Charles Schwab & Co.
101 Montgomery Street, San Francisco, CA

About Charles Schwab & Co.
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Charles Schwab is an online brokerage firm that offers a wide range of services for new and advanced investors alike. It offers stocks, bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), options and precious metals, with a $0 account minimum and $0 commission for stocks, options and ETFs. Customer service is available 24/7 online or through the mobile app, with additional in-person assistance at over 300 branches across the U.S.
Overall Satisfaction Rating
- 5 stars
- 4 stars
- 3 stars
- 2 stars
- 1 stars
Pros
- $0 account minimum
- Fractional shares as low as $5
Cons
- Minimum $50,000 balance for tax-loss harvesting
- No spot trading for cryptocurrency
Bottom Line
Anyone can get started with a Charles Schwab investment account with no account minimum and $0 commission on many trades. It even offers cryptocurrency investments through special ETFs and coin trusts. Those looking for tax-loss harvesting strategies to save money will need to invest a high amount.
Charles Schwab & Co. Reviews
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I opened online Brokerage and checking account on 12/ 21 /22 and funded the account confirmed and few days later representative said my account needs to be closed. They would not discuss other than check with ChexSystems. I got my report from ChexSystems and also talk to a representative if there was any negative report on file and they confirmed there was none. But despite that Schwab refused to discuss any further. On 1/3/23 I called per their email and requested to close the account. When I spoke to representative to close my account even he could not believe as to why Schwab want me to close the account.
We are Sr.Citizens who need conservative management. She overweighted us in aggressive, overvalued funds instead of staying with the market. She put us in bond funds with the feds aggressively raising rates. She invested in High turnover and high yield bond funds in a taxable account. She paid no attention to market conditions and we paid dearly. Schwab must have agreed because they refunded fee's but after we lost Thousands. Stay Clear.
I recently came onboard, after searching high and low for beginner investment accounts, to handle my small inheritance, and gain interest over time. But Schwab apparently wasn't the right vessel. Because after creating a new brokerage account, my email got spammed with incessant messages to repeatedly verify my account, on top of marketing offers, and whatnot galoot. Then when I did verify, the deposits their system supposedly made from my external bank account didn't show up anywhere, despite the lame message in my brokerage account, to click on the dumb link provided. Which only took me to another page, asking me to do the same thing. Speaking with a rep. did me little good. They just filed a Tech ticket, stating they'd "look into it" Omg whatever. I'll look elsewhere for investments!
Schwab will not reimburse ATM fees like they advertise. While I have been overseas, but still in a country that has USD as the national currency and is the only currency used, they have falsely claimed the normal ATM fees are currency conversion fees and refuse to reimburse me. They state, as if it were fact, that I made a mistake and chose an additional currency conversion fee and I need to be more careful, like I'm an idiot who doesn't know what I'm doing at the same bank ATM I've used regularly since 2019. Even though I have repeatedly told them there is no currency conversion because my account is in USD and the national currency of the country in which the ATM transactions were made is also USD, they refuse to do further research. Oddly they were willing to look further into it back in 2019, when I initially encountered this problem, and have correctly been reimbursing me for such transactions up until last month.
The ATM receipts say nothing about a conversion fee. It's clear as day that it is a normal ATM fee and no currency conversion took place. A quick Google search will even show that the national currency of the country has been USD since 2000. Yet, they refuse to look into it further. Customer service has really gone downhill within the last couple of years. They are not even willing to try to think logically and comprehend that there would be no currency conversion ATM fees for my Schwab withdrawals in a country with USD as the national currency. Also they ignored my messages for almost a month. I used to recommend this bank to everyone, but now I will no longer do so.
Charles Schwab bought TD Ameritrade, where I have my 401k. They decided they didn't want any 401k's that also had Roth contribution options in them, so now I have to go through the expense and hassle of transferring my 401k to a new company that isn't them. There was no option provided for staying, just a don't-let-the-door-hit-you-in-the-rump on your way out. It was like neither company had any interest in keeping me as a customer or recognizing the incredible annoyance and time-suck involved in changing the 401k plan to another company. If you want a Roth contribution option in your 401k, or you'd like to work with a company who isn't just going to change things in a signed agreement that you had because of their whim and say piss off to you, you should not bother to look at Schwab or TD Ameritrade.
Had a bad experience with a representative on the company on the phone. Needed to open an account to buy six figures in T bills. At the meeting was given laptop (have never used) without a mouse! Then told this was taking too long so I was left to complete the account opening myself and was told to leave the bank checks at the desk. Just left after spending twenty minutes with the branch manager was was genuinely upset at what had taken place. Doors had been locked when I was ready to leave which visibly pissed off the manager. A joke.
They tell you that they have processed your request when they have not. I recently changed places of employment and wanted to consolidate 401k in my new employer's plan. They kept telling me for over a month that they had sent the funds over to my new 401k but did not. I just got an email from them today saying they were processing it. When I had called and spoke to them they said it was already done and that the problem was with my new 401k provider. They lie and tell you what they think will get you off the phone the fastest. Would not recommend for anything. I feel that if they would lie about the processes then they would lie about anything.
I have tried to get Schwab to recognize my late husband's will with a Beneficiary Designation form that is recorded and signed. They say they do not have a Beneficiary Designation reflecting his wishes and that I will need obtain a court order for them to distribute according the will and willing to provide me with the contract my husband and Schwab agreed to. I have offered to provide emails and hand written instructions to the law firm, Valensi Rose, and the signed and recorded instructions in his will. They are putting the onus on me, Jerry's widow, instead of acknowledging that perhaps they did receive it and it did not get filed properly.
As I am dealing with the death of my husband of 32 years, Schwab is proving to me they do not operate with any sensitivity or even willing to examine the many forms I have offered indicating that my husband wanted his grandsons to be beneficiaries. Now is not the time to complicate complex matters even more for me as I struggle with the loss of the love of my life. Stay away from Schwab is what I recommend. Proving to be pretty heartless. Connie
3/30/2022. It is the worst of the worst bank in the whole universe. From 2018 the bank regular staff, supervisors and local branch made non stop mistakes providing inaccurate phone customer service. I always wrote down the name of the staff I spoke to. Even today it was Kalsey who closed my account without my authorization. I asked her if mailing a cashier check balance to me would close my account? She confirmed NO. Wrong! Liar! My account was closed. That bank cannot be trusted. Be aware and do not open an account. One star is too much for that mediocre bank of my nightmares.
I have an account with Schwab- a wire was incorrectly sent and returned. It is 5 days later and Schwab still has no idea where my money is- how can you deal with an organization that operates like this? I have been ran around from day 1 when I requested the reverse the wire which they refused. I would suggest dealing elsewhere- I had to give one star since 0 was not an option.
Well, they stole over $600.00 from me and when I caught it just minutes after they did it, I was placed on hold for 45 minutes of 85 minutes it took to solve plus I have to front the money that goofball made in over drafting my account. I only have 2.4 million with them, but it is not leaving because they can't do simple math.
I made a mistake on my CS app and complained that my 100K deposit wasn't posted. Called customer service. They put in hours called my National Account Rep who put in hours to clear it up. I put the wrong check image on the app deposit system. The help I got was outstanding by NR Kane.
I suggest Schwab better educate their associates on transactions or provide reliable and available experts in transaction areas. I recently called the toll free number and the associate was not knowledgeable about a transaction to transfer funds into my Schwab account. I was put on a 10 minute hold, where I'm sure they asked someone else what I was talking about, and my answer was: "I'll send you the form." They couldn't explain the procedure and why I needed a blank form that Schwab was supposed to execute and send. I was transferred to what I assume was a "more knowledgeable" person who had no idea and put me on a half hour hold. At this point, I knew I was being passed on not to answer my question, but to get rid of the call. Finally, I wised up and called the Schwab office in my hometown. They knew exactly what the procedure was, promptly executed the form and forwarded it to the third party to complete the transaction.
Trades have no or small fees. You can build your own portfolio or use a advisor and let them do all the work for you based on your final goals. Financial advice and explanations of what different investments types are all easily located with the web site tools as well as research reports on companies or investment funds. It is easy to complete transactions yourself and when you need assistance they are only a call away and very polite and helpful. Security is also a high priority.
I recently deposited a 401k roll over check into my account. My account was suddenly suspended for suspected fraud!!! They’re holding on to MY money!! I chose to do business with them because of the excellent reviews I’ve read but my experience hasn’t been so pleasant. I don’t know why they’re still holding on to MY MONEY and giving me the runaround. Be warned!
This company sucks. If I were you I would pull your money ASAP. In a bind and want to borrow against my 401k. They have had the pay off for my old loan for a week. What the hell takes so long to punch a few buttons on a key board. This company has cause the failure of many aspects in my life due to their snail's pace of what they like to call work. I will be pulling every penny of my 401k, my children’s savings and my whole family will be pulling their money out too. I suggest you do the same.
It would take forever to explain all the problems we've had since depositing my husband's 401K with them in an R.O.B.S. rollover earlier this year. It was supposed to be for only a year or so until we firmed up our business plans. With the pandemic and insanity going on, things got put off. Anyway, this review may seem like it goes on forever, but I can't even begin to complain enough about all the many things I detest about Schwab. I wish we'd been able to see all these other reviews before then, but Schwab was the place recommended to us by our R.O.B.S. provider. We were immediately told that we could use their "Intelligent Portfolio" to have our funds managed, which was a huge relief since we knew zip about investing, and I personally liked it that way. I say we knew zip, but I knew LESS than zip, and had no desire to try to "manage" our own portfolio!
So, just to keep this as short as possible (ha ha), suffice it to say it turned out - after WEEKS turning into MONTHS - and after many attempts to get enrolled, that - "oh, what do you know, you aren't even eligible for our 'Intelligent Portfolios' program after all." WHAT?! Meanwhile, we all know what the market was doing during the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021. It was RECOVERING, that's what. While our little 401K was sitting there doing NOTHING. Thanks a lot, Schwab. And thanks for not returning our calls or getting us the help we were asking for. No telling how many thousands of dollars your indifference cost us! But WHY? Why tell us we could have our money managed when we could not?! Then we were told we could have it managed for a fee, but again, we weren't sent the papers (until too late) and nobody helped us further with it. Again, until too late.
So, I, stupid as I admittedly am, thought, "hey, the market's just going up, up, up, everyone says it's an incredible bull market (whatever that meant) and I might as well choose some places to park the money so at least it'll be able to take advantage of it." First order of business was to figure out what a ticker symbol was. Then I thought, "hmmm... so I guess I should buy stuff that'll be opening up again soon. Like, maybe Disney and movie theaters and hotels and restaurants. Stuff like that." Duh. Little (oh no, less than little) did I know about things like timing and dips, etc. I only knew of one kind of candlestick, & they didn't open or close or march up and down charts. They sat in their holders where they belonged, period.
Needless to say, I began this great idea right at the time volatility set in, and within a few weeks (or less, I can't even remember now!) our funds had dwindled by over 4%! I wasn't trying to "play" the stock market and I hate gambling. I was just frustrated that Schwab refused to help us and upset that our money wasn't able to take advantage of the bull market that EVERYONE seemed to be experiencing then. I just got flustered and did the right thing at the wrong time.
So, all those symbols and charts that had swum meaninglessly before my eyes my entire life all of a sudden became imperative for me to learn. I became a maniac stock market chart student non-stop for the next few weeks, just leaving our losses to stew. I had no idea what a meme stock was, but boy howdy, I knew what IMAX & AMC were, & had initially invested in both, figuring the theaters should be opening soon. And you can guess the rest, at least regarding AMC. I bought Disney at its all-time high. Who knew? (Certainly not me!)
But panic is a great incentive, and I became a more-than-willing student. And if I'd known nothing before, it didn't take long to figure out there were too many gurus out there happy to relieve us of more of our money. I may be stupid, but I am old and experienced at getting taken. So at least I had that much going for me. I simply studied any free material I could get my hands on, but studiously avoided Schwab's online advice out of sheer spite. Hadn't noticed it before and no longer wanted it. In a month, with some more mistakes and some plain luck, I managed to build a diversified portfolio of stocks and ETFs, while trying out Schwab's mutual funds. (Mistake. Mutual funds in general, I mean. IMO) And slowly built the fund up quite nicely, although it was still in the red.
And then what happens? We FINALLY get the promised call from a Schwab advisor. Nice young man who finally sent us the paperwork to sign up for Windhaven and whatever the other one is called (for a fee, of course.) But by that time we'd brought the balance back up to within 1.7% (still volatile, but trending up) and started wondering why we'd want to pay them to install our funds in passively-managed ETFs tracking the exact same indexes we already had them in?! We were considering handing over most of it, but keeping out at least 100G to invest by ourselves.
However, soon my husband received an email from some advisor we'd never heard of, telling him he was "squeamish" about the investment choices we'd made. That was about the time our fund had surpassed what we'd originally deposited with them, and I was still plenty bitter. Never once was there an apology for misinforming us from the beginning, nor even a slight admission of their negligence. Soon after that we received a call from the same nice young man who had finally sent us the paperwork.
We listened for almost an hour as he excoriated us. Apparently he'd finally bothered to look at our portfolio, and decided we were plain nuts. Yes, I'd made some huge mistakes in the beginning and admitted to them. But he continued telling us not only that he disagreed with every stock and ETF we'd bought, but that he just knew we were compulsively gambling and getting "endorphin" fixes every time we chose a stock to buy. And I could go on and on with all the things he lectured us on, but won't (for a change). I will say there was a VERY helpful young man I met on the chat named Spencer. He continued to email me and called to assist us with setting up Schwab's ridiculously laborious specialized trading platform and tools ("streetsmart edge"). He is the best person we've met there yet. So at least there's that.
As soon as we figure out where to go (which may be a while since I'm still learning technical chart analysis at the moment), we will be moving our money out of Schwab and will never look back. The thing is, we know we need to make up for all that lost time, not to mention money, and this market won't last forever. I've finally learned how to manage through the volatility, and got brave during the 2 May mini-crashes and stocked up on cheap ETFs (like QQQ, SPY and HNDL), so we're doing well there. I'm taking advantage of every oddball thing that comes along, and although I still don't understand or agree with all the meme crazes, we did quite nicely thanks to the recent AMC short squeeze. (No, we aren't holding anymore, thank God!)
I wish someone had warned us, but hopefully somebody else will heed this and the other recent (I mean, THIS YEAR already!) reviews, and just stay away from Schwab. From reading others' accounts, it appears that Schwab was OK until the last year or 2. Too bad they couldn't keep up with the times very well or at least learn to adjust. No way their CUSTOMERS should have to pay for that, though!
This is the worst bank. The checks that I wrote from my other personal account to open a new account with Charles Schwab have cleared. My other schwab told me that they cannot have the funds available for more than a week. This is ridiculous. It's a mistake of opening account here and their customer service sucks because they put you on hold for long time and then after that they talk about the personal stuff keeping you on mute. Such a bad experience in a mistake of my life opening a account with Charles Schwab. It's too late for me now. So make sure you don't get screwed. Even their customer service verified the funds with my other bank that got cleared and still hold my money. I will eventually close this account once my money gets posted and won't ever do business with them. Beware.
They were hired to be co-trustee of our family member's living trust. Our family member died on January 4, 2021 and still have not finished the estimated taxes and closed the trust down. They never once reached out by phone or email to myself and family to keep us informed and updated except when we called and inquired/complained. I was told by the representative I spoke with for our trust that it usually takes at least 6-8 weeks to close it down. Then they said 10-12 weeks, then 3-4 months. Finally they are just saying, "in the coming weeks". They are dragging their feet. In the end, going through Probate would have possibly been quicker. I would never willingly have any trust set up or managed by Schwab ever again! Such a disappointment! Frustrating!
Already have a brokerage account and wanted to open a savings account. Long application process and uploading of documents. Waited 2 weeks and finally called after long wait on phone was told that it takes time and I would hear soon. One week later I go on chat and ask for update. I was told I had missing information and to submit whole new application! I cancelled application but am concerned about all my information on file. Waste of my time.
Terrible customer and unreliable website for trading. It took them 7 weeks to conduct a trade inquiry because of their website issues. Customer service rep called me today after repeated attempts to get a status. He was extremely rude and basically blamed me for selling the shares. So the risk was all mine and they waited 7 weeks for the stock to turn around so they can tell me you didn't lose money. Horrible experience. Moving to Merrill. Stay away from them.
I have been a customer for 8 years. Their customer service has become terrible, almost non existent. It is impossible to talk to anyone helpful or to do online chat due to long waiting times. If you do connect, they seem to be totally clueless. If you send an online message, you will never get a response. I inquired about bringing in new money to my account. Got no response at all 20 days later. You would have thought they would jump at the opportunity of a large new investment. I opened up a new Roth IRA account. 6 business days later it is still not active with no indication of why. I contacted the local CS office, & they could not help at all. Got through on chat, with the same result. "Sorry can't do anything. Just have to wait for Operations to look at it".
I opened both a Schwab checking and brokerage account in 2013. I never used the checking account feature regularly until 2019. I regret closing my Wells Fargo account and switching to this terrible company. I have had nothing but endless problems from day one, but in 2020 and now 2021, it has become inexcusably awful.
First it started with my card being randomly declined at gas stations, grocery stores, etc. for small charges despite me having more than enough in my account to cover it. Each time I reached out for support, no agents could explain to me why this was happening. It was not as if fraud was suspected. These were places in my own neighborhood that I regularly did business with. Instead they blamed their VISA batching processing system. Sure, okay. I've been banking since 1996 and never had that issue with any other debit card except this one. Any issue that comes up is blamed on the merchant or on VISA. They take zero responsibility.
When checking my balance I can never be sure what I actually have in my account because what is shown in the app does not seem to reflect what is actually available. I never know when my card will be randomly declined for no apparent reason, leaving me both embarrassed and at least twice now, nearly stranded without gas.
Starting in 2020, they no longer answered the phone. Chat is also nearly impossible to reach someone on. I have to call multiple times to be be able to reach a human, which then takes an average of 20 mins per phone call and 4-5 phone calls per issue to properly have my problem addressed. Agents say they will follow up and do not. They say they will look into your issue and do not. The mobile app is abysmal. You cannot even sort or search for specific transactions. I have never experienced anything remotely like this with any other company. This was not the experience I was expecting when I opened an account. I'm done with them. I'm tired of wasting time on the phone trying to reach a person and having so many endless issues. Bank anywhere else.
This is the worst brokerage I have ever used, and I've used most of them. There is literally no way to email them. You have to "chat" except the chat never connects. Phone calls take hours on hold and then hours more after they transfer you. Avoid this brokerage like the plague. Fidelity - great service - answers calls immediately. Etrade - can send messages so you don't waste time. Schwab - never lets you talk to a human. Seriously this company is the worst.
Any wait time to inquire about your brokerage account, and simple questions on fees and transfers takes longer than 2 hours. Not a one-off occurence either. Entire week of waits. Tread at your own risk.
For three months I have tried to reach a person to speak to regarding investment management for Expats. I have called many times, (on hold for 20-30 minutes, usually disconnected) I have messaged them on their webpage, I even called a branch office who transferred my call to the same 'on hold' experience. Why would you trust a company you can't reach with your life's savings and investments?
I have been a customer for 30+ years and for decades Schwab & Co has been the go-to place for small investors. The last 6-8 months has witnessed a steady record of poor experiences with this company. The trading platforms (Edge) works fine in a Goldilocks environment and most likely on a windows machine. If your computer is a MAC be prepared for a whole host of problems most of which are slowness and crashes if you go too fast.
For the week of January 27 and 28, 2021 during high volumes the system wouldn't process valid symbols like AAPL and GE and PBI. The computer gave faulty cash balances for a period of time. The phone system crashes and cuts you off. It's not possible to contact anybody. For over 3 decades Schwab and Co was extremely good. In my opinion I am witnessing a formerly good functioning company in a state of operational turmoil and most likely decline. For anybody serious in the equity business it's time to move on.
Charles Schwab is a very good company if you intend to trade a few time a day or less. You can reach knowledgeable people via the phone if there are issues or you have questions! However, day traders should stay away -- latency issues, servers going down, sometimes you cannot get out of trades (two times already this week). Unfortunately, it appears their systems weren't designed for scale. The growth in traders and trading volume has created an enormous problem for their IT and call centers.
As a Schwab client for decades, it's apparent that going from a discount broker to leading wirehouse today has eroded service. Outages-telephone, online failures e.g., are becoming more frequent. If this keeps up, core clients with high balances will look elsewhere.
Charles Schwab & Co. Company Information
- Company Name:
- Charles Schwab
- Year Founded:
- 1971
- Address:
- 211 Main Street
- City:
- San Francisco
- State/Province:
- CA
- Postal Code:
- 94105
- Website:
- www.schwab.com
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