Charles Schwab & Co. Reviews

a. I requested an international wire transfer from my Trust Brokerage account to my Caxton account ($9200) on 7 April 2026. I've transferred between these accounts in the past (2020 and 2025); they have been previously verified and are known to be legitimate (not fraudulent), and did not need to be re-verified. I included these previous transfers with the original wire request to illustrate this fact. Yet, over the course of the following 5-6 days, on four separate occasions I verified the transfer details with Schwab’s wire department on the phone. 

On 13 April 2026, an agent in the wire department refused to send the wire and she referred the matter to the 'fraud department' which, without my knowledge or permission, shut off my account access via the Schwab app and the website. I've been making nearly daily phone calls since then; I spoke to several supervisors... none are able to help. To substantiate ‘deleterious results’, in addition to the obvious harm of being shut off from the funds I need to pay for daily living expenses, the following is Duly Noted.

(1) I’ve been in Mexico for five years; the US Embassy closed seven years ago and it’s been ‘open season’ on gringos ever since. The cartel stole the land I paid for and the house I built there; they stole all my personal & intellectual property; they stole the contents of my bank account and they’ve sent assassins to kill me on eight separate occasions.

(2) I’ve been moving house every three months for the past two years, but each time I relocate, the cartel finds me, so I decided to leave Mexico and for this I needed to pay for a private security escort and a charter flight, as well as living expenses in Costa Rica. Hence, my transfer to Caxton which would allow me to pay for these services in either MXN, USD or CRC.

b. The 'fraud' department said I must send a notarized Letter of Instruction/Authorization (LOI/A) to 'verify my identity'. I sent that on 29 April. Then they changed the goal post, saying I had to fax them a copy of my passport; I had offered to do this three weeks ago, when this fraud against me began - I was told that wasn't enough and I must get a notary to verify my identity. 

c. I faxed them my passport on 30 April. Still they did not send my wire and they did not restore my account access. On 1 May, I asked yet another supervisor to intervene and I received a 3rd party acknowledgment of the faxes indicating they would take a minimum of 3 business days, but up to 30 business days to unlock my account. 

d. Once it became clear that no one – not even supervisors or managers could intervene to stop the crimes being committed against me under the guise of protecting me from suspected fraud, I called Schwab’s CEO's office but the entire office seems to be vacant; all calls go thru to voicemail and no one responds to the messages I've left. 

e. I've recorded several phone calls as evidence of this unwarranted commandeering of my assets and account restrictions which prevent me from transferring money, downloading trade confirmations or statements and paying my Schwab Amex bill. 

f. In the meanwhile, I'm in Costa Rica with no money to pay for rent, food or transportation costs. Schwab insists this is 'for my security' and to 'protect me against fraud', but will not reveal the nature of the suspected fraud. Moreover, to illustrate these unsubstantiated claims of 'suspected fraud' are frivolous, and are themselves, fraudulent, I was able to place several trades (~$40,000) in my brokerage accounts over the phone during this time that my accounts have been placed on restriction and my access online is blocked, "for my security", of course.

To the Criminal Outfit at Schwab: That's the thing about LYING... you must ensure you stay consistent...

8 days ago, Charles Schwab has randomly locked my online access while I was simultaneously locked into my account AND on the phone with a human representative at Schwab discussing why a straight forward Schwab-to-Schwab cash position transfer would not work due to a dead "Submit" button on their website. While I then thought, the representative was helpful, and I could execute the transfer after logging out and logging in again, I did not anticipate that Schwab would lock my account after I logged out.

For now 8 days it is impossible to reach someone at their cybersecurity team to confirm my identity and to figure out why my account was locked in the first place, despite never having entered my login credentials even once wrongly. In the meantime the original investment opportunity I wished to execute withing a few minutes is gone, and Schwab has cost me a substantial amount of money in opportunity costs. While waiting to eventually reach someone at Schwab I am exploring Fidelity's brokerage interface. Schwab has lost my trust and now seems to force me to pull my retirement accounts out of their brokerage to reinvest with their competition. Could it be that this type of shenanigans is the true reason for Schwab struggling?

I know I would never suggest for anyone to use Schwab, I was with TD Ameritrade and the merger happened after the break in at TD Ameritrade brokerage account. Well I have been in this account since 1998. 28 years and no respect, DO not trade or use them as your BROKER!!! You will be sorry, and the funny thing is they are charging me interest in my account that has cash and called it a loan on my money. LoL Schwab has lost my business, respect, and they have no integrity!!! Do not use them!!! And this all happened on my birthday. Thank You Schwab for costing me a round trip and never told me I had an open order that would of cost me a 4 round and would never be able to trade in their accounts!