Charles Schwab & Co. Reviews

Fast forward two years and we get a letter from the IRS stating we did not report income from on our taxes from the year we cashed out her 401K. Confused, I called the IRS and they said Charles Schwab reported the cash out but there was a difference of $20,000 from what we reported and what CS had reported and that we owed $14,000+ in taxes, interests and penalties! CS sent my wife one 1099 and sent the IRS a different one! They sent us a 1099 for the amount of the cash out and sent the IRS a 1099 with the cash out AND the previous loan amount. When I called Schwab and asked what the deal was the first thing they said to me was "this is why people shouldn't do their own taxes" to which I replied "well that's what happens when you send people the wrong 1099!" I'm no tax consultant but I'm pretty sure if a customer came in for their taxes to be done and that's the 1099 for they were given the outcome would have been exactly the same!

The sad part is when I explained how I had overpaid to cover for anything unexpected he got very arrogant and chuckled and told me "well you didn't do it right obviously." If I were in the same room with him I could have choked him on the spot which yes would have led to only more problems for myself... I then asked that he send us the 1099 form for that year and he said that the forms were on his desk and he would have it to us in a few days. Fast forward over a month later and we got the form, the correct form, the one that if I had received in the first place my wife and I would not be in this situation! Charles Schwab is negligent to say the least and if it were up to me they would be paying for all the interest, penalties and fees associated with our new nearly $200 a month payment to the IRS.

At this point my printer is fixed so I re-check which form I need, print it, fill out the whole thing and send it off. Again, two weeks goes by and I hear nothing. I call again and I'm told they couldn't read my husband's name. I spell out my husband's name, let's call him John Smith. The next day I get a call. They need to speak to my husband about "some of his answers". Really? He's overseas at this point, WITHOUT HIS ATM CARD, so they can't. I'm so mad I tell them to forget it.

When Hub returns home we go down to the branch office together. What an unbelievable waste of time! We're told the agent isn't supposed to have his handwriting on the form, so we have to fill it out ourselves again. There is no ID check. We could have been anyone at all adding an extra signer to an account. Probably didn't matter because this wasn't processed there. It was sent once again to Incompetence Incorporated.

Finally, after another ten days, I receive a letter in the mail. "We have added John Smitee Jt Ten to your account." WHAT? They've also incorrectly changed the spelling of the town I live in. I have banked with over 20 different institutions in my life and I have never, ever, seen such a level of self-assured young men screwing up. At this point we are still waiting on a correction, but after reading other reviews I'm very tempted to take my money out. I don't know what's happened to this firm but I have absolutely no faith that we will be able to use the bank when we need it most.

First, I will never open an account with CS. Secondly, will be contacting my attorney on Monday to file a suit against CS for lowering my CREDIT SCORE. Who the H-LL do these people think they are.

Bottom line - if traveling with Charles Schwab ATM card you may save fees but beware that you might have to spend a frantic day on your cell phone trying to straighten it all out. I'm not sure it is worth it.

The representative I spoke to at first told me someone tried calling me and perhaps my cell phone didn't get the message - all false, no one called. Then I was told I need to wait for a new card to be mailed to and that my "voice is being heard". Well, since this is an "awesome" travel card, I would urge people to look at opening a different bank account, one who contacts their customers when they basically cancel their debit card. I couldn't imagine if I was on vacation or traveling and this happened. Any other bank contacts their customers when they touch their account.

During my initial phone conversation with the Schwab agent Dorrit, she accused me of committing fraud. She had no business doing that. She did nothing to remove the freeze on my four accounts. In addition, I work during the day during normal business hours and wasted several hours talking to agents of Schwab after hours who were not able to help me. I do not have an office where I can have a private phone conversation during normal business hours. Your error was very costly to me, my business and wasted several hours of my time.

You held my business and over $1 million of my money hostage. You gave me no choice but to allow you to steal my money. I had to have access to my business account. I had no choice and I agreed to allow you to move the $8000 in order to protect my business. In my conversation with the Schwab client advocacy team I never conceded anything, much less the fact that these were not mine. The letter also states that transfer of all of my assets to Etrade will be complete on June 12. Today is June 15 and Schwab is still holding hostage $1,150.51 of my money. Another fraudulent statement. In summary, Charles Schwab and its agents acted with reckless disregard to my business, my investments and me. Now they tried to whitewash their actions with this fraudulent letter. They should be sanctioned by FINRA and I should be compensated for my time and their reckless behavior.

It is painful to express my experiences with the workers at the call center and even the local branch. I am writing this complaint because it is Saturday morning and I am still without the funds, because the package required signature and they did nothing to help. I had to call the local branch and request a check in the regular mail. I do hope this was done, if so I should have it here in 48 hours. I will be moving my account, I only hope these representatives wasn't thinking I wanted to rob them $2000.00.

It is now June of 2015 and Charles Schwab is STILL requesting additional information. Meanwhile, I am struggling to keep a roof over my and my daughter's head. Every week it is a choice whether to buy groceries or pay bills. Typically the bills win. This money should have been awarded to me nearly a year ago. Instead, we are forced to play whatever games Charles Schwab deems appropriate. They have a court order; there should be no question. I certainly cannot afford an attorney to try to get this money. Thank you, Charles Schwab, for forcing me to have to file bankruptcy. You disgust me and I will tell everyone I know about your complete disregard of the law.

In 2011 we decided to make a change because yes, one of our complaints, was the inconsistency in who was managing the portfolio and possibly our inability to communicate that we are not risk adverse and didn't consider jumping off a building in 2008 :). For some reason, and I am still not sure why, the local branch account manager who is not the "brains" for managing the portfolio, because that is how Schwab is organized, somehow started making investment decisions for us. This is going to sound like a complaint now and it is. He put us into a Lehman Brothers bond less than 2 months after my husband retired and transferred his retirement assets to Schwab. Let's just say it was over 30% of the money in his retirement savings. He also added some bonds to my IRA and while not as much, I lost it all in 2 of the bonds he recommended - don't even remember the names right now.

No conflict of interest here at all but the first (maybe 2nd) person that was our Schwab advisor was the person that did very well for us and we also had the best relationship working with her. I found her on LinkedIn and we transferred to Ameriprise where she is working and it was a BIG mistake - financially due to the fees and because this was not the same person that did such a great job for us before. I do feel we owe her for teaching us many things, including options and she did make a few great recommendations but most were not good or she should have advised us to sell. She wasn't watching the account and in 2013 which was a stellar year for the stock market, our returns, considering the risks we were taking, was under 9%. The only reason we did that well is because of the investments that transferred from Schwab - once we were assigned an authorized planner again before leaving. Lessons learned - we could be in much better shape now.

We transferred back to Schwab in Oct. of last year. The reasons? I have always used their research tools which to me are the best in the industry. Plus we still had a bank account (gotta love it - they reimburse you for all ATM fees) and kept open a very small joint account.

This time around, now that we are not in the accumulation phase but in wealth preservation, we are paying attention and with the advice of our new planner, I am trying to clean up the mess that was created in my IRA. I am still too young (and fortunately don't need) to withdraw any of my retirement accounts. We have a great person at the local branch that explained all the services available to us that we were never told about before. He is the one that will if we are not happy with our planner (but we are) will make a change and recommend either a different program or planner. We have a bond specialist that explained bonds because we didn't really understand them (another big lesson learned). We have an options specialist, and many others that support us and never once have I spoke with anyone who wasn't pleasant, made sure if they couldn't answer my question would get someone that could immediately.

The local branch account manager understands his role and doesn't try to do what is outside the scope of his job. I truly feel like a valued client while of course, the team we have has to comply with the corporate policies that personally isn't something that I like but coming from "Corporate America", I understand. However, we are free to take the advice or not and make our own trades - all included commission free as part of the Private Client program. Plus the fees are less than 1/2 what we paid at Ameriprise!

I read many of the issues people had, and while I am sure they are all true, I personally can say that nothing but good has happened since our return to Schwab. I am not typically a review writer but felt compelled to do this since this is a very important topic for us and probably to anyone that took the time to write on this site.

It was a little tricky to open an account initially; I couldn't get it to work online and it only happened after I called in and spoke to one or two people on the phone. Since then, it's been a pleasure to deal with the folks at Schwab in pretty much all things. Re. portfolio / brokerage options, they do allow for pretty versatile individual management and they provide the option of having someone manage your account, I think for a fee (not sure). They even have brokerage/checking linked accounts - a good alternative if you're fed up with making 0.x% annually on your checking account.

I will say that their 'cookie-cutter' IRA / portfolio management strategies confuse me, as the guidance I was offered seemed to mitigate risk and potential gains equally (the largest projected difference I saw between their investment strategies was a long term 1-2% disparity in gains), but their approach is one I would expect from a bank-affiliated brokerage that wants to minimize the possibility of people making bad decisions / losing all of their savings.

That said, the analytical tools they provide online are excellent, so you can quantify and analyze the potential gains and risks of your own strategies as well as their suggested portfolio breakdowns. Informed decisions are more likely to be good ones. In my experience, they're as good as it gets. There might be better banks out there, but I haven't found one.

We will now have to incur the expense and aggravation of moving a substantial investment from Schwab to another brokerage firm. While this may well be perfectly legal, I feel it is despicably unethical, especially in light of the increase in identity theft. If during a routine review of our account, Schwab came across information that they felt indicated illegal or fraudulent behavior associated with our names and accounts, they are morally obligated to share that information as it would certainly be a red flag that our personal identifying information has been compromised.

He is supposed to call me tomorrow but YESTERDAY just because I wanted to checkup on my new account, it won't allow me to log in. So I called. I was told the account is closed and that they don't ever release the reason. This reminds me so much of history on his the MOB operated in NY. They don't even know how much I was planning to deposit. What if I just won millions by chance and I'm looking to invest? Seems a lot of shady stuff is going on that they won't talk about.

Does anyone remember seeing anything in the TV ads by Schwab about "technical errors" preventing trades? No. Of course not. I have all the documentation from Schwab showing it supposedly "sold" on 12/31 and then again on 1/2. I have a recording from Schwab saying it would execute (sale) on 12/31. So far, Schwab is telling me.... "Sorry". I intend to pursue this.

I also use their PO Box. I was prepared to deposit over $100,000 and wanted to take advantage of their no fees for foreign transactions. But they declined me! I then opened a new banking account in the same area and with the same info, with only a small deposit. But this was not a bank that I intended to use as my primary bank, as I would have with Schwab. My primary bank is #1 or one of the most highest rated banks in the country, so why won't Schwab accept me? To me, this felt like discrimination.

reason for this and I never had a problem opening bank accounts. I have several banking accounts and a credit union. In fact, I used to be a Consultant for Schwab and I had to pass a month-long intensive background check before they could contract me. Maybe I need an attorney? This was the same branch that declined me twice!

Every year the capital gains Schwab gives me is less than what is reported on the 1099. The SEC stonewalls me and the IRS threaten me. Looked up Schwab's campaign contributions and it 1/2-a-billion to the republican party every 2 years! Then I heard complaints about the settlement date should be within 24 hrs. Hmmm? Then I was reading the Web of Debt by Ellen Hodgson Brown, J.D. Bingo!!!! Read about short selling (chapter 19). It is all about how your property is mismanaged. It is really worth the price of the book. The key thing is during the settlement it seems the broker "rents" at interest stock to a short seller. So say they rent your 100 shares of stock that you just sold for $10 a share xyz stock. The short seller returns to you 100 shares of xyz stock except they are now worth $8 a share. The broker pays you $8/share but reports to the IRS on your 1099 that you received $10/ Share. The thing is when you breakout the shares, the quantity and price differ from what is on you transaction page.

Then just last week I put up for sale 950 shares of stock. The next day only 2 traded!? I looked at the high and low prices traded that day and the share price didn't go high enough to initiate a trade. I emailed the brokerage and they responded it was an odd lot trade. (Shares normally trade in round of 100 called even lots anything less than 100 shares is called an odd lot.) The broker made it sound like there was a NYSE "odd" market. I told him to undo the trade or there would be big troubles. He DID do that. But obviously this trade was a dark market, back room.

Another book worth reading is More Money Than Good by Sebastian Malaby. He writes about how with these hedge, retirement and mutual funds trading million of shares at one time that the NYSE market makers can't accommodate those trades to a dark market was developed. Two of the three big players are Goldman and Morgan Stanley. Not only are market prices rigged but small traders are being clipped at every turn.

Maybe we should all get together and file a class action suit against the brokers, regulators, banks and depository trust co. When you sell only part of your position the short sell is driving down the price of your property. But then there are naked short sales where the depository trust co. makes duplicate or false shares. The short seller never actually owns the shares but the B of D all the same will allow him to vote as if he does which negates votes real owners make.

I asked what's the next step. They said to fill out paperwork. Why they couldn't send me those 2 weeks prior so I could start on them is pure incompetence. Anyway I send the papers once I finally received them and received confirmation they got the paperwork on 9/23/2014. They have the slowest mail I've ever heard of. Anyway, then they tell me I've only sent in the Roth ira and part of the 401k and told me I have to fill out the rest of the 401k part but that I should have my money for the Roth by the 26th of Sept.

The paperwork they sent me was the same ones I'd already filled out. So I emailed then to send me the correct ones or just take the email as proof I wanted to cash out. They sent me the correct papers then. I called yesterday to confirm everything. My Roth was to be paid by today and my 401k is to be paid by next Monday. Guess what... I still have NOT received the Roth. I wonder if this company is even legit. I've had nothing but headaches from these people. I've been separated 1 month from my company. Have tried from day 1 to get my money. They are incompetent, you get a different story EVERY time you call. Just save yourselves and don't deal with these incompetent jerks.

The fact is that the female Schwab manager caused me to have a loss of over $2 million. There is no question Schwab has employees, even managers who treat clients without respect and even prejudice. I removed my account with Schwab shortly after and used a different investment firm where I have always been treated pleasantly and professionally. Chuck Schwab I believe has no idea who he has under his payroll. If you want to not lose your money, my advice is definitely to stay far away from Charles Schwab Co.

When I pointed it out it took them nearly a YEAR to move on the complaint. When they did investigate they returned with the answer of, "It took too long, nothing we can do." I turned them in to the Ombudsman and told them I was going to after letting them string me along for nearly two years, the 'Client Advocacy Team' member was outright rude. It was me that lost 20K, spent two years calling to check on this, and ultimately they took zero responsibility for their lack of due diligence. I am moving my money out as fast as I can.

The swift action to lock my accounts has not been met with the same action to unlock my accounts. After emails, conference calls, sending over settlement docs and even concurrence from both attorneys pleading with Schwab to unlock my accounts, they still remain locked. I have been with Schwab for 2 decades and for the life of me cannot imagine why I am being treated with such hostility and capricious animosity from Schwab's legal team. I am appalled at the lack of attention and the complete absence of responsibility here and can assure you that my business will be taken elsewhere and everyone professional that I know will be informed of my experience with this institution. I have many friends that I encouraged to open accounts with Schwab and I will inform them that they face serious risk with this firm and will encourage them to move their accounts to a firm that respects and protects its customers.

I monitor my credit closely, and while I don't have stellar credit, I don't have any "negative information". In a way, I was almost glad they closed my accounts for the way they treat you. While the reps are nice (they probably have to be), both the phone reps and online chat reps push you off after being on the phone for a few minutes. I wasn't wasting their time with idle chat. I called a few times to ask important information about my accounts such as transfers, dividend reinvesting, and the like. No matter the method I used to talk to them, they would interrupt me after about 5 minutes with "do you have any more questions", and proceed to disconnect. Upon further investigating via google, it appears many other people reach the same conclusion. Unless you plan on having over 20 grand with CS, they do not care about you.

I think it's very unprofessional for a brokerage company to "cater to the rich". Although my accounts with the 3 other brokers are under 5,000, they treat me very professionally as if I was a client with over a million dollars stored with them.

Schwab claims that they do not receive the payment from the companies (through ACH) until well, after the business day is done on the payment date. I have checked with one of the individual companies and they absolutely guarantee me that the money is there for ACH transfer at the first moment of the actual payment date. Charles Schwab claims that ACH does not get that to them until WAY after the close of the business day. Which I have a hard time believing because when I had an Ameritrade account my dividend was always in my account first thing in the morning of the payment date. Same thing when I was at Merrill Lynch and other past online brokerages. Charles Schwab says that those companies "choose" to give me my dividend on the payment date because they "assume" they will get the money from the company paying the dividend through ACH. Schwab says they do not do that because the company may not pay the dividend.

As in Superman II, I believe it is, it seems to me that Schwab has that money in their account all day the day of payment and then they don't sweep it into my account until the next day. Who gets the interest on that money when it is in Schwab's general account on the payment date? THEY DO! I do not. And I do not have access to that money to trade on it on the payment date. When I have questioned them - I have gotten the same answer...well, that is the way we do business. They also say, gosh lady, we are only talking a couple of cents here - what's the problem? The problem is that they are making that "couple of cents" off of every account that receives a dividend over and over everyday. It adds up to lots and lots and lots of "few cents" when one takes into account all their clients and every stock owned that pays a dividend. I don't know, but it doesn't seem legal to me. It certainly doesn't seem ethical. But they don't seem to care. I like Schwab's trading platform and some of the other things they offer so I would like to stay with them but I want to know if this is a legal practice or not? They are getting richer at their client's expense!

I called and was told that my accounts were closed and was given no further information as they didn't have access to it. I asked if they would be able to stop the funds transfer that I had initiated on 5-29. I was told that it was already processed and the funds would be on hold until 6-5-14. I was then told that if I called back on 6-5 that they would send a check for those funds overnight. On 6-4-14 I received a letter explain that I didn't meet their "business model". So I called back on 6-5-14 and asked to have that sent overnight. The rep was very kind and expressed her apologies that I have had to deal with this issue and the yes in fact she would ensure that the check was sent overnight. So basically on 6-6 I expect something from either UPS of FedEx. Nothing came. I called back today 6-7 to find out if indeed it was sent and where to. This rep, again very kind, offered her apologies, said that it was sent standard mail. So here I am waiting for my money.

I was told by the fixed income desk that someone would call me within a couple of hours, but I never received a call. I did call within two hours, and was told that there was only one other bid to buy the bonds, and that they usually wait until there are three bids before selling the bond. However, there was no disclosure of this, and you don't know who the selling broker is until the bond is purchased. For all I know Schwab was selling the bond for another one of their clients.

I called back again after closing and was told my offer was rejected. But different than other trading platforms, Schwab doesn't let you see your offers and rejections in real time, and you have to call into speak to someone. As a result, you don't know what you are dealing with. Not only did I not receive a phone call, but was lectured by Schwab that my expectations are unrealistic. I think Schwab is unrealistic, and should disclose to the public that the coupon is going to the broker as well as the fees that we are paying, which in this cases amounts to almost $546. I don't know if Schwab is getting all of this $546 because I don't know who the seller is. So this is one really expensive brokerage fee.

On one account, I talked to a Schwab representative they threatened to close and I told them I had written a check on this account that hadn't clear yet and they agreed to honor that check. However, in the end, they didn't pay the check and it was returned. This is probably the first check I had bounce on any of my accounts in 40 years.

On a family estate planning LLC that Schwab gave me notice of closing, they would not give me a reason. I asked them if they looked at the deposits going into this account and they wouldn't answer. There is a monthly interest check deposited each month from a pawnshop and I asked if this was the reason, but they would not reply.

There is no illegal activities connected to any of these accounts - none whatsoever. They are causing me harm and refuse to give me a reason for closing the account. I'd like to know my rights and if there are others in this same situation. Thanks.

Charles Schwab refuses to abide by court order ordering the transfer of the stolen account to the felon known by them. Charles Schwab now states because felon had no signing authority, it wasn't his account so they can not transfer it. Charles Scwab said it was his account and allowed distribution of funds from fraudulent Schwab account to felon, trading on account and opening of account to which Charles Schwab made money on every illegal act. Charles Schwab was in receipt of stolen funds to which they made money on and then refused to report it or abide by court order as they benefited from the opening of the fraudulent account.

This last year, I made over $75,000 while investing through Schwab. I have never had any issues with Schwab and I would recommend them to anyone who isn't as stupid as half the people here. If you are in the beginning of your investing career or are interested in it, I seriously recommend taking some economics courses and reading what you get in your initial sign up package. There are some people in here that have had real problems that deserve to be on this site. Some may even be professional traders but a large majority of these people are just plain stupid.

Bottom line: if you don't know anything about finances and don't have a good understanding of how the market works and the difference between a "Market Order", "Limit", "Stop" and "Stop/Limit", don't trade. If you are a regular Joe or Jane and just want a good bank that gives you a decent interest on your savings, I would go with ING Direct. They offer .80%. This is my two cents and I really hope you all take it very seriously. Read the print on everything you get.

Eventually, I figured out how to log into my account online to find that I was losing money because my shares were going down. Shares you ask? I didn't even know I still had shares in anything. I thought I had liquidated my shares. I liquidated some right away because I needed the money. I waited to liquidate the rest in hopes that the stock may recover some of my loss. It didn't and I ended up liquidating at about $22 less per share than when I thought I liquidated. I'm not a person that knows about 401k and tax implications. I was taken for a ride for what seems like no reason at all. I talked to Kevin today at Schwab and he gave me a number to call. He said they have all 401k calls recorded. I'm going to call them tomorrow and see what I can turn up. I was lied to by at least two people and was never told that I had to sell the shares out of the brokerage account. I called a few times asking about that as well. I feel like I'm due the money I lost while my shares were sitting in the brokerage account. The phone call would clearly state my intention to sell the shares from the start.

In 1997, the stocks were worth 17 million dollars. I own shares of Cisco, Microsoft and Yahoo. I tried the transfer companies, but they do not have anything listed in my first and last name. They are requesting a social security number. I think if you contact the software people responsible for managing your relational databases, you should be able to find account through first and last name, and address. The address on the certificates is **. I know now that I was not suppose to use someone else's social security number on the account, but your customer service rep allowed me to use her social security number (SSN). I asked her if I could use her SSN and she gave her SSNl to the customer service rep. He allowed me to use her SSNl. The stocks have split a couple of times since 1997. I think the account is worth 20 some million dollars. I do not think that the stock certificates were cashed in, they would need a social security number to cash in certificates. I would really appreciate it if you all could take me seriously and get one of your relational database developer guru to find my account.

The stock certificates were given to my brother for safe keeping. After giving him the stock certificates, I called him the next day. He said what stock certificates like I never gave them to him. I immediately called Schwab and told them the certificates were stolen. I kept two or three certificates. I got the account number off of a certificate, and called in and reported certificates stolen. I do not have a lot and I really need my stocks. Please help me.

In November of 2010, we missed our first monthly payment. In December, we called to ask about how we could pay that in incremental payments. We were informed that we had to pay our December and November bill and any partial payment would be returned. We were also told that if we were waiting on a modification, it would be in our best interest to not make a payment until we heard back on that. Long story short, 12 months went by and it was May 2011 and we still had not heard anything. We decided to short sale the house at that point because my husband was informed that he would be deploying again in August of 2011.

We started into the short sale process. We were completely victimized by our realtor (whole other story) and the buyer walked. The sale fell through. When we called to explain what was going on to the bank, they had absolutely no compassion. They said that if we took it off the market and out of the short sale process, they would begin foreclosure proceedings. I asked about the modification. I was informed that we had to start the whole process all over again. But they said that it would not "halt" foreclosure proceedings, because they had "no control" over what that department does and it had already been referred to a lawyer. As a result, they will be hearing from our lawyer. I do not recommend that anyone get a mortgage product with this bank.

There are a lot of people with credit issues out there. So, is it only the wealthy who can make trades on the stock market now? I filed a complaint with the SEC on them recently. I will see what happens....

At a time when my personal economy could have used either the rental of the timeshare or the return of my $500, I find that they are indeed a fraudulent enterprise.

A new IRA account for my wife was opened online from our home computer in Iowa City, and funded with a transfer of an existing IRA from a major brokerage. There was no change in the name, address, email, or phone number or any other information associated with this account. The account to be transferred had been opened for over 15 years. This simple action started the following series of events:

- We received a form letter from Schwab indicating that they had trouble verifying my wife's identity and stating that no trades, deposits or withdrawals would be allowed until they could verify it.

- One day later, we received a letter stating that the account was opened and asking us to contact them if any of the information, as reprinted in the letter, was incorrect.

- Two days later, Schwab accepted and processed multiple deposits to the account totaling about $100,000. Checking the Schwab Web site, it indicated that all the funds in the account were available for trade or withdraw. There was no indication of any restriction on the account. This never changed.- Next, we submitted forms to Schwab to grant POA (Power of Attorney) to me on my wife's account and to my wife on my account. Schwab set up the requested POA for both accounts as requested.

- A Schwab representative from their closest local office contacted my wife to introduce herself. She made no mention of any restriction on her account. - We received the February statement on her account. There was no indication of any restriction on the account. - My wife received and accepted an invitation from the Schwab office to attend a dinner/seminar, which we both attended. - A Schwab representative contacted us to discuss fixed income vehicles.- On April 3rd, we tried to make our annual $6,000 deposit to the account via ETF, but we could not do so because Schwab requires up to two weeks before allowing a deposit via ETF. (Fidelity allows deposits immediately and only requires additional time to verify the information for withdrawals).- We sent checks to Schwab for IRA deposits to both our IRAs via our bank's Bill-Pay.

- On April 8th, I saw that the deposit to my IRA was posted the previous night, but my wife's deposit was not. After 15:00 CDT, I called customer service to make sure that the delay was normal. I was informed that the check had been returned via postal mail because the account was restricted. In subsequent conversations with Schwab representatives that day, we were told that:

b.) Schwab did not make any attempt to notify us that they had rejected our deposit because the Patriot Act does not allow it.

Schwab saw nothing wrong with their handling of the situation. They did not think that rejecting a time-sensitive deposit, without notification, was a big deal even though it would have cost their client over $2,000. They offered us no means of facilitating a timely deposit, would accept no culpability for the situation and never apologized.

Five days after filing a written complaint, I was called by a Schwab representative who reiterated their non-apologetic position, although he had no explanation for the conflicting information regarding the status of the account that we received from them. Nor could he explain why they thought the I.P. address originated in New Jersey. Clearly, either their criterion for flagging accounts is faulty or their processing is sloppy. He also claimed that they mailed out a letter to us to tell us that they rejected the deposit (the precious representative said that would be illegal).

But after five days, we still have not received the rejected check back or any notification of the rejection. If it had been mailed, as what they claimed, I expect that we would have it before now. I never heard a hint of an apology. Schwab's only apparent concern through all this has been their desire to justify their inexcusable handling of this account.

On the sixth day following the date they claim to have mailed the check, we finally received it. The postal marks on the envelope clearly indicate that it was received at their local branch four days after they claim to have mailed it. The letter accompanying the check stated that the check had been rejected because the account was closed. As I stated earlier, there was never any indication of this on their website or with any communication with them. We also just received the March statement for this account--again, with no indication of any restriction on the account and certainly no indication that the account was closed.

In order to make the IRS deadline for our 2010 IRA contribution, we were forced to re-open the Fidelity account which we closed to move the funds to Schwab. We have now submitted a transfer of account order back to Fidelity. Schwab intends to charge us $50 for closing the account even though they never actually opened it and refused the only service request ever made.

So I got back to the client, got cash, and Schwab said to deposit it in my other account, they would send the check back through. They did not, they lied. So the next week, I had a real nasty call from some self-righteous miffy talking nose in the air type—I am serious here, probably never had to really work hard for a living. I got a call my accounts were closed and I would be getting some kind of letter. When I called them, I expected them to tell me the truth. I was with them and instead, they played a real dirty game with me. I had taken all the stocks out, thank heaven, but there was a terrible set of losses associated with them.

Had they gotten the stocks to me in time after I had them given to me by a family member in mid-August 2008, instead of waiting—get this, five months to do so! They would not have lost tens of thousands in value. It has ruined my ability to do what I needed to do to keep myself and my credit intact. It was the most horrible experience I have ever had. They are in my experience gamblers with your money, your stocks, your credit - and certainly no bank with their horrible lag time in response. Someone needs to get at the root of them. Worse, they only have "banks" in only two states and it doesn't work when you have to move around, etc. It's a total disaster dealing with them.

I should have known. I was wary when I was being given the stocks, this is why. A woman I know, a private jet chef, one Christmas in the past ten years was on the Schwab's plane, and found out her brother in the southeast needed emergency heart surgery, and she asked to go and be with him. Instead, Mrs. Schwab fired her right on the spot. That tells what kind of people and bank and brokerage this is. Classic. I will never accept another check from a client from them or any instrument dealing with them in my business. Got it? My instincts were right on target.

After she sold me out from Charles Schwab offices, my computer showed that I now was short of Amazon for 1000 shares. I then called back. Again, I was told that I could get out and was asked if I wanted to close my short position. I agreed and then my computer showed that now I am long 1000 shares of Amazon. So, this went on all day, until I got completely frustrated and called and cussed out everybody at Schwab from the traders to the managers. At the end of the day, I got a call from Schwab telling me that they no longer want my business and that they are not going to do a thing about the situation.

We chose not to sell the AT&T stock but sold our Prudential shares and asked that the funds be sent to an external account. We were unable to set up the external account online per Chad because the brokerage account was too new stating that a voided check would have to be sent in. We provided the check and waited the length of time Chad told us it would take to get everything activated. The external account was not established and after more than a week, we returned to Charles Schwab and again talked to Chad. He said he would send an email to his corporate to check the status but that checks and a debit card issued on the Schwab account once received could be used to withdraw funds for the shares that were already sold.

We had not received the checks nor the debit card and returned to Schwab on August 9 to transfer funds to an external account. We were informed that the account could not be created because the verification had been stopped. We asked why and of course, Chad didn't know but again offered to send an email and call us with the status. A trip to the Post Office produced the checks, a letter stating that additional verification was needed to establish the identity of my husband, and the debit cards that same afternoon, August 9, 2010. I called and was told that the additional information requested was only on my husband and not me. We activated the debit card and received a recorded announcement that the account was now active but was unable to process any transactions.

We immediately called Chad who now tells us that Schwab now needs more identification on my husband although this information (driver's license with picture ID) was presented when we opened the account and we had sold the Prudential stock. When asked about the fund due us for the stock sale, Chad responded that the account was inactive because Schwab could not verify my husband's identity. Per Chad, a photo ID and a 2nd identifying document was needed. We asked if the same driver's license was acceptable and queried him as to what was required for the 2nd document. He stated an insurance policy on the vehicle would be sufficient.

We returned to the Schwab office requesting to know what the problem really was. Chad claimed he didn't know and was reading from notes on the account. He then said the information could be verified with Scott at a number he called by answering 4 questions. We asked Scott how Schwab attempted this verification. Scott advised that they were acting on information furnished by Lexis Nexis and Equifax. My husband was asked 8 questions because the person on the phone said he did not respond to the 1st set of 4 questions in a timely manner. My husband hung up the phone and Chad is now asking for a utility bill for verification claiming the insurance statement is not acceptable and that he needed the actual card.

My husband offered the vehicle registration but Chad insisted on a utility bill. My husband explained that he didn't carry a utility bill around with him and that his address was in another state and pointed out that this information was provided at the initial contact with Schwab. The stock was in both our names and we have sold this same type stock with both names appearing on the certificate and we each had different addresses. We also offered a statement from AT&T with the address on it where the certificates were mailed to and this too was rejected.

Chad refused to provide written policy stating that a utility bill was required by Schwab for ID. The conduct of Chad and the entire Schwab office was unprofessional, an invasion of our right to privacy and discriminative. Chad claimed this was all a requirement of the SEC but declined comment when asked if the SEC requirement was different for Schwab than other brokerage firms. This delay caused missed deadline for payment arrangements previously made, destroyed our credibility and we suffered tremendous mental anguish because we were treated as if we were criminals trying to collect our own money for stock that had already been sold by Schwab and the fact that they will not issue a certificate for the remaining shares of unsold AT&T stock sitting in the account.

July 13th, 2010 I called and spoke to Megan to make sure that everything was on target for the deposit to be made August 1st. She verified my banking information and told me that the deposit would be made on or before that date.

July 30th, 2010 I went online to my Charles Schwab account and noticed that a $7,594.92 withdrawal was taken out of my account on July 29th, 2010 which is the total taxed up withdrawal amount for two months. I checked my banking account to see if a deposit was made for $3,000 (as agreed) or more to coincide with the withdrawal information (as above). No deposit was made.

August 2nd, 2010 I again went into my Charles Schwab account and saw that the $7,594.92 was removed and $3,797.46 replaced the amount dated July 29th, 2010 as the withdrawal amount. No correction adjustment or explanation note is shown for this transaction change. No deposit made to my banking account.

August 3rd, 2010 No deposit made to my banking account.

August 4th, 2010 No deposit made to my banking account. I called Charles Schwab and spoke to Manny. He would have it checked into and someone would call me back.

August 5th, 2010 No deposit made to my banking account. I called Charles Schwab in the late afternoon and spoke to Brenda. She would have it turned over to Amy for review. I explained to Brenda that bills are due. If my bills don't get paid then my credit is in jeopardy as well as my integrity.

August 6th, 2010 No deposit made to my banking account. Amy called first thing in the morning (9:00 a.m.) and didn't have the answer because check processed out of Arizona and it was too early to contact them to find out the status of my check deposit and would be back in touch with me later today. I explained to Amy that this money is for paying my mortgage and bills.

I transferred money out of a savings account to pay my immediate bills due, resulting in loss of interest. I have lost money on the money taken out of my Charles Schwab account since July 29th as well. I want to know who has had my money since July 29th since I didn't. This money had value during this time. I should be compensated not only on the Charles Schwab account but also my savings account since July 29th. This still is not corrected and a second week is approaching. Someone did not do the job responsibly. I should have been called when a problem developed to advise me of a delay in payment.

My signed contract is clear that the deposit was to begin on August 1st not the week of August 1st or the second week of August. My confidence in Charles Schwab has been shaken and this kind of poor customer service is unacceptable. If I didn't go into my account everyday I wouldn't have noticed the withdrawal error on July 29th. How much longer would I have needed to wait for someone to call me about the delay in my deposit? Apparently someone doesn't have interest in my financial success and needs. I am still waiting for results and am sure that again this coming week I will not have money in my account and will need to withdraw from my savings again.

I spoke with Mr Charles ** (1-877- 7526500) in a Denver center on July 20. Mr ** said there were funds, the checks were good and there would be no service charges. The next day I got calls threatening legal action. Subsequent attempts at reaching Mr ** were futile and he did not return calls. Another Schwab associate -Shay ** -on 7/22 guaranteed that he would have Mr ** return my call but to no avail. I was also met with resistance in attempting to get an appointment with the branch manager (Jackie) at my local (Post Street - San Francisco) to resolve the issue. So far there has been no resolution.

They stated that it was not worth the time and effort to verify the stock certificate of a low-priced stock. Charles Schwab issued it to me eight years ago. Their name is stamped on the back of the certificate! I wasn't asking to "cash-out" or "trade," simply to add it to my existing Schwab account. Charles Schwab sent me to a third-party financial services company, ComputerShare, who could only offer to issue me a new certificate. There's nothing physically wrong with the actual certificate. I was advised to seek a broker who does not have this price limit rule on shares (certificates), an arbitrary rule, open an account, go through their validation process and then deposit and trade the shares as desired/usual.

It has already taken two days to get this far. Currently, I have one local broker, TD, checking on their policy and another distant broker, TR, willing to open and accept the stock certificates. It will take several more days to go through the process/mail. I couldn't help but notice that the stock price has tumbled and I just have to feel lucky for any monies that may come from this. It's a negative (loss) no matter what. Now, it's just damage control and fear of what new arbitrary rules may limit my access to my money and account in the future. Do I sell everything now at a huge loss just to get something/control out of my savings/investments?

The major account is a joint account. At that time, Schwab froze my accounts. I was told that I could sell stock, but any proceeds could not be reinvested into any new accounts. I hired an accountant to complete the required paperwork for the IRS. Fast forward 16 months and $12,500 in accounting fees, I received a letter from the IRS, but it wasn't the Transfer Certificate. It was the final estate tax closing document, showing in detail that I have no tax liens and do not owe any taxes.

I contacted Schwab upon receipt of the letter and forwarded it to them. Well, now Schwab does not want to accept the letter or release my funds. In addition, I was informed that I could have reinvested the proceeds of any stock sales. Not only I have no access to my investments, but I am out of interest income, too.

Now that I am more informed, the after taxed monies should have been put into a Roth or a trading account. Schwab indicated to me it would be easiest (for them) to repay the taxes a second time as they are too lazy to correct their mistake. This problem has been passed to 4 personnel so far and each one does nothing but suggest I get a financial planner to offer me advice on how to correct their mistake. The US government doesn't want the taxpayer to pay taxes on the same money twice. But Schwab personnel think this is the best solution, so that they won't have to correct their mistake.

When I inquired with Paul at Schwab’s Denver office, he claimed this was normal procedure and that my checking account was actually debited by the BillPay service to which Schwab outsources this function. So, the BillPay services collects interest on the float, in this particular example at least 4 days, since the recipients, even if they should receive the checks in Friday afternoons mail, will not be likely to cash them before Monday. To add insult to injury, I’ve had to replace the lost check (not lost at all as it turns out) to one of the recipients and asked her to void the original check if and when it reaches her. But to get my checking account balance to be re-credited with the face-value of that lost check, it apparently requires a call to Schwab Bank who will have to manually reverse the BillPay instruction.

To be precise, the majority of my BillPay checks are mailed and cashed the old-fashioned way, with my account debited only when the recipient cashes them. But some of them are, instead, treated as online payments which transfer the money not into the recipients account, but into that of the BillPay service which turns around and issues a check and collects the float in the process. Am I the only one to find this practice despicable? I’d be glad to supply more detail if anyone has an interest in getting to the bottom of this. Thank you for your attention.

I can not believe that they can just say what they want and threaten to close my account just because I do not feel that they have the right to pull my credit to use my money.I am not applying for credit here and the gentleman at schwab updated my information from a previous account and said sign here. I would close out my account today and will probably be transfering funds to another brokerage. As a consumer,should I have the right to refuse a company my credit report when I am not applying for credit.And doesnt a brokerage company have to inform me of my credit be pulled and not just say sign here after he updated my account.

I have received several different responses from schwab and they want to blame me instead of having a set of standards informing the consumer that they are going to check my credit.If I was informed of this before hand,I would never have opened an account with them.Instead they just stated sign here, your account has been updated According to schwab they only check credit on new accounts and the schwab representative stated that he was updaing my existing account. As an american if I am not applying for credit,how can a brokerage demand that I release them my private information.It should be outlawed and I want this matter looked into.

I have until september 30th or they will sell my account and send me back my funds. I am standing up to them on principle,simply because I want to know why I was not explained about this procedure before I purchased a stock.My account is frozen and I feel that I am being bullied. I do not know who they are but after talking with them I question there integrity. I was in the credit industry for years and when i said sign here to the customer,I was required to tell them by signing here you are giving us permission to pull a credit report.They were applying for credit and understood this basic principle.I am not applying for credit and I want Schwab investigated and for them to listen to the phone converstions that schwab said they recorded.

Do I have a basic right to not allow a company into my file?They accused me of having something to hide and I said that is the furthest thing from the truth.I just do not want an inquiry on my credit,especially when I am not applying for credit. Thank You,

I am currently down about 1000.00 on a stock purchase and to me that is alot of money.I also told schwab that if they do not want my business to pay me back my initial investment and I will gladly go someone else.I do not and will not let some one at schwab close my account without standing up for my basic rights.Sorry about the rambling but it just infuriates me.

I tried to see if a person could open a 401K without beneficiary information via Charles Schwab, and it was mandatory that beneficiary information be completed on the application. Charles Schwab is very difficult to work with and I have not been able to get anywhere with this.

I am afraid that even if I hire an attorney and present Scwab with papers proving Small Estate Heirship, that they will pocket the 401K anyway.

In February 2008 I made a payment of $25.00 bringing the balance down to $80.00. I didn't make anymore payments. In May I was notified that my balance was $184.52, that was including the late fees, in May I was served court lawsuit papers, June 25th I went into the store and paid them the $185.52 that was noted on the court papers. When I left I was told my account was paid in full and up to date. Last week I received a bill for $145.00, apparently it is the court filing fees, we never went to court! I don't think I should have to pay it unless I legally have to. I don't know what to do.

A year later my father had a heart problem that resulted in brain damage and he has slipped further and further into dementia which has required having him placed in a facility for the mentally impared. During all this my mother had another heart attack and a slight stroke that has left her in very poor physical condition.

In September of 2007 I took over all of their affairs. Getting control of the financial affairs required that I deal with eight banks, three credit unions, and four brokerage houses. With the exception of Charles Schwab this went as smooth as one could hope for. All were extremely helpful. But,Charles Schwab fought me every step of the way. Starting with refusing to accept my durable power of attorney and telling me that the only power of attorney they could accept was one that was done on a Charles Schwab form and went on to claim that it was required by SEC regulations and federal law. After that claim was challenged it was just one silly excuse after another.

As I saw it I only had one option. Eliminate the problem. While my mother is in poor shape physically, her mind and tongue are still very sharp. So I loaded her up and rolled her into Schwab and moved everything to a friendly broker who was more than happy to get our very large portfolio. People at the Schwab office seemed stunned that we would have the audacity to terminate them. Cost a bit, but well worth the money to be rid of Schwab.

I feel that schwab should do a little house cleaning in their vice president positions. this has given me cause to believe that if your high and mighty in the corporate world that you can just step on others. NOT this one. However, Fidelity Investments has stepped in and i now have the brokerage and checking that i need.

Just to let everyone know, Fidelity is rated higher and the list than Schwab is and their customer service is without question the best for a brokerage firm.

I had to rush changing my direct deposits back to my bank. And with me me being diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder because of being in iraq i became depressed for a few days, and was unable to concentrate on my day to day activities.I felt as if no one gives a crap about the small people in this world.

I opened an account with $50,000 and told Schwab to put it in a Money Market fund yielding about 4.5%. Instead they put the money in their Scwhab bank at slightly over 1% interest. I believe they put my money in a money market fund and pocketed the other 3%. This is truly a scam and they did it without my permission. I would imagine they are screwing thousands of people this way. Only a greedy, sleazy company would do this to customers. I've had an account with Fidelity for many years and have never been treated this way.

Schwab insisted that I open a Margin Account even though I didn't want it.

Margin accounts charge you exhorbitant interest on your money and rip you off.

Schwab also promised my 50 free trades for opening a new account and failed to deliver. You need to read the fine print. I didn't do any trades for the first 45 days because the market went straight down. The fine print said the free trades were only good for 45 days.

I argued the point and they were really nasty. Accused me of being a inept at market trading, and badgered me for not making trades. Threatened to cancel my trading software. Schwabs attitude was really amazing and obnoxious. They cancelled my account.

I've been a broker and have been involved in investments for many years.

Schwab is the biggest scam I have ever come across.

I'm going back to Fidelity. They are great.

I lost several hundred dollars in interest that went into Schwabs pocket.

It's my opinion that it was stolen from me.

I also lost 50 free stock trades.

And I lost the opportunity to make other money in investments during the two weeks it took me to get my money from Schwab and move it to another brokerage firm.

Don't let Schwab steal your money.

This has been their practice for years and they refuse to supply the state tax info with their 1099 forms, causing an unwarranted delay in being able to file state income tax returns.

According to the California State Franchise Tax Board, they are required to provide the info by 1/31. This year I talked to 3 different people, the first 2 of whom denied that they even furnished the info, while the 3rd stated that they were not required to provide it by 1/31.

As a consequence of their failure to provide timely tax information, I have to delay filing both my state and federal tax returns every year.

I started down the road with Charles Schwab Bank only to find out that the mortgages are handled by Cendant while using the Schwab name. It became only too obvious that I wasn't dealing with Charles Schwab directly.

The loan officer, David Daniels, that I worked with on the Good faith Estimate made plenty of claims how they could meet or beat any other companies' rates. When it finally came time to finish the application he asked for a credit card. I asked why and he mentioned that they charge $350 for the application if I don't close with Schwab. I hesitated and told him that I wasn't comfortable with a fee since no other lenders charge for the application. He told me about their Best-Price Guarantee which insured me that I would get the best rate or Schwab would send me a check for $500.

This seemed reasonalble so I proceeded with Schwab.

After completing the application, David gave me the name and number of his processor. I left no less than five calls with David after the application was complete and never once got a return call. I was so disgusted with this level of service that I felt compelled to get competing bids. Sure enough, I found two companies that had better rates. I decided to proceed with another company and made sure that I followed Schwab's policy and rules on the Best-Price Guarantee. The day that I was ready to lock I sent the competing Good Faith Estimate to Schwab to see if they would like to honor the quote and they declined and told me it was okay to proceed with the other company. All that I needed to do was send them the HUD Settlement Statement after closing and they would send me a check for $500. I followed their procedure and now they are reneging on their deal.

Since starting down the road with Charles Scwab Bank I have left approximately 17 voice messages and have only received 5 returned calls. I guess batting .294 % is pretty good by their books.

2/2/06 Hai Ramirez, a manager at Schwab said that my check would be mailed immediately. He asked me to follow up with him on 2/8/06 if I hadn't received the check. I left him a message on 2/9 letting him know that I hadn't received a check...no returned call. On 2/11 I received a letter from Diana Allain (Office of the President) stating why they can't honor their Best-Price Guarantee.

I'm out $350 dollars plus untold frustration and aggravation.

In the meantime, I'm writing checks and buying a car, as I think the problem has been taken care of. Again, I called a Schwab broker, who said he would send a check and not charge me a wiring service. How kind! As my checks starting bouncing all over, the insufficient fund fees piled up while the Schwab company assumed no responsibility. Johnathon Ramer offered me $60.00, as he said all of my charges (the charges I would not have had in the first place) had been waiived. I am finished with this company. When they're using your money, they're great. Otherwise, they'll leave you hanging.

Request re-embursement of illegal charge of $95.00

ShareBuilder has contacted Schwab four (4)times since March 2004; the last was April 21, 2004. Schwab advised ShareBuilder and me that I had to post $90.00 in servie fees to free the account transfer.

Funds in the amount of $90.00 were remitted and recieved my Ch. Schwab on May 17, 2004.

I just received another monthly statement (ending My31, 2004) from Schwab. I called to inquire; the account was never close, shares were never transferred and yes, the monthly fee is legit.

I have three accounts, IRA, checking and a dormant account from years ago. I asked them if they would close the dormant account, they said they would.

But..it didn't work out. They closed my active checking account and transferred the balance to the dormant account. I called to complain and got a name of a person that could help me. When I called her, she said that my account was really better the new way. At this point my only gripe was that I could not reconcile my checking account.

I have two direct deposits into my checking account. When the usual date for those deposits came and went without either of them, I called again. They said NOTHING COULD BE DONE but they would be happy to send me a form to forward to the depositors so they could change the account for the direct deposit.

Botton line, now I have a real financial delima on my hands since I cannot pay my bills! Again I called and again NOTHING COULD BE DONE.

And, in addition, I can't use my old ATM card and if I use the new one they sent, there are fees. Reviewing the new account setup, there will be a lot of new costs for me to do business with Schwab.

It has been a month from the start of this and I still do not have the physical checks so I am still in financial crisis.

Unable to pay my bills since Schwab bounced back the direct deposits.

It's basically a sneaky way for them to skim money off people's accounts and discourage people from moving their business elsewhere. I spoke with a manager at their complaint office and there is no recourse for the individual once the fee has been charged. They can get away with this because it's a small amount of money for each individual, but it undoubtedly adds up to huge profits for Charles Schwab.

As you might expect the tax consequences of this would have been substantial particularly since one of the accounts was a retirement account. We contacted the Executive Offices but they refused to help us or provide us with the information they have about us or our accounts. The only justification they gave is that we were unhappy with Schwab's service.

Apparently, Schwab reserves the right to unilaterally terminate accounts at any time in their account agreements. Please note that this all occurred over the Holiday season so you can imagine how much difficult it was to complete this in the time allotted. Thankfully, Fidelity was extremely helpful with the transfer. To literally add insult to injury, Schwab charged us termination fees for closing our accounts. We wanted to make sure you all knew about this so you can consider it in making your investment decisions and will not be as surprised as we were if you are subjected to the same treatment.

Hours of our time over the holidays and the risk of substantial tax consequences.