ownership of their own mistake in directions and said I'd have to pay the fee!

We have Bank of America (BOA) accounts of both business and personal. On the website of BOA, Merrill Lynch provide service of direct opening retirement account and direct transferring fund from BOA to such account. After I transfer fund to my retirement account for as contribution and bought stocks, Merrill Lynch gave two options: either close my account or transfer to other agency. I tried transfer my stock investment in retirement account to Ameritrade. The Merrill Lynch rejected the transfer request sent through Ameritrade, sold my stocks without my permission and send me a much smaller check. Such operation caused me losses in stocks, tax liability and possible early withdraw fines.

I've had a savings account, as well as a 401K account with Merrill Lynch through my employer for almost 10 years. When I got terminated I was still getting record keeping fees applied to both of my accounts every month (this went on for 5 months), and I could not do anything about it. My accounts were frozen so I was unable to merge the accounts together, or change my investments yet was still getting charged for the account. I called on several occasions seeking help with getting my accounts closed out and rollover the plans into my current employer accounts. However, every single time I called I got different answers to what the fees I would be charged for doing this.

I have tried calling Merrill Lynch customer service on many separate occasions, primarily to discuss stock trades about which I want additional information regarding the timeliness of execution of those trades. I have had several experiences wherein my limit order to buy or sell hit the specified price but the trade failed to execute. Most recently, I called to inquire where my Tax Form 1099 was (as of February 26, 2020, I still had not received it). I have never registered with Merrill Edge for paperless reporting, so I was expecting my tax form to arrive in the mail by the end of February, 2020.

My experience has not been good w/ Merrill Lynch. They disallowed sending emails via their website in 2020, and when I called, I was put on hold for LONG periods of time. They could use a callback feature, but they don't use one. I'd try Fidelity or Schwab as an alternative.

I have a checking account with Bank of America, decided to open an investment account and wrongly thought that it is convenient to chose Merrill. I had the worst experience ever. I never could make any transaction when the market was active because the system was always overloaded. This means that I always missed to sell or buy at good price. When the system works, it misleads me by showing wrong numbers: prices are not timely updated and sometimes the cash balance is not accurate. Once based on the balance I had, I bought some shares.

The good thing about Merrill is that I like the way they have laid out the site. Reporting is simple. They have tons of research and they have now created "stocks stories" which have all the relevant information available to you to make trades. Like all other trading platforms, they do not charge you trading fees. They also have tons of funds to pick from.

ON 11/24/2020 9:30 am place a trade on Merrill Edge app, AAL short 2,000 shares at 14.31. A few minutes later I tried to place a buy to cover at 14.18 which would have resulted in a profit of 260.00. The app just spun and spun and trade was never placed. At the time I thought it was my connection. The stock price rose, I went in to place another trade short 2000 more shares at 14.31 at 9:47 am. Now I have AAL short 4000 total shares at an average of 14.43. After this trade the whole site crashed completely, what I thought was my connection turned out to be a major system crash at Merril Lynch.

Our advisor's name is Greg, We would recommend Greg to friends, He is honest, friendly and professional. Never tries to push anything on us and always has time to answer questions in a way the answers are understandable, We have dealt with other brokers, both within Merrill, and outside. Have been taken advantage of by both. We have no doubt about Greg's honesty and his concern for our success in investing. He has also, along with his wife, become a friend.

My Bank of America Merrill Lynch advisor is readily accessible in person and on the telephone. He is friendly and helpful as regards my portfolio. He also has been in his position for some time and I am encouraged that I can keep accessing the same person.

They seem to help people with their money and trying to help you for the future so that you can know for sure that you will be ok for your money and if you need to get guidance for what to invest and what to see the best path for your future holds.

I have been involved with Merrill Lynch for over 15 years. They have always been accessible to me; answered all my questions in a way I could understand. They are knowledgeable and gave me information that helped me make good decisions.

This company is ok not great. They could be better but not now. It needs lots of work to get there. They don't explain thoroughly what they are doing financially. I'm new at this and have told them and still.

They send a copy of your stocks. My experience is that for 2 years and does not have anything bad. They are very good and they are there to help you and guide you. I recommended.

I wish they could have more communication with me. They should assign a person per every account to call the customers and help them achieve the best in their investments. I get no call from no one unless I call, and their attitude is very nasty.

I had an account with Merrill for a few years. Used to meet 2 a year to go over acct with advisor. He then moved to Rhode Island so no contact. Ok. No problem. Well when IRA started to lose money wanted to move things around. Nothing. No response. When you're paying 1500 bucks a year you want at least your email answered. But here is where it goes down hill. I wanted to switch to Schwab. They did all paperwork. So merrill took forever to get another quarterly fee but they only sent 75 percent of the money over. After 3 weeks I wrote them a letter to close out account and send everything over to schwab. Took a couple of weeks before they sent it. No problem. They charged.

Then they issued a check for left over money 3 days before the absolute deadline and claim it is not their problem to solve since it couldn't be deposited.

Ok, these are the facts:

Merrill Edge is not a reliable brokerage platform. I am usually not able to login to my account during panic stock market days, everyone is trying to log in and their system becomes overwhelmed and crashes (my Charles Schwab works every day). Imagine this, you have a million dollars in a stock which is dropping like a rock. One would immediately login and hedge the position to mitigate the risk or loss, since I have a Merrill Edge I was not able to log in. So, I call customer service - Took me two hours and seventeen minutes to get to a rep (even smoke signal travels faster). I asked Merrill to compensate me for my losses caused by their ancient brokerage platform (of course they said no). I am writing this review as I am consolidating to Charles Schwab. Never again Merrill Edge or BofA product.

I am the executor of my late brother and sister-in-law's estate. Good luck to any other executors out there who try and get a deceased person's 401K transferred to an estate. Prepare to spend hours on the phone with them, even after you've provided every imaginable document to their former employer and also to Merrill Lynch. One person will tell you one procedure, such as direct deposit (even going so far as to add and debit in the estate account) only to have another representative tell you no, that was wrong, when you call in with the deposit and withdrawal amounts. Then, to get a check mailed to the estate, prepare for 70+ minutes on the phone trying to prove who you are just to change the address from the deceased to the estate. Forgive me if I don't have a lot of confidence in the check showing up in the 7-10 business days I was just promised. Train your people, Merrill Lynch. How hard can that be?

Extremely dissatisfied with Merrill Lynch. Constant problem with their website, Login Issues, Trade issues, Long hold time when reaching for support on phone. Extremely high margin interest. Ugggh! I will be considering moving to a new broker and Financial Institution.

My credit union sent two checks in the same envelope to the Florida address at Merrill Lynch. They cashed the smaller one, for $8000, but lost the larger one, for $38,000. When the credit union requested assurance from Merrill that they would not cash the lost cashier’s check, they refused to do so for over two months. Finally, they sent the requested letter, but they failed to rectify the fact that I had no value for two plus months of lost interest, nor did they account for the dozens of hours of trouble to finally get this partially resolved. Very poor service at the highest levels of Merrill Lynch!

I opened my account 3+ years back and even after consistently complaining they have not improved. I lose money in many trades due to their error prone platform. When I contact them they say, their platform is not built to handle options and frequent trading. I am thinking of leaving them soon.

I had always managed my money myself until I was contacted by Sam ** at Merrill-Lynch. We went through an investor profile and my goals; which were low growth but capital conservation. Coronavirus comes and the investments that were supposed to go up when the market goes down didn't exist. The super safe investments also went down. Needless to say, I lost $100k with Merrill Lynch in 8 months. I basically paid Merrill Lynch to lose money - a lot of it. I would stay away and just invest in mutual funds or index funds. This was the worst decision I ever made.

The company reached out to me via email. Apparently they are going to clarify some details with their underwriters.

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! STOLEN/REMOVED FUNDS. $182.16 MONEY OUT OF MY ACCOUNT!!! Stock [PIY] MERRILL LYNCH. Preferred Plus Trust (Ser CZN) Preferred Plus Trust Ser CZN-1 Tr Ctf 8.375% Maturity. I am new investor. Just opened TD AMERITRADE account 03/03/2020. I bought 174 SHARES 03/26/2020 for long term investment and dividend income.

They were great until the recent Coronavirus and stock market crash. Had no problem pulling out $40,000 in January of this year. I needed to pull out $7000.00 recently and they made me go through a whole hardship process. Spoke to someone 2 days ago and they said they had everything and it looked great and I would get my funds Friday. The record your conversation so clearly I am not lying. Called in Today and conveniently they said they could not read my faxed documents I sent and so they cancelled the hardship withdrawal without notifying me. This is some scary stuff. When in an emergency you cant get your funds. Think twice about who you invest with. We all did not believe our grandparents when they told us about the banks taking their money during the depression.

Since I opened an account with Merrill Edge, I found it hard to get anybody on the phone; and when I succeeded; she could not help me with my issue. Also, I was told to have a ridiculous amount of money on the account to be able to trade. These people are really arrogant with lower pockets and only react to your needs when you have money money money. I would not give them not even one star, maybe 1/4 of a star.

I have a Merrill Edge account and my financial advisor in a Phoenix office never returned my phone calls. I called on Monday 3/16/20 her voice message said she would call back by the end of the business day. I know she must have been inundated with calls from clients, so on Tuesday 3/17/20 I called the advisor helpline to have some questions answered but they said I need to speak to my advisor to make changes.

Surprisingly ignorant about trusts, estate planning and wealth management. They seem unable to communicate the basics facts about financial management. Forget customer service. All they want to do is sell you things. Do not ever do business with Merrill Lynch. You will regret it.

My mother died and left her Merrill Lynch funds to me and my 3 sisters. Each time I spoke with a rep, he/she gave me instructions on how to proceed. Then the rep would follow up upon receiving my form and that of my sisters. 7 representatives later, no follow up, and yet we completed all beneficiary forms, I accused them of trying to keep my mother’s money. My sisters and I were grieving the loss of our mother. Why was Merrill Lynch having us fill out forms twice, never calling us back, saying they would take care of everything repeatedly and never doing so?

Run Forest Run!!! They could care less about you or your money.

I tried to roll over my ML IRA to another company. They ignored my request, wouldn’t complete the IRA rollover form, closed the account and sent me a check. For eight weeks I struggled with ML to get the form signed. Eventually they overnighted the form but it was too late to meet the 60-day rollover window. IRS letter comes. Working with ML to resolve the issue is frustrating. Not helpful. Each phone call lasts an hour, the people I talk to consults with a team of experts for 5-10 minutes before saying ML did nothing wrong and not offering any assistance.

I had a lot of cash in an ira that I wanted to transfer to a different brokerage. I sent the form they requested. It was denied, they claimed it was the wrong form. They overnighted a different form, I sent it back, waited, no response. Called, and that one was the wrong form too. (Seeing a pattern here?) Not to worry, I'm told, the correct form was online. As the rep was disconnecting, I said not so fast, let me read through it. Even I could tell it wasn't the right form. After a few rounds of 'is not', 'is too', I told her to go double check. After a few minutes, she was back, and it was indeed the wrong form yet again. Clearly, they don't want to transfer my money away from ML.

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 savvy. 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.

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.

I have no choice but using Merrill-Lynch (ML) only because my company's 401k account is opened at ML. I tried to purchase stock using ML 401k account and it never allows me to purchase stock with price lower than $5, not to mention the $10 fee per transaction online and $12 fee per transaction on the phone. While other broker account only charge $5 per transaction and no limit on stock price. It looks like ML is way behind the peers in the area and using grandfather rules and technologies. If I can choose I will 120% not use ML.

I have been a customer of Bank America in Marietta, GA since 1990. I recently deposited a $189,000+ check from a sale of my house into my checking account as a temporary transit to my CIT Bank account which is paying a higher interest rate. The teller flagged and referred me to a Merrill Lynch representative who persuaded me to open a Merrill Edge Platinum Account and told me ML could match the CIT interest rate. That's where my nightmare began. When I told the rep that my credit history was frozen and I would be glad to unfreeze it if he told me which credit agency ML uses, he assured me that it would not be necessary.

I never leave reviews on products or companies but for Merrill-Lynch prospective clients I will. Please don’t make the mistake that I made by trusting my account with ML. Their customer service is the poorest I’ve ever encountered. The people you speak to seem like they couldn’t care less about you. I lodged a formal complaint but I know it won’t go anywhere. Once you need your funds they DO NOT want to give them to you. I know, ML is a big name so one would think they’re good to go but read thru the reviews first and go with a smaller company that cares. They don’t need your money, they have plenty.

We have checking and saving accounts with BOA. I've opened CMA account with Merrill Edge 2 years ago. Suddenly, they send me a letter to terminate my CMA. I called them and a sale guy said that he could not tell me a reason why they terminate my CMA. They forced me to sell all my stocks and block my account so I could not trade my stocks. BAD BAD BAD Investment company. DO NOT open account with them.

ML does not need customers. They have enough internal processes and departments to keep themselves busy and they do. I am ending a 19 year relationship because things have gone beyond recourse. Simple calls to obtain clarification become a mountain to climb. Three-yearly data verification becomes an occasion to threaten to lock the account. The employees themselves are not to blame. They are hiding behind a strong process curtain that de-humanizes the customer.

I bought stock with Merrill-Lynch from within my employer. They added hidden fees to my account and decided to sell my stock to cover the fees without my permission. I planned to hold on to my stock but just to cut ties I will be selling what I have left so I can end my relationship with these crooks.

I have just been through a huge nightmare with Merrill-Lynch and the investment team. Buyer beware. I'm doing you a favor. They may hear what you want but they do not listen. I felt pressured into signing things that were not understood or told, not to worry because they have me covered. WRONG!!!! Run from this company.

If there is a possibility that at some time in the future you may want to move your money to another investment company, never EVER start with Merrill-Lynch. My new investment adviser has been trying for almost 2 months to get my money transferred from Merrill-Lynch to TD Ameritrade. They have thrown up one roadblock after another. Today I had to resign a bunch of documents because Merrill did not like how my signature "looked"; OUTRAGEOUS!!! It's the client's money! They should be able to do what they want with their money without interference by Merrill-Lynch!!!

I have been dealing with them for 3 weeks now. I’ve been given misinformation as to what they need to complete my residential loan. I’m suppose to be closing on my home in 2 days and they are dragging their feet with giving me my money so I can close. Now I have to push the date back again because of them. I would recommend anyone to apply 2 months in advance to keep from going through this nonsense.

After my father passed away, my ex financial advisor of 16 years played a fast one. My mother had a meningioma that was almost an inch long in 2009. She never had surgery or did anything for it. My father died in 2015. Two weeks after my father was buried, my ex financial advisor had my mother sign a Trusted IRA document with no legal representation. My father always handled the finances. My mother had no idea what she was doing. She did not pay her mortgage for months, her electric was about to be shut off.

It’s mind blowing that you must lose everything to be able to take a hardship withdrawal. Instead of being proactive when struck with a medical issue. So thanks for the customer support and while I lose everything just to get what is mine that would keep me out of the hole.

ABSOLUTELY DO NOT USE. THEY ARE NOT HERE TO HELP YOUR FINANCIAL SUCCESS. Let me first start by saying that I'm not a financial professional and and have always been told to let the professionals manage your money. This company is a professional at making themselves money and spinning statistics into something that sounds good and then use scare tactics to bully you into making decisions because they're the professionals and you should not try to do this yourself.

I called a week ago to have my account closed out from Merrill-Lynch and was expecting a check that I still have not received. After contacting them, the rep stated that I was going to have to wait another 5-7 business days before receiving the check that I had to supposed to have been received. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY. The service is poor and the products. All you will get is empty apologies and the short end of the stick. Invest your monies elsewhere, with a company who will work for you and not against you!

Stay away from this company. I currently have a cash account with approx $200K that I should be able to access whenever I want. I’ve spoken with Chris and Brian who both assured me I could withdraw same day. I called early Friday am, 2/15/19, to get $150K transferred to my local bank account. I am transferred to the distribution dept. and spoke with Sam who proceeds to say I must complete another form in order to obtain the money. She stated she saw where I had withdrawn before (2017 where I went through the same red tape), but I have to complete a form AGAIN in order to get the money wired.

I made the mistake of going to Merrill-Lynch for financial advice after getting in inheritance. I was in a very vulnerable place after my mom had passed away. They steered me into an annuity, and then although they didn’t do anything to actually service the annuity besides purchase it, they were charging me approximately $200 a month simply because the annuity was under their name. They never made a single trade on the account in over a year, so I don’t know what they consider servicing an account. I then closed both my stock portfolio account and the annuity account with Merrill-Lynch last summer.

My mother's Financial estate was with Merrill-Lynch. The snake oil salesman broker talk to me into staying with them and opening a managed IRA account. Three months later I was out $17,000 in lost money from their bad Investments, and exorbitant fees. This was in Spring of 2018 when the market was doing very well. The Fidelity portfolio that I manage myself with absolutely no Financial background just common sense earned about 16% in the same time period. I am SICK about this experience.

Despite being a customer of Bank of America (who owns them) for many years and keeping their large sums, for a very long time, was called a fraud, basically, when tried to open account with ML. Also, they requested impossible/ridiculous documents (utility bills: I happen to have none) to "verify my address", while they have all kind of info on me through BofA (their parent company), and this happens to be my BofA address on file.

Requested a hardship withdrawal on 12/1/18 (it was a Saturday and started the process). Had to also fax the documents as well... They claim it takes 48 hours for them to receive a fax... The check was supposed to be sent via UPS on 12/18/18 and it was sent US Mail. After talking with a supervisor I said I would wait for the mail and he said I would have the check 12/21/18. Guess what??? It has not arrived yet... Plus they charged me the $45 hardship fee twice. They won't send hardships via direct deposit as the previous company Mercer did. Unreal!

My father passed away in November 2018, he had several investments in this company and started the paperwork to take out his money for his funeral expenses since June 2018 so my mother would not have any issue along the line, never-heard from anyone so I stepped in and made several calls and still kept getting the run around, they would say you need to sign some paperwork. Got that taken care. Called back again and said it was pending? Then attempted to call again on the status and said We need to call the trade team in order to give them permission to liquidate. Called them and they said they showed nothing on file ever being processed.

My mom had a lot of stocks, CDs, money, etc. with Merrill-Lynch for many years. When she passed, my sister and I inherited them. Her longtime adviser became our good friend. I took the test to see if I was high risk or very low risk. Low risk was my choice. The stocks she had me in did absolutely nothing! I lost money, portfolio was not even balanced out for my risk assessment. I moved to another financial company and Merrill-Lynch took almost a week to transfer all my stuff, they also rejected my disability check after they said they'd deposit it in my account! It was plain evil on their part and the adviser Cheryl **. I had NO money to pay my bills, buy food and I had to call all my creditors, VA disability center about my check and go into my change jar to get $5 so I could open up a credit union account.

I opened my account with them, and after a month of it being in review they without any reason closed my account. Causing me to lost my disability check that I desperately need. I will never in my life have anything to do with them again. They have no right to close someone's account without notice or reason. Whatever you do, do NOT GO WITH THIS COMPANY. THEY SUCK!

I also had Platinum status at BOA, so free trades with Merill. Out of the blue, they tell me move my IRA or they will liquidate it and send me the check in 30 days. No reason given at all. Luckily, I had an account at a competitor. They are total jerks, will never recommend or do business with them again. Funny thing they still send tons of junk mail and spam asking me to open account.

I am a platinum honors client of BOA/Merrill. I maintain a 6 figure balance between my checking and savings, and I had roughly 35k in investments with Merrill Edge. Out of the blue, I received a notice that my 2 accounts were being terminated. I called to ask why and no explanation could be given. The "investment specialist" said there aren't any notes as to why, and it just appears that they don't want to do business with me anymore. He apologized, but nobody could give me an answer. I just can't believe they would treat a customer that way to just terminate his accounts? My options are to liquidate, or pay $49.50 to transfer to a different institution. Unbelievable...

My mother placed stock orders on 10/21 to be filled 10/22. Discovered orders were “missing” late 10/22 & was told they’d had a “computer glitch’” and if she wanted those trades she’d need to place them again. Market had gone down so she decided NOT to replace most of them but did place 4 new trades for 10/23. The “new” trades went through & all seemed well. Late on evening of 10/24 she discovered 8 ADDITIONAL TRADES in her account that’d been back-dated to 10/22 (all of these trades were the ‘missing” trades from “glitch” but now the stocks had gone down even further and she was out approximately $10K++). She spoke with people on 10/22, early and later 10/24 and 10/26.

Our money was supposed to be invested. We were told the money was invested. We never received statements and tried to follow up and were pushed back that things take time. Months later, we received a statement that showed that not only had our money been sitting in cash for months, but we were being charged a fee for them to hold it in cash. Now we want to transfer the money and they do not want us to. They are not willing to invest it, which makes no sense to me at all. They just transfer us around and we always end up speaking to someone who says they are not the person we are supposed to talk to. I just want to transfer the money away from them. We are about 50 yrs old and never ever had this trouble with Fidelity in the 25 years we have used Fidelity.

This is a very honest review. I am using Merrill Edge for 1 year now as my primary broker for stocks primarily. The commission of this broker is at $6.95 per trade. The reason I am still with them is that I get 100 free trades per month thru their reward program (besides the free trades, everything else is a disaster). They been around for years, I am sure more than most of other competitors. Their trading platform (Marketpro) sucks big time. Very based web-based. All active traders should stay away from this disaster 100 miles away.

My complaint is not against the branch service but the online service. Every time I try to log in I have to come up with a new password. Then when I finally get someone on the line, it takes forever to restore the logging in. Now that their office is gone from the Bank of America branch, is hard going to their new location. Find another broker if you can.

Once again I am on hold waiting anyone to answer. They received and held funds from my disability checks without authorization, and now I cannot reach anyone for a disbursement of the funds. Just today I have been on hold well over an hour, and their website states disbursements cannot be done online. You can get account information online (as the recording has stated 100 times now) but can’t do anything with the information you find. I didn’t think anyone could do a poorer job than FI, ML proves otherwise. It’s frightening to learn that you really have no control over your own money, isn’t it!?

Since the passing of my mother-in-law last summer, Merrill Lynch has used every trick in the book over the past 6 months to keep my husband from his rightful inheritance. Stonewalling, sending us on all sorts of crazy wild goose chases, and the latest, "requiring" an IRS document for transfer of funds that the IRS has notified us that we do not require. They have $230,000 of our money, and reading the reviews on this site, I know that our experience is not unique. I always try to think the best of people, but it has become transparent that ML employees seem trained finds ways to keep beneficiaries from their inheritance, exploiting the pain, grief, and embarrassment tangled up in the process of having to "gravel" for a deceased family member's money. They are counting on us feeling this way!

For six months, we've been waiting for a small partial payout (about $7000 times three people). These guys promise date after date, inching along by two days, then a week, then another two days, over and over. I guess they figure that if the payout is just around the corner, they won't get sued for no performance. However, each time the day arrives, they simply say they're not distributing the money, don't need to explain. We even took them to court here in Florida, they just gave them an extension, the date and time came and they did the same to him. No payment, no reason.

Just wanted to post two annuities were placed within the IRA. Each annuity had its own fees in addition to the wealth manager's agreed upon monthly fee for the total IRA account. Ouch. Check those paper statements. Figured out the cost to have such a product did not make sense. There is an agreed upon timeframe for each annuity before you can dump it. There is a dollar penalty if you ask your wealth manager to dump a product before whatever date has been set on yours. Overall, the wealth manager does not want to dump an annuity within your account because of the commission they are making. Also, if you have one be sure to ask if it is transferable to spouse in the event of your death. Many are not. They are complicated and expensive. Requested advisor to get rid of annuities. He did it; he was not happy. I sure was!

Asked Merrill-Lynch to transfer 401k to a Fidelity IRA, and they only transferred part of the total. When called them back to ask what is going on, they now said had to fill out a form to transfer the rest and it would take 90 days to get the money! Sent form by mail and after 90 days - NO MONEY! Called them and was advised they didn't get the form and will have resubmit form to get the money and wait another 90 days! This firm should have been put out of business instead of being bought by Bank of America. They are the biggest fraudster on Wall Street. BUYER BEWARE!!

Terrible performance on managing over 1 million dollars. Then we I decided to move the funds from Merrill-Lynch to another investment service, Merrill-Lynch starting a stonewalling and slow work in actually transferring the funds. Got several calls from people I didn't even know asking about the transfer. One lady named Morgan actually said she would hold the printing of a check and wire the funds and she would wait for our wiring instructions. Got wiring instructions but when I contacted them back it was after 430 PM and they were closed. Called this morning August 28th and no one knew a thing and this person Morgan wasn't in today. As of now, I don't know where my money is.

If you or a loved one, use Glenn **, make sure and double check your paperwork, especially when it comes to transfer on death. One day, you will find out his assistant, Klair, mishandled the paperwork, filled out the paperwork wrong while Glenn was on vacation. Their manager will call you and admit a mistake was made, but will explain there is nothing they can do. The more you look into the financial advice that was given over the years to your family member, the more questions you start to generate. Thank you Glenn for your incompetence, you made a blatant $600,000 mistake and do not even have the honor to apologize, you have your manager clean up your mess.

Merrill Lynch has devolved into an incompetent bureaucratic organization that is unresponsive to customer needs. An attempt to close an account required numerous emails, phone calls, and requests from ML for paperwork that had been previously sent. When ML originally divided the account, they made a calculation error and left $42 in the account and did not close it. When the paperwork was finally complete, I was told that a $75 fee would be charged to close the account!!! Never ever choose this organization if you value your time or your money.

I moved my account from Sharebuilder as they were closing, by the way never had an issue with that broker to Merrill Edge. I joined because of the Bank of America Preferred Rewards which are nice. Read lots of reviews good and bad. I figured any major bank going to have some issues but it seems to be one after the other. They messed up my transfer that I had put in months before as I knew I was deploying and took weeks of calling every day for hours right up to the day before I was deploying for military duty to get fixed. Luckily I got one representative who understood and worked the issue to the end which was nice after going through 5 different ones before who did nothing but repeat same thing over and over. That was the start of issues. Now I can't reinvest dividends from certain companies which raises my taxes when paid as cash which is unacceptable and each representative gives same excuse with no real answer or fix.

I started with Merrill-Lynch through an employer, but now that I have switched jobs, I wanted to rollover my 401k funds into account set up by my new employers. Should be easy right? In fact, I have rolled over my 401k 2 times prior. But Merrill-Lynch says my husband needs to fill out a Spousal Consent From for me to simply roll over my funds! Keep in mind, this is not withdrawing the funds, simply placing the funds into a different account. My husband and I were both confused by this so we looked into it, and its total BS!! Then I hear from a Tax Attorney that Merrill-Lynch is known for stunts like this. So if they do not allow me to roll over my account, I will be filing charges against them and screaming to everyone, everywhere about this!!

Merrill-Lynch gives you a hard time if you want to a hardship withdrawal from your 401k. It's my money and I should be able to withdraw it without being hassled by Merrill-Lynch. ML gets $45 every time they do a transaction, whether they approve your hardship withdrawal or not. Then they will not make a decision on your withdrawal until 10 business days after the necessary paperwork was received. After the application is approved, they make you wait another 4 days before they will release the funds and send the check to you. So you have to wait 14 days before they release the money plus however long it takes the post office to deliver your check. By this time, you have waited approximately 3 weeks for your money to be delivered to you. I asked a Merrill-Lynch rep why did the process take so long. Her reply was so that people can find another source to get money from instead of getting it from their 401k account.

I am on H1B and a customer with Bank Of America for 4+ years. Based on my credits and balances the banks suggested me giving an offer to open investment account with Merrill Edge. Someone from Merrill Edge called me directed me to open the account. He didn't say that only US citizens and Permanent residents can open a account. After all the forms filled, at last he said to me that people in H1B open an account. I have never seen such restrictions with any other stock-brokers. I then moved my money to Fidelity/E-trade/Robinhood and started using trading without any problem. I suggest Merrill Edge to remove this junk rule. Anybody who has an SSN/ITIN with a valid working permit. Alas, you lost a stock trader. :)

Soon after Bank of America took over Merrill-Lynch, our agent stop calling us with regular updates. We rarely got him when we tried to contact them. At one point, our account had a lot of Apple stock during the run to 700. We called and requested that he put some trailing stop to protect us should the stock drop. The stock was in the mid 600s at that time. We were assured that it would be taken care of. When Apple's stock dropped to the mid 300s weeks later, we were relieved that we had requested that. We came to find out that the agent never did and the portfolio dropped in value significantly, causing calls on orders and loans, which required the sale of existing stocks to cover. The portfolio was devastated and is worthless today. Their incompetence cost us an over $1,000,000 portfolio and we are still trying to get reparations in court.

When I talked to someone who worked at the Merrill-Lynch department of BoA, I was told that my (financial) interests would be put first. When I had my taxes done, my tax attorney understood more than I understood that was on the Merrill-Lynch tax statement. From what my attorney said to me, I get the impression the guy who did the trading, had more of an interest in himself (his income at my expense), than MY income! With the (high) commission Merrill-Lynch makes, the (HUGE) cost of trades, and my taxes from my Merrill-Lynch investments, I probably LOST money, last year!

I am sort of forced to have Merrill-Lynch be the custodian of my 401K, it not my choice. I was trying to get funds for my daughter's tuition, she ran out of funds and got a letter from her financial aid office. It was VERY detailed, it included the information about what semester the tuition was for, what payments were missed, who was CC'd, my daughter student ID, their name, number position, everything BUT they didn't date it at the top. They said they needed a date on it from the last 60 days to show it was for the current semester. What part of having spring 2018 semester, the missed payment dates, and when they needed to be paid by was so ambiguous?

Wednesday Feb. 17, 2016 C invited his firm to his house. He needed the whole firm present for a business transaction to take place. Neal ** (Tuke), Casey **, Scott **, and Lori **. C communicated to Tuke about his house. Tuke repeated to C he wanted to pay his mortgage off, C replied yes. Tuke offered to C if he wanted to cash out his investment insurance accounts to satisfy his debt. C replied yes.

I had a duplicate transaction that was paid to one of the government websites. I called Bank of America twice to remove the duplicate payment but they advised me to send a fax to Merrill-Lynch ACH services. I waited 2 weeks with no response then I called the bank twice to check what happened but they advised me to call again and wait for extra week. Then I received a rejection letter that has nothing to read in it. No one took the time or bothered to ask more info or go and check my account to see that there is an actual duplicate transactions that was made in the same day and time. I called the bank again and after the guy talking for half an hour with Merrill-Lynch he told me that it was rejected because the transaction was approved by me and they cannot ask for refund for the duplicate payment because case was CLOSED.

Merrill after giving me false information refused to bust a bond trade. They actually called the police on me, then suggested I was dumb and that I should turn my money over to them for their managed account. This is outrageous. The worst service ever? Crooks, rude, cruel. I had a $365,000 account. Please for God sake go with other brokerages.

My mother passed in September of 2016. The benefits department stated that they would contact us if there were any assets that we needed to deal with. Never got a contact but when I was doing taxes found a HSA controlled by them. I contacted Merrill Lynch and they stated that it would take up to 8 weeks to receive the paperwork. It was not received. When requested a second time it was sent to a wrong address. Once it was filled out they decided there was an error but the letter was sent to the wrong address again, so now that the estate has been settled they require that it is reopened to resolve their incompetence. Will never deal with them again, totally incompetent.

Please do not hire the Merrill-Lynch, Athens, Georgia team that is led by Joe **. There are some serious concerns on business conduct, professionalism, services, and interpersonal relations. In the course of many years, my experiences have been predominantly negative: 1) Amanda ** and Angela **, two of the team's lower staff do not do their job or provide their services regularly. Experiences with ability to wire transfer money is inconsistent, no communication, even following up does not help. Angela ** also put me on hold for about 20 minutes without informing me when we were on a conference call with a Bank of America agent. Joe **, who is presently leading the team never consults on your portfolio.

My brother died, but prior to his death, he transferred this entire acct of money to another financial institution. As his personal rep of his financial affairs, I called Merrill-Lynch (ML) 2 months (6/2017) after his death to ascertain that he had no open accts with ML; they confirmed his acct was closed after I provided them a copy of his death certificate and my Milwaukee County domiciliary letter naming me as his personal rep and it not expiring until 12/2018. In 9/2017, ML sent me a letter notifying me of an open acct. When I reminded them of my on-file domiciliary letter from Milwaukee Cty, they told me that it is not valid since it's 2 months old from when I filed it with them.

I had my bank, B o A to make a face to face appt with me at BOA on Grand Ave and 107 Ave... anyways I was there and the Merrill-Lynch/Edge Advisor, Andy (in offices on Bell Rd) was Not! This appt was made about 3 weeks ago and made by BOA! I will Not talk to someone on the phone and just hand over thousands of $ that would make me a stupid fool!! What has happened to customer service, seriously! I talked with Andy (financial advisor) on the phone while I was waiting at BOA, he has the audacity to say, "I thought it was scheduled for another time", Seriously with the 3 confirmation emails and voicemails I had received, reminding me of the appt… I'm most definitely NOT doing ANY business with Merrill-Lynch/Edge, since there's soo much incompetence. BEWARE.

I opened an account with 6 figures to get the 100 free trades per month. I planned to write a lot of naked options, mostly puts. It took far too long to get the funds recognized in the account, delaying the start of trading while the money sat idle. Then was told I needed an additional 50% deposit to trade options; lost more time but did move more money to the account. Then was told that the free trade offer was not valid for option trading, after making several trades and not only not getting free trades, but charged above market prices for the option trades I did make.

ML "wealth management" advisors do not care. They put you in products that provide the greatest benefit for an advisor. It is about them keeping your money on their books; not acting in your best interests. If you want to withdraw or increase the amount of your withdrawals; plan to be met with resistance. They forget it is "your" money. You will have to work hard against your "wealth management" advisor for changes you want; especially if you have signed the paper "advisor discretion". It can always be pulled back by requesting a "client discretion" account. You will need to sign new papers. Run, Run from ML wealth management. Do not recommend. P.S. If they recommend to put your IRA into a "Trusteed IRA" again, run away from this product too!

Like a lot of people we have accounts spread out all over the place. Old 401k's some places, old IRA's others, so we were looking for a place to have everything. We moved most accounts to Fidelity, but can't ever get any cash out. So we decided on Merrill Edge with BoA. I went into the branch, which was very Customer Service oriented, to speak with the Merrill Edge guy. He was helpful, said that everything I had asked for would be met, a matching trade fee of $4.95, easy account set up, and account transfer, etc. I opened the accounts online, and funded 1 account. Then I started getting phone calls every other day for the remaining accounts. After the Fidelity move I wanted to try before I buy.

My broker allowed my Loan Management Account to exceed the amount stated on the Merrill-Lynch website. In order to pay off the loan I am now destitute. The investments did well but the loan management account debt burgeoned way beyond what it should have. I am ill and counted on my broker to guide me and he ignored the impact of the LMA to my assets. Do NOT use Merrill-Lynch for anything. If you already do and a Loan Management Account is recommended to you RUN.

My father passed away over a year ago and the transfer team at Merrill Lynch has still not transferred the money to my account, despite numerous forms, calls, and assurances on their part that they have taken care of it. Every time I call I get a different person (never the actual case manager for the account) and they all tell me something different. There's always some excuse: another form needs to be filled out, another detail needs to be given, the receiving bank is to blame, etc., etc. etc. I am really starting to wonder if their policy is to drag out the distribution process so that they can continue to make money off of their client's investments for as long as possible.

This brokerage firm is all about fraud and no proper compliance process when approving online account application. I'm a reward BOA customer thus get free trades with them. As such I decided to open a new SEP account with them and provided my updated home address. They approved my online application without issue and asked me to transfer the money immediately. Once I transferred money to their account during weekend, I logged back into my brokerage account on next Monday and found they locked me out of my accounts access saying they would need various documents with proof of address. I asked them why this compliance procedure didn't happen before account opens and before I transferred my money to them. The supervisor admit the process shouldn't work this way however nothing he could do.

I needed a hardship withdraw to pay my daughter's college tuition. I had used Fidelity in the past so I was expecting a quick turnaround as they took 3 days and it was direct deposited but to be safe I started the process with 2 weeks to spare. They said it would take 5 to 7 business days...it took 12 and I missed the deadline and to top it off they give some phony excuse to send a check rather than direct deposit. Direct deposit is safe and secure. Check could possibly loss or theft. On top of this wonderfulness now I have a $200 additional fee to the school and they charged me to get my MONEY $45. BTW. Fidelity charged a fee but because it was a hardship withdraw it was waived... I have never had such a hard time or expense trying to get MY money back. Why companies still choose to set-up their 401K's with this company is beyond me... They are in a word...HORRIBLE.

I called Merrill-Lynch and spoke to one of their people and he was so thick in the head that he kept arguing with me. Things escalated and finally out of frustration I used a swear word... And boy that's what the ** wanted. After we rang off and he had not answered my questions, the ** called my boss and got me fired from a $100,000 dollar a year job. This was in 2009. I should have sued I suppose but when you lose your income like that you have little recourse. So beware... Merrill Lynch employs vindictive ice holes.

My husband had his stock with Merrill Lynch for 28 years, when he went to sell it, he received nothing but a runaround. They have had us on wild goose chases which produced nothing. Before you invest with this company, think twice! When it comes time to sell, they don't want to let it go! We are still awaiting our payout! I always dealt with T. Rowe Price and never had a problem! Do not waste your time and money on this company. I always thought they were a reputable company, but in my opinion, they are the most unprofessional company I've ever seen!

I'm a fairly reserved investor when it comes to my retirement fund. I have a couple of IRAs I tried to rollover to Merrill. I called and the associate walked me through the rollover process. When I asked whether corresponding information to confirm the transaction was correct, the associate said, "We'll find out in 2-3 business days." Fast forward 3 months later and nothing ever happened. I tried going to see a Merrill advisor and they pushed me to call. I called. They pushed me to the site. The site is unable to verify information in realtime so initiated transactions may never go through especially if an incompetent associate never follows up and everyone in the organization won't take blame. Save yourself the time and find a platform that actually hires professionals. Not a phone bank and a body to sit in a bank to click trade for you.

I filled out a hardship request because I was facing eviction. I faxed everything in and was told my request was denied because they felt I didn't meet the hardship requirements. Seriously? I can't get my own money to prevent ending up on the street?

I have had nothing but bad experiences with this company. It is truly ridiculous how inept (or deliberately incompetent) they are. I'm the Administrator for an Estate, and have submitted all the required legal paperwork (Affidavit of Domicile, Death Certificate(s), Letters of Administration from the Court) and all the necessary forms (IRA Beneficiary Claim form, Estate Account Application, Request to Transfer Assets from the Deceased account to the new Estate Account) and Merrill Edge has delayed, lost the forms, delayed, and found every reason possible NOT to honor their fiduciary duty with regard to these accounts.

I filled out necessary paperwork for a Hardship Withdrawal and was approved. Check was sent to me and has been deposited with funds showing in my account. I get a call today that there was an oversight in the paperwork and they are doing a stop payment on the check. I already have funds coming out against that deposit now which is going to cause serious legal problems. I called to explain the issue and their last person I talked to said he would put in a work order to try and get a resolution. Never heard back. Is this even legal to do? I have proof of the approval and like I said, I have large payments coming out against the check funds. Absolute the worst service ever!

After dealing with an identity theft scam, information on my account has been changed without proper documentation to support the changes. Merrill-Lynch representatives have lied to my face and over the phone for over two weeks. Even worse, they claimed that cooperation with law enforcement agencies was assured. When I arrived with a police officer, the representative said it was a waste of time because he wasn't showing any information on the account. Members of the fraud department have been instructed not to cooperate with me and customer service representatives have been told to deny the existence of the account. Denial of the account has impeded the initiation of a criminal investigation and I believe this is deliberate.

Extremely dishonest responses when I asked if my broker is a fiduciary or if it could be possible for me to work with one at the company. If you don't know what a fiduciary is, look it up. Not working with a fiduciary is the equivalent of having a doctor that won't prescribe you the medication that works best for you, but instead will prescribe a medication that the pharmaceutical company has basically paid them to prescribe. No wonder Wall Street has such a bad reputation!!

I invested short term with this company. As I learned I had to cancel investments accounts, I called up the company in November 2016 to cancel investments. I thought I did so, with representative at the time of cancellation. To my dismay, the account was open for more than 6 months after 1st request of cancellation. Here it is you have a company of this size handling hundreds of multi-millions/billion of dollars daily, and they could not close an account with $.01. This is absurd, I am wondering how the compliance department handles an incident as such, knowing they pay custodial maintenance on each account, this one being a $.01. I felt because I was angry after that 1st request was not honored malice intent came into play. This was VERY unprofessional how my situation was handled.

I am very dissatisfied in how ML handled my request for a distribution from my 401K. They delayed and tried to change my original request for a check to be mailed to me by sending me info on how to open another broker account. After waiting over a week for my check, I called them. They reviewed my original request and determined they were in error. After going back and forth they finally agreed to ship my envelope overnight using UPS at their expense. However they left my Apt. number off the shipping label. Creating more delays. They do not follow-up with any emails or other communications about the progress of customer requests and have a smug attitude. I will closing my acct. with them because I was very irritated to have to spend time arguing with the rep and now the delivery delay I find unacceptable. POOR SERVICE.

First call: told I was eligible to cash out as my company allowed it and I met the criteria. Paid 25$ for UPS tracking and was told it would arrive in 3-5 business days. Second call: Tracking did not work for whatever reason. After 5 business days and no check I called back to see what was happening. I was told that I couldn't take out the money because I was required to take out a loan. After speaking with a supervisor I was told I could take out the money but would have to take out a 1000$ loan pay a 75$ fee and another 25$ for UPS tracking package. So I did that again. This was a Monday. I was told the check would arrive Friday.

Over the course of approx. 2 years, the problems are numerous. I have went to great lengths to try to do business with them. An approx. of 2 years of trying to open a proper and correct account is ridiculous. It goes downhill from there. They have commingled funds from accounts that should not be. The financial implication... well, you can guess. I cashed out money nearly sixty days ago from another account to add to Merrill and reinvest in Apple. Huge loss for me as Merrill could not even complete a simple transfer after calling, emailing (no follow-up), and an offer to look at compensation for their lack of completing transfer.

My mother passed away and left me the Executor of the will. My probate attorney told me that I should use the Merrill Edge account to pay taxes and debts. I talked with the guy assigned to our transactions and he sent paperwork (Affidavit of Domicile) to be filled out and told me to send it by email so I sent it with an electronic signature. He called and said the electronic signature would not do, so I offered to sign with my digital pad, but he said that it could not be digital. I was told it had to be a "wet" signature and that I should copy it and fax it to him. I explained that if I copy it or fax it the signature was no longer "wet" and that it was technically again a digital signature. So I told him I would mail it certified and did through USPS as he had told me to mail it to the address on his emails.

I would first like to say that when I invested, I was very young with no knowledge of stocks or bonds. I invested with Merrill-Lynch for 2 years. I have now been audited by the IRS for both years because I never received tax paperwork from Merrill-Lynch. I had no idea what to file or how. They took responsibility that one of their members had given me tax advice. Let me spell it out, their financial advisor, that couldn't give tax advice, gave me tax advice!!! I didn't know at the time, that this was wrong because I was ill experienced. So now the IRS is after me, all the money I gained from the "INVESTMENT" will go to CPAs and returns, and they acknowledge they did wrong but refuse compensation. Thank you Merrill-Lynch for an awful investment experience. I will never use you for any future investments. My friends and family also will never use you as well.

First I would like to start off by saying that I wish there was a half a star to describe Merrill Edge. The company is the worst. I have been trying to open up a business trading account for a month and a half and they have nothing excuses and nonsense question that can be answered if they weren't so lazy. I have a BofA account and wanted to the ease of transferring funds to my Merrill Edge account, but they are making it more difficult than it needs to be. I opened an account at TD in less than 5 days for my business. DO NOT GO TO MERRILL EDGE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Recently I transferred funds into this bank and was told to do a CMA since I would be withdrawing money as well as purchasing stocks. From the first time I tried to use my atm card it was immediately declined. And each time after. I called the Visa Authorization and was told that I had to contact them before using the atm, due to it being a new account. So, after being declined numerous times and constantly calling them to figure the issue out. My account became completely locked. They never informed me, I had to contact them. And now was informed that my account was sent to fraud dept. I had to go to the bank and provide my id as well as a utility bill. Then although they informed me it would be corrected immediately. It has been over a week and still no resolution. I contact them about the situation and they refuse to speak to me.

Investors beware of Merrill-Lynch's employees forging letters of authorization for wire transfers and insider notaries working on the inside. I recently reported these frauds to the compliance department and received a letter stating that these documents were proprietary or that they were not forged. They failed to investigate or chose not to follow up. ML employees at the main line office are criminals and so are the ML superiors that should be their oversight. Read your statements and scrutinize all transactions. Hope this catches your attention and ML and Bank of America. The FBI has been notified and will take the proper action since ML does not have the legal balls. ML thinks they are untouchable... think again, idiots at BOA and ML!

I could not be more disgusted with a company than Merrill Edge brokerage where I have a small IRA. I actually use to be in the stock and trade business as a financial advisor and have held various accounts for over 40 years in various places but I only opened this account because it was connected to Bank of America. What SCUMBAGS. They do not disclose any fees on self directed accounts at the TIME OF SELL like they are suppose to. Then they try to justify it on the phone by saying it was available if you looked hard enough on the web page. WHAT CRAP. Freaking 9% fee to sell a small mutual fund. I am transferring my account and will never use them again. STAY AWAY from Merrill Edge and Merrill-Lynch.

For a company claiming professionalism they are atrocious. How can you trust a company with your funds if they are SOOOO Incredibly disinterested in answering simple questions. And by the way, try getting your money out of their iron-fist once they have it. Good Luck. Run away now while you can.

I have a Merrill Edge account for over 4 years. All of a sudden they decided to liquidate my accounts. When I ask for a specific reason they refused to give me a reason. This is the worst experience. All they keep telling me is their policy. Does not make sense to me at all. Worst ever.

They are thieves and I have been recording every conversation with them. They refuse to let me into my account and they will not send me a copy of my contract!!! I hate them! They set you up to fail!!!

I opened an account 1 year back when they promised $100/ new account and zero trading fee. You don't get good prices if you are buying market price. When you short a stock and sell the put on option expiry day, they don't get assigned automatically even when they are in the money. I realized after 3 months that they were making me pay $1000 interest on the margin money since they were not automatically assigning the stocks on expiry day. It has cost me more than $2200.00, due to their misinformation and ignorance. I am still fight since 2 months. They apologize and credit your account and then they withdraw it hoping you forget it. I am sick of trading with ML. I strongly advise be away from ML. Go with TD-Ameritrade despite their fees, you will avoid headache.

Very dissatisfied. I worked for Walmart and quit a month and they said I would have to wait a month for my 401k to be cashed out. OK. Waited a month and Nov 9 2016 was my cash payout for my 401k check and they didn't tell me that I had to wait a couple of days thinking my check was supposed to be here this week. Then the Merrill-Lynch representative said it was $2900 but called today and they said it takes a couple of days to process it and they didn't tell me that the first time. They said they mailed the check yesterday and it should be there from 7 to 10 business days and I thought it was gonna be there sometime this week. They are a bunch of lying criminal scumbags that need to lose their jobs and their income for the problems and heartache they cause people. Eventually they will meet their own karma. What you dish out will come back to you. They better remember that.

We have had Merrill-Lynch as our financial institution for years. It was simple. At first we just paid an yearly fee, and got very good service from our broker. Then as the account grew we charged commissions on transactions that our broker always recommended but asked us first if it was ok, but the fees were not broken down. They were hidden in the cost and profit of the investment, so again I asked about how much we are paying. Never got a straight answer but still got good service. Well then after a while we heard less and less from our broker and we contacted him and he said that he has many accounts to manage and he recommends that we switch to an account that gives him the authorization to buy and sell without our authorization because he could get better rates if he was dealing in a larger group of customers. So with a sinking feeling in my stomach and against my better judgement we did this.

These people SUCK!!! The only reason I selected Wilshire Credit was because the loan could be paid off with a credit card. The contract that I agreed to states this as well as the back side of your billing statement. Quote checks and credit card payments made using the automated phone system or online will charged a $5.00 processing fee. I asked this question directly before agreeing to the loan. Now when I attempted to pay the loan off in full with one of my credit cards, SECURED credit card they tell me they no longer accept credit card payments. LIARS CHEATS **, these words I would use to describe my experience with WILSHIRE CONSUMER CREDIT. WILL POST EVERY DAY UNTIL MY CONTRACT LANGUAGE IS RESPECTED.

Yesterday, I met with the VP of Merrill Edge for Financial Solutions Advisor at the Bank of America local branch. Within minutes of our conversation, he assured me that I could open a Roth IRA for my son, who is 21 years old and works for a company that does not have a retirement plan. I told him that I would like to make the annual maximum contribution to his account from my BOA and he assured me that would be no problem once he sets up the account and I will have to answer some questions online when I get home and to answer the questions as if he was answering the questions. While in his office, I got a call and told him that I am unable to talk to him because I am at the bank opening a retirement account for him.

Arbitrary fees galore. I recently opened an LMA account. (It's a loan for God's sake). Shortly after opening the calls from an assigned broker began hounding me to move all of my assets over, to purchase an annuity etc. After the ninth "NO"! I started to get hit with fee notices. These notices stated "Your account has been assessed a fee... etc. No specific reason, simply an arbitrary fee. I'm afraid my good credit will be harmed. I'm thinking about informing the S.E.C. This is OUTRAGEOUS!

We have a BOA account and therefore transferred some money into the Merrill-Lynch account to buy some investments. I am desperately surprised when I bought a 4000$ security which has a yield of ~ <2.0%, I was charged 2% markup. This means after you hold it for one year, your return is negative. The worst part is that Merrill-Lynch/Edge will never tell you you are charged a huge amount of commission. Merrill-Lynch/Edge has been sued twice because of their discarding, illegal, greedy and unconcealed dirty behavior.

I Sat with the advisor and filled out paperwork, signed papers, and he told me the objective is to get the 2 stock accounts changed to my name and then reinvest it with Merrill Lynch. Merrill Lynch would give me the medallion signature needed to do so. He also claimed he has a ton of paperwork to fill out with this. A month goes by so I show up and he acts as if we never filled out papers.

I went into B of A to see about a line of credit. I was steered to Merrill-Lynch in the process, with B of A telling me that I would get a preferred consideration, the more connections I had with the bank. I was looking for a new broker because mine had left his firm, BUT I wanted my funds held at Franklin Templeton and just have a broker associated with the account. I was inundated with paperwork between the broker and the bank, so (my mistake) I trusted and signed. I know the ME broker understood me. In essence, they stole my account. It has taken me months to get this settled. After being stone-walled at every turn, I went back to my last firm to get the funds transferred back and then de-networked back to FT. The people at ME are very nice until you want to move your funds. Then they turn into jerks. It's MY money!!

I wanted to roll over my 401K to an IRA when I left my last job. It took 3 phone calls to finally get someone to tell me that I needed to contact the new fund and they will sort it. The first 2 times I called no one knew anything and told me to check the website. I was calling because the information was not on the website. When the account was finally closed I was charged a $95 fee for closing my ML account as well as a $35 annual fee. In the space of 18 months my fund balance was reduced by over 30%.

I was downsized from my employer, B. Braun Medical in January of 2016. My pension fund was held by Merrill Lynch and I was fully vested. In February I asked to cash out the funds, and the representative said he could have papers to me by May and funds disbursed by July. Immediately this sounded suspicious to me. I completed all the papers and promptly returned them. I waited a long time, then received a letter saying they needed MORE documentation. This was late May. So I turned in all that paperwork and called to verify that they had what they needed, and they said I could expect funds to be deposited on July 1st. Nothing. Still waiting. Now I have placed a complaint with the CFPB. When I took funds from my T. Rowe Price 401k it was very quick. I think something shady is going on with Merrill Lynch.

To start with, Merrill-Lynch held my mothers pension fund. She had originally listed my father as the beneficiary. She was trying hard for over six months to remove her pension and they kept giving her the runaround. My father passed away in March and my mother made calls then to change beneficiary, but they would not accept it over the phone and made her wait for the paperwork to change it. She filled out the paperwork and it was mailed into Merrill-Lynch 3 weeks later and they received it. My mother passed away the following week. There was 1 month and 1 week between my father's death and my mother's. I called Merrill-Lynch several times to see if they had changed the pension beneficiary and they kept telling me they never got the paperwork. This went on for 6 months and they paid the pension money to the estate.

My mom, who is now decease updated her beneficiary form August of 2013. Well, after speaking with the relationship manager, I was told the form is invalid and I must go through probate. My mom passed April 16, 2016 and no one bothered to contact her to fix the problem. The person I spoke is not very helpful nor was he able to locate her past beneficiary forms. I requested all documentation concerning her estate and my emails were ignored. I am now seeking legal advice because no one will supply me with my request. Please be aware of this company and make sure everything you sign you get a copy and give a copy to someone you trust.

Looks like all agents want to open your account instead of giving proper information, like Eric did to me. He hung up on me as he realized that I'm asking too much information. He hung up when I was asking and said, "Have a nice day you..." I will not open any account where customer service is this BAD.

After opened an account, on May 7, 2016, I made my first deposit for 4 checks at the ATM machine. The checks are in a total amount of over $3,700. Since I forgot to endorse them, the Bank sent me a message which informed me their rejections of the deposit due to this problem. The message also indicated that all 4 checked will be return to me for my signatures.

I had a employee stock purchase plan from a former employer (Republic Services). Unbeknownst to me on January 31, 2015 Republic Services transferred the stocks I had purchased from them to Merrill Lynch. I was assessed an "Annual Account Fee" of $65 from Merrill Lynch and received a notice from them that I owed $25.14 because they had automatically pulled $39.86 from the dividends I had received from the stocks. I called and requested the fee be waived and that Merrill Lynch return the stocks to me. ML said they would review the fee and look into reversing it.

Only a few days after signing up with Merrill-Lynch and been nothing but calls every week or bi-weekly to purchase their products. It's sub-par from what you would think a reputable company. Filled an SEC complaint detailing clearly their unpleasant pushy tactics.

It's extraordinarily hard to find tax documents. When I find information about the tax document the site gives me written instructions for which tab to go to, then a link title followed by another link title. Why can't you just provide a link to the destination I need? I just spent 20 minutes trying to model then exercise. It is completely impossible to do so right now for some reason I cannot fathom. But there are no explanations for why this is completely impossible right now. I tried on 2 different computers, same result. I think Merrill Lynch has multiple websites and that those websites don't communicate with each other. Please hire a developer team and a user experience team. This is 2016 - this website (or websites) are straight out of 1991. I need an intuitive, well thought out path to my destination. It's not rocket surgery.

I am appalled with the experience I just had with Merrill Edge. I started the process of rolling over my IRA to an annuity over 6 weeks ago. Upon my initial contact with M/E, I informed them of my intentions and filled out all the necessary paperwork with my agent. As soon as they received the info they immediately removed the money from the account and then the fun began. They had put my money in an account ready for transfer but then I could not get it out. They first told me the paperwork was incomplete. I fixed that. Then there was a signature medallion required.

My husband and I opened a Wealth Management Account 5 years ago with all of our retirement money which was certainly enough to live on until we died and also, leave some for our daughter and grandchildren. After 5 years the Walls/Berdell Wealth Management Group in Richmond VA returned .42% in earnings. Time frame from January 2011-December 2015. I completely freaked out when we lost 50K in August to make it a total loss for 2015 of 61K. To add insult to injury my husband had his IRA in a Vanguard account that subsequently earned 8% during the time these Financial Advisors returned .42%. We are both heartsick about the performance that we paid a 1% fee... For what I ask?

MERRILL Lynch gives people a hard time if they need to take a hardship withdrawal from their 401k. It's my money that I invested into the account. After waiting 10 days to get approved, ML still holds your money for a few more weeks. The purpose of the hardship is to prevent whatever unnecessary expense from occurring. I've been waiting since the middle of December for ML to send me my check. Obviously I need it in a hurry, so I can pay my mortgage company. With ML making me wait an extra month, that's just more money that I owe.

Find another service; don't put your money with Merrill-Lynch. Every distribution (4) that I have tried to do has been mishandled. Whether an education savings account or a mandatory distribution from an IRA it has been bungled. Most have required the same form faxed 2-3 times because it can't be found despite a confirmation of delivery on my end. Despite requests for a call to acknowledge receipt, they never come. After long holds and much searching, I'll hear, "We found it". Most recently my mandatory IRA distribution was handled by the head of quality (ironically) who was helping cover in a busy time. I was assured of the distribution and now on 1/7; I see that it did not happen. My accounts with T. Rowe Price and TIAA-CREF run very smoothly. Stay away from this incompetent organization.

I have been a Merrill Lynch Gran Junction, Colorado customer for several years and I stayed with them during the good and bad time but lately, the customer service received has been deteriorated so much that they forced me to move to a different branch office and to appoint a different financial advisor. I have been treated unprofessional and disrespectful after many years of giving them the trust. I don't suggest to anyone to use ML Grand Junction office.

Needed a title loan, process was fairly painless. Main phone number staff are generally pretty useless but usually nice. I asked to get my loan refinanced and payments lowered by almost 100 bucks 1 year into the loan. Paid off early so I didn't end up paying a huge amount. Got me a pay off notice within a week. Overall, for a subprime lender, they were pretty straightforward and easy to deal with.

In 2013, I rolled over a retirement acct from a previous employer into my current one. ML reported it as taxable income & sent an inaccurate 1099-R. When informed, they sent me a correct one. Didn't update the IRS, though. Sadly, I neglected to make a copy before submitting it. After the IRS asked for $4K+ based on the inaccurate 1099-R, I've called ML 3 times to get a copy. Each time, I was told something different, but promised a copy would be sent (The third time, the rep tried to tell me I didn't need one & could submit something else. I had to throw a fit that time.). Weeks later, still nothing.

Because of my BOA relationship, I transferred part of my 401 K into an IRA at BOA. I also opened a cash management account. The broker/advisor recommended a ''conservative" bundle of diverse BlackRock Funds for the IRA and then just duplicated them in my CMA. No discussion or choices offered. BlackRock. Period. They were underperforming, so I researched them, and the funds have high fees, don't preserve capital, varying degrees of risk, etc., etc. Not really "conservative." Lousy in every category. One hasn't covered its own fees in three years! Supposedly, these ME guys are licensed. Found out that as my accounts were "managed" I would be charged $75 a trade!

I had no plans to start an account with Merrill-Lynch but was introduced to better offer through an adviser who said he can get my money out faster than to issue me a signature guarantee medalion; this is where it began. I had changed my address from my last investment firm which I had planned because I was moving. In order for me to get any funds out I had to wait 30 days or have a signature guarantee card issued from my bank. I was referred over to branch officer to discuss this issue. He had recommended that I switch over to Merrill Edge account so I can receive my funds faster, 2 to 3 weeks tops. What a mistake!! So far it's been over 30 days and they are holding all my money from my transferred check for another 8 days until any money can be withdrawn. 90 days until I can receive the full amount. FRUSTRATED AND LIVID. THAT'S ME, VIOLATED.

200 words will not do justice to what I am going to say about Merrill-Lynch Redding, Calif. But in general 3 withdrawals during the 08 crash. And 3 mistakes by Merrill-Lynch. My son fell on hard times, so I needed money for him. Asked the tennis player Merrill-Lynch employee who was a friend at the time, to take all Taxes and Liabilities up front to have no surprises twice. He listened well. The IRS came in over a year later and seized my business account for $1800 a month Fed & $1000. State for over 2.5 yrs in Taxes & fines because my so-called friends incompetence. Plus the manager there, Don called me 3-4 weeks later about my concerns. They Care. A $70K withdrawal costs me more than $50K. Stay away from Merrill-Lynch Redding, Calif.

In 2002 I lost everything. What was supposed to be a guarantee return or increase turned out a total loss. 1/4 of a million Dollars of my retirement was gone. 1997 to 2002 a M.L rep. single-handedly lost my retirement by enrolling me in high yield bonds that never returned even a quarter of my investments. Thus leaving me 83 yrs old, barely getting by having to have to depend on a service called meals on wheels to eat. My 73 yr old wife is still working up for retirement twice with the same company for 40 some odd years. Please can someone help. I'm not sure on the statute of limitations or how it would be possible to even just have a 1/8th of what was taken back . Please MERRILL-LYNCH HAVE A HEART... I Have nothing to show for my life and I trusted you... I still have every portfolio and all records if anyone could help.

I have been contacting Merrill-Lynch all week, by phone, fax and email and no response. I paid the majority of the money into the 401k, not the company, and by law I am entitled to that money. I have a 401k with Merrill-Lynch, from Teletech. I no longer work for the company and am trying to roll over my 401k to an IRA. Myself and the new company's financial advisor have contacted the ML phone # provided at least once a week for three weeks now and have faxed the spousal consent form four times and still every time I am being told it wasn't received. And the form just states I am single, and always been single. Fax machine states ok, verified phone # and now I am out 2 hrs. worth of pay in fax fees and still ML claiming form not received. Is my next action a lawyer? Do I really need to take ML to court because they cannot find a form? To me that is ridiculous but so is this runaround I am getting every time I call.

I closed my account with Merrill-Lynch in Kingsport, Tn over a month ago because Mark ** turned my account over to a Merrill-Lynch Edge account without my permission and I have been trying to withdraw my money for over 5 weeks and they just keep adding thing to that account so they can keep more of my money. They are nothing but a high paid bunch of crooks. Please people run from Merrill- Lynch because the outcome is very nasty!

Be warned!! Do not trust Merrill Edge reports. Their Target prices are a scam. They are inflated so that customers would buy the stock at a high price and keep their money in the account waiting for the price to go up! GME- Analyst stated Target price $56, I bought at $50... made a loss by selling at $38. SAVE- Analyst stated Target price $80, I bought at $60... made a loss by selling at $48. DAL- Analyst Target price $65, I bought at $49... made a loss by selling at $48. Slowly and slowly I have lost $450,000. Never again would I trust such legalized SCAM ARTISTS. NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH THESE GUYS... I WOULD NOT want ANYONE to go through what I have suffered.

Very poor customer service. I have been promised callbacks for several days in a row, and have got none. I sent many original documents and was promised to have them back in 2 days. They received them on October 21st and I've had zero correspondence. I finally demanded to speak to a supervisor and they were conveniently all in a meeting. After setting a deadline for a call back, before the close of business, my phone rang exactly at 5:00 pm (the deadline) and it was the same CSR that made all the promises to begin with, suddenly she was available. She made multiple mentions that the phone call was being recorded, and I'm sure that supervisor was listening in while she made even more promises to deliver good service. I'm now waiting for the call asking me to consider reinvesting with them. Stay tuned!

I completed an application for a CM account on 10/23/15, received an immediate email that states "In most cases, accounts are reviewed and opened within 1 to 2 business days." On 10/29/15, at the end of business 6:05pm EST, 4 business days later, I called the phone number listed on the email; "Need help? Call us at 866.867.6730, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week." I spoke to a male representative I spoke to indicate that I didn't complete the affiliations portion of the application (wrong, because I wouldn't been able to submit the application without answering those questions); when I explained that point to him, he then said that there may be additional information needed (wrong, because if there was an email would be sent to me once they make that determination; I confirmed via junk mail and inbox, that no email received), when I explained that point to him, he said that its probably still in review.

Submitted application for a hardship withdrawal from account. Submitted all the information, waited and did not hear from them. My husband called and they said they needed a itemized breakdown of the bill we were trying to cover. We asked why didn't they email or call and let us know that or told him that before and they said, "Well, you will have to resubmit it." So again, having to wait about another 10 days for them to review it and process it. We resubmitted it and faxed in ALL the information and called to confirm receipt... Okay, everything received.

My Merrill-Lynch advisor was hired by me during the month of July 2013. At that time the Dow was close to 15,000. Today July 25th, 2015 the Dow is around 17,600. So, the Dow is up over 2,600 points from July 2013. However, my portfolio is down six figures. I am very upset with Merrill and I am looking elsewhere at this point.

Terminate my account lousy customer service. When I terminated the brokerage account run by them they retaliated against me by terminating my self-trade account. They charged me for a third quarter fee, I only spent 2 quarters for that. It took me 3 weeks of phone calls with customer service to get my money back. Crappy customer service. They impose on you useless bonds, their return barely make 3% while they promise you 8-10%. They block some of ETF and mutual funds to trade without giving a reason. When you sell some of the funds early they charge you 40 dollars for selling early without justification, they don't follow up with customer for their brokerage accounts nor they respect your wish. They just lure you to deposit then charge you 1% + internal charges and fee for useless mutual funds and ETF imposed on you.

This company is full of lies. I closed my account and the first rude person I talked to stated that I would receive my initial deposit within 30 days, which was a lie. I called today to get an update on my deposit and was greeted by another rude Merrill customer service lady. I explained to her my issue and she told me that it would be 60 days until I get my deposit back. They hang on to the money as long as they can to collect interest off of it. Sad, rude company. Beware!!!

This company is not to be trusted. They lie terribly. I received information from them that my 401K would be forced out and I should make a decision by a certain date to roll it over with someone else. I had another company that I wanted to roll it over with, but Merrill Lynch gave me an excuse so they could force me out and cause my 401K funds to be taxed. As a result I received $100 less. When I complained to them, they offered to listen to the phone recording. They said it would take 24-48 hours to listen to them and get back to me with a decision. It took 3 weeks, and I had to keep calling them.

On 6/22/2015 the trustee of my trust fund held through Merrill-Lynch spoke with a customer service rep of the company in regards to closing the account and issuing a final check. The trustee was told the total amount in the account and was told to write the check for that amount and the account would then be closed. I received the check on 6/26/2015 and proceeded to deposit it into my banking account. On 7/1/2015 I found out that the check from Merrill-Lynch had been returned due to insufficient funds. The trustee called Merrill-Lynch on 7/2/2015 and was told by the customer rep of the company that he could not see a reason why the check was returned as the funds were in the account.

I have been a ML client for 25 years. I looked at my account yesterday and was astounded to see that my account was "blocked." Without any notice, none, I was informed (I called them from overseas) that ML Edge made a "sweep" of all accounts with a foreign address, will be terminated by August 1st! So the onus is on me to try and get another brokerage account and they'll help with the transfer. Stocks might not be transferable. This is an outrage. There is no recourse, you just have to manage to get another brokerage firm to accept your foreign address. By the way, I am an American citizen. I am stumped.

I am retired from the Kroger Company after 36 years. I closed my retirement account at Merrill-Lynch to put a down payment on a townhouse. After I completed the paperwork from Kroger and they sent it to Merrill Lynch I waited forty days and had not received the check. I called on a Friday and was told by a gentleman named ** that he would research what happened to my check and would call me back on Monday to give me the status. On Monday I received the check and deposited it into my checking account and did NOT receive a call back from **.

I purchased a 2001 Tahoe for 22,000 and after paying off a 5 year loan I finally received my title. My ex-husband, whom I divorced in 1996 and had a criminal restraining order against, broke into my house 3 days after I received the title and stole many files. He discovered the NEW title from the DMV and promptly applied for a title loan from WILSHIRE CONSUMER CREDIT. He had never been on title nor were we married at the time I purchased the SUV. WCC sent a mobile notary to a rural area in Riverside County and on the side of the road where he said to meet him. The notary notarized his signature and gave him a check made out to only him on a loan for my car!!! He then took the vehicle and drove it, lived in it for 5 months or more. When I was contacted by the REPO guys, I was told that there was a loan in default on it!

I just got the loan of $5,000.00 in April 2015. My first bill in May 2015 had a charge of $75.00, which I was told was an admin fee. I paid it in May 2015, my June 2015 bill came in with the same $75.00 fee. I called in and was told that it would be taken off so I called the same phone number again (within 1 hour) to see if my payment was still the same and my payment had gone up $75.00. I finally was able to speak with another agent, the last one hung up on me, was told that it would get taken care of. I asked for a supervisor and she refuse to transfer me to one. She gave me her extension so I could call her back in a 2 days, I did said invalid extension. I finally spoke to someone else cause it is now 2 weeks and no word or email at all, they finally connected me to ** and she put me on hold and said she forwarded to her supervisor, gave me her direct line, would send me an email by the end of the day showing that I would get a credit of $75.00.

Remember receiving the letter from Merrill Edge saying that ** is the financial advisor that I can go for help. As a result, I called him for help on my newly opened account; however, his unprofessional service really disappointed me. When I first called him, the first thing he said was "Who are you?" and he even asked "How did you get my number?" Without doubt, those questions are not supposed to be asked from a financial advisor. However, I decided to give him another chance. I called him a few days later asking for Option application. Still very bad experience. He told me he is a financial advisor and I have to contact someone else. To me personally, I will not call him for more questions in the future.

I have a Merrill-Edge account due to being a BoA customer and the ease of transferring funds along with a $6.95 commission. I also have an OptionsHouse account which I use for options trading which I've had since they were Trade Monster. When I opened the Merrill account I applied for options and after a few days was approved but only at level 1 (level 4 with OptionsHouse) which limits me to only covered call sells. So that was disappointment #1.

I got a title loan with this company for 1000 dollars in 11/2012. I was 7 days late with my payment in 2013 and they repossessed my vehicle. I never received any response back from the company about where my car was or how to get my possessions back. They have shady credit reporting practices. They deliberately removed the initial closed collection from 2013 from my credit report and filed a new one as their DBA Westlake on 5/09/2014. It hurt my credit score, double jeopardy. This company will screw you!

I was quite happy with them at first. Got my loan processed and approved promptly but boy the interest rate really hangs you. I have never missed a month of payment maybe a day or to late and they have been great. MY Dissatisfaction is.. I have sent in my loan Payoff check (all $2880 bank check) about two weeks ago through U.P.S and have a tracking number, to their overnight lock box. This week I see that they haven't updated my account as paid or settled!!! Instead they charged me a late fee for not making my April payment that was due on the 31st.

I have very bad experience with Merrill-Lynch trading services. Placed a trade online to sell my holdings on one of the stocks. The webpage shows the trade submitted, but it never got executed. Though it is market priced trade, it is very disappointing to see this and I lost lot of money because of the trade didn't executed. I had stop limit for one of my holding, this platform can keep those stop loss for 30 days, very short window comparing to other trading platform. Very bad experience and loss of lot of money because of the limitations & poorly designed trading system. I would advice any Merrill-Lynch customer to explore other trading platform, it is worth to spend couple of dollars for each trade and get working system.

I signed up for a wealth management account and am very dissatisfied. The adviser never told me that I am paying high expense ratios for my funds. It looked like I paid about 2% total. He bought me several funds. Looking back, what would work best for me is a small number of index funds, not the 20 or so non-index funds that he bought for me. I have about a dozen other complaints but they all pale compared to this main complaint. I will be happy to describe these other complaints.

I'm having trouble getting my lump sum retirement check from The Coca-Cola Company through Merrill Lynch. I recently had to retire at age 58 to care give full time for my husband who has advanced stage Dementia. Needless to say I wasn't prepared to retire yet so I needed the check as quickly as I could get it. I did everything way in advance to get the check one month after I retired but now Merrill Lynch tells me that I have to wait another month to get it. Why? They tell me it wasn't processed in time. That is not my fault... I had everything in on time. And I got a letter about two weeks before I was expecting the check stating that everything has been received and processed so the check would be cut the first of the month. That didn't happen.

Mother passed away on 10/2/2014 from a fall in the nursing home. She was 86. On 8/15/2014, mother went with her children (me and my sister) to an attorney, to finalize her will, wishes, and last testament, which included revoking a revocable trust, which was no longer necessary. Merrill-Lynch held multiple accounts for my parents over the years. My father passed away in 2013, at same nursing home from Alzheimer's, and left retirement accounts and estate to mother.

I use Scottrade for over 3 years and suddenly an idea came up opening a merrill edge since I have Bank of America account... It took me 3 months opening an account with faxing several documents, proving I am a resident of USA, another passport copies, more papers, phone calls... I finally get approve after they believed that I live in US. :) Then when I say good and want to invest it took me another several phone calls and emailings about funding my account... I am sorry but this company looks so fishy and they even give me my password on the phone, my account was not accessible with my password even I tried correct... Something is not trusty and easy, I couldn't find it useful.

I had a wealth management account which should have provided a higher level of professionalism. This account I had for 1 1/2 years and I decided to close and switch the account to an Edge account which is self directed. I was not happy with the types of investments. I filled out an Edge application and faxed it into their office after speaking to numerous offices that did not have a clue on what to do. They told me to expect one week on the transfer which was identical to my existing account. Three weeks later nothing was done and they claimed they had called, but it never showed up in my voice mail. I had made numerous calls and everyone said to be patient. Not anymore as I transferred my account to another of my brokerage accounts.