E*Trade Financial
Reviews and Complaints

My husband passed away 4.5 years ago. I have tried repeatedly to get help in either closing or transferring his accounts/balances. I've sent his death certificate and I’ve been on hold for hours at a time (once for over two hours) with never getting a chance to speak to a live person in the right department. I was promised by one person that he would have them call me within two business days, but never got a call back. This is truly frustrating.

Greetings all. I created my E*Trade account back in January of this year and have had a terrible experience. Yesterday (February 9th), I tried to sign into my account and I was told that I needed to call customer service. So I did, and I was told that E*Trade no longer wants anything to do with me and would send me a letter.

January 20,2022, I contacted E*Trade to find out why my Reserve Cash Account had a $0.00 balance. Kimberly Alexander E*Trade's Customer Service representative said she would call back once receiving an answer from the Fraud department. Late in the day Kimberly Alexander called back and explained the funds were transferred to Charles Schwab. I asked how that was possible without my consent? She suggested I close that account number and create a new one while the Fraud department contacts Charles Schwab asking to return the money.

On January 22, 2022 I logged onto the E*Trade website and saw the transfer to Charles Schwab with an additional $75.00 transfer fee.

On January 23,2022 I called E*Trade Customer Service to find out when the money would be returned. I was advised the request was made and they're waiting to hear back from Schwab.

On January 27,2022 I called E*Trade and spoke to Christian Alexander asking him the question "Why do I have to wait for Schwab to return the money"? E*Trade cannot show that I authorized the transfer. I asked to speak to a Fraud Manager and was told by Christian that they're too busy.

I paid into e-trade stocks from my Capital One salary twice, a total of £312. I have since decided to leave Capital One and wanted to withdraw my funds from e-trade. After managing to register and link my UK HSBC bank account with great difficultly, the process and website itself is not user friendly and complex.
I withdrew my funds but there was only $280 dollars (around £200) where is the rest of my money? I then recieved an email saying they had deducted an extra $67 in tax.
I am in the UK and this doesn't apply to me, there is no UK phone number, no email address and online chat is never available for me to request this money back. Nor is their an option in the email or on my account to dispute the money, it's simply a money grabbing opportunity for e-trade and I wish I'd never used them. I'll be feeding this back to Capital One.
I want all my money returned asap.

Froze my account for no reason at all. I have waited on the phone now for over two hours. Still no representative. Also, live chat does not work, or is limited to a few random topics that do not apply to my situation. This is quickly becoming the single worst company that I have ever done business with. I also checked their twitter page, and the same complaint has been lodged, and obviously neglected, by a multitude of people. Next stop is BBB. Veru disappointed in this company after years of being very satisfied.

I spoke to Benjamen on 12/30/21 who said tax and retirement would call me, they never did, then he sent me a message telling me to call them so I was on hold over an hour to talk to Benjamen and another hour hold time to talk to tax/retirement team. I had to hang up, could not get through. I left 3 messages for Evan Meyer about this because he was handling this case and none of my calls were returned. You took away my option to invest in my Retirement account for 2021! And then had the nerve to charge me a $75 transfer fee for moving my account to another brokerage firm! I was left with no other choice due to lack of service from Etrade. This problem went on for over 5 weeks with many attempts to resolve. I would like my transfer fee of $75 refunded back to me. I will continue to pursue this matter until it is resolved.

Hello, I am Jacob High a former account holder with etrade. For some reason my erase account was shut down. I received papers in the mail stating that I had a security breech and that my accounts were closed. The problem is that I owned 16 shares of AMC Ent and had $399 in my savings account that I had been trying to transfer/withdrawal previous to the closing of my account. After this had happened I have been trying to recover the assets from my account to no avail. I am disappointed in the fact that no effort has been put forth to return my assets or to help me resolve this issue. I have called into etade twice since in an attempt to get this ball rolling but have had absolutely no luck. So 16 AMC stocks and $399 is what I expect to get from you guys in order to complete my accounts being closed by none other than you guys there at etrade.

E Trades and Customer Service

I am not going to make this brief because I have turned its over to an attorney who has informed me that E Trades is one of the most difficult businesses to deal with.

I spent 5 weeks at least 2 hours a day waiting on hold for a representative assigned to my account. I also left 14 messages to no avail. I finally sent out a blast and now am dealing with a corporate executive.
They are the worst company in regards to customer service that I have dealt with.
Please beware all that is online is true.
I have audio and visual proof of this nightmare.

My account was closed due to "suspicious activity" since about 2 weeks ago. The activity was me moving my savings over, which is natural when opening a new bank account. I have been unable to access any of my money in almost a week, which being a college student in Boston MA, is not a fun situation to be in. Every time I call for help, I cannot get any help besides being told that the problem will be solved in a few days. They are holding my money from me, and I have no access to any of my checking or savings account money

Etrade restricted my account without notifying me and are holding my money hostage, I can not do trades or withdraw my money. My rent is coming due and I need the funds.I have been out of work because of the pandemic and medical problems for 2 years. They say constantly it is a 2 hour minimum phone wait to reach them this is truly inexcusable in a time of high inflation.

My options Call expired and my total accrued amout was over 3400$.
I immediately withdrew 2300$ directly into my personal savings account.
Next Day my account showed a STAUS of INACTIVE?
I was told to callbthem to resolve an issue.
However, after calling ETRADE i was told thst that my 2300$ TRANSFER was deleted. NO ONE GAVE ME A STRAIGHT ANSWER AS WHY.
THEY KEPT MY MONEY THEN SHOWED MY ACCOUNT AS 800$. My original amount when account opened was over 3200$
So they kept 2300$ :-(. Finally i was asked why did I transfer that 2300$?
I said because it was AVAILABLE !
THEY STOLE MY MONEY.
I TRANSFER MY REMAINING 800$ and closed the account.
SHAMEFUL THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED IN U.S.A. TODAY ! :-(

I've been trying to get a hold of someone at ETrade and the recording says a greater than two hour wait...seriously. I get all these letters from them, and I'm trying to retrieve my login info and get my money out of there

I have an account with Etrade for over 10 years but now I am unable to log in to my account or make any trades. I have called over and over with no reply for over a week now. I have filed a complaint with Fed Exchange comm, and next will be with Security Exchange. This never happened before, until after the merger with E*TRADE and Morgan Stanley have joined forces, combining their banking services.

For the last 3 days I have spent 6 hours holding to make a sell. I was cut off at 4:40 in Monday and no one answering the phone. Tuesday, I was one the phone for 2 hours when you said 90 minutes. I had to get off as I had some things I had to do
Today on the phone forever when I finally got someone I was cut off again What is the problem? Are you now doing Morgan Stanly online trades also? Something is really not as it was. I am loosing money on a stock that I tried to sell on Monday. You are responsible for me loosing money and that makes me angry. If I can not get through tomorrow, I will need you to replAce my losses but loosing money is not in my plan
Karen Carlton 304=235 4305

I had an e-trade account that I was just sitting on. I never really was active in it. I probably opened it over 15 years ago. The only way I would check on it was with their paper statements which were mailed to my home. I opened up one in June this year and noticed that it only had one penny in it. The statement which usually says $10, 000 now just said 1 cent.

Long story short, someone was able to log into my e-trade account in March and make two large calculated withdrawls and left me a penny!

I contacted E-trade and they said they would do an investigation and asked me for some selfies, signed affidavits and a police report. My conversation was with Robert Carter who assured me that the funds would be returned once the investigation was complete.

I completed all these tasks as requested and I just received a letter saying that the 'investigation was complete' and my e-trade account is now closed. My correspondence was with Robert Carter, who assured me this was not a big deal, but a formal investigation would need to be done for the funds to be replaced. He has been of little help in providing any assistance with the matter.

I just got off the phone with them and they basically said, "Too bad, so sad."

(if i take out 200 bucks from an ATM across town, the bank will often phone me. I can't believe they would let anyone just liquidate my account without my knowledge)

I expect better service from this organization.

On July 13, 2021 I made 2 stock purchases. I bought 30 share of a stock for my Personal Joint account and 20 shares of the same stock in my margin account (I had adequate cash available to purchase these shares in both of these accounts.)

The money was taken out of the accounts but I only received 29 shares added to my Personal Joint account (not 30) and no added shares (not 20) into my margin account. I checked my transaction records and the transactions are shown as completed and the cash in both accounts was reduced by the total amounts for the orders.

I have written Etrade two letters, so far, with hard copies of all of the documentation needed to explain my case. Neither letter has been answered by their customer service department.

A couple of days ago I notice that Etrade made incorrect changes in my portfolio concerning dates and purchase prices of other stocks that were in my portfolios. The changes were taken off later that day. Today, August 6th, I see that they have made further changes to the dates and prices of my earlier, stock purchases. There should be no reason to change the dates, or amounts of past purchases. I am getting highly suspicious of their activity in my account.

I'm now out the purchase price, plus the gains for the stock purchases that I mentioned above. I don't know where else to turn for help. I've made copies of the documents and am prepared to stand up to their questionable practices. I would also like to know if there is an open class action lawsuit that might fit with my case. Thanks

To Whom it May Concern:

The purpose of this letter is to express concerns, complaints, and issues that have occurred to me while dealing with a Senior Investigator, Robert Carter, from E*Trade (the company) as well as the company itself.

The closing of my partners account due to a dispute between me and the investigator was unprofessional, malicious, and uncalled for. I know this to be true because it happened 15 minutes after getting off the phone with the senior investigator. In addition to the timing, he mentioned Francisco by complete name to me, first and last. The only question he had asked was who was Francisco. I answered; after which, the topic which might have not even lasted more that 30 seconds, ended with my remark that "I sometime use his phone", and that was it. If the investigator thought that I was using his account or that he was using mine, than the answer is a strong no, we have our own accounts for our own reasons.

Of course our accounts would have close interactions, we use the same Wi-Fi. If this was a something that was going to be used by the investigator for the unfair treatment of Francisco's account, then all I can say is wow. To take advantage and twist unclear as well as general information, that almost anyone in a relationship would have provided, to justify their actions is nothing short of an abuse of power and would make almost anyone question their character. Also, the fact that he is managing Francisco's account as well feels like a conflict of interest and unprofessional. The fact that his account was closed and not restricted is a demonstration that this was retaliatory in nature, based on a negative bias, and very punitive to Francisco, as well as a show of misuse of power, all because of my dispute between me and the investigator.

Several simple questions comes to mind, why was it that his account closed, whereas my account was restricted in the beginning? When the company first thought that there was something wrong with my account, a restriction was put in place. I was allowed to still see my account and submit my documents via the website. Why was the treatment not the same for Francisco? Why was it that he was not treated fairly? If there was an issues with his account, why was it not placed under restriction like my account was? Even if there was an issue, does he not have the right to be treated equally, fairly, and without bias? What is so different about him or his account that would warrant such treatment, was there a discriminatory motive behind it? All I know it that there was unfair treatment involved without any explanation given.

There are other complaints and issues that I have experienced ever since my account was restricted, and later closed. All of these issues came about from my interactions with the senior investigator as well as everyone below him.

An issue that occurred was the raising of the senior investigator's voice on the phone and threatening to press charges unless I comply with what he says. All I did was ask questions that pertained to the whereabouts of my funds. Now, I understand that there is certain information that cannot be disclosed; however, I find it unreasonable to not provide at least a list of possible actions that can be taken with regards to my money. The request was meant to obtain generalized information, not specific information. I believe, since my funds are being withheld without any reason as to why given, I am owed at least this much.

One of the hypotheticals that I brought up was the possibility of giving my money to the state as unclaimed assets and how long would it be for the money to be transferred over. To this question, I received a nasty and threatening response. I believe that this was a simple and earnest question; after all it is one of the any possibilities that can be taken, since everyone refuses to give a list of possible actions. His response, almost barking it at me, was that the money would instead be given to the police, which is understandable since this is within the realm of possibilities. However, this did not have to be stated with a malicious, down right near threatening tone, almost as to insinuate that he as the power and leverage over my money and his action to take if he felt to do so.

Requiring me to send personal confidential information to a personal email address through email instead of a secure upload link or the opportunity to present my documents in a branch. This I find extremely unprofessional, concerning, as well as uncomfortable. In this day and age, it has come to an understanding that the idea of sending personal and confidential material via email is not the safest nor reliable method. Anything can happen to an email from hacking to spying to other acts of malicious intent. So requesting me to send personal information through an unsecured method and not providing alternate forms of submission even after I had expressed my concerns is incredibly unprofessional. There was no mention of re-uploading my information through a secure link, through the website, going to a branch, or even certified mail. The fact that none of these possible alternate forms were even suggested made me even more uncomfortable and had dulled my confidence in this company, if this is all that they are capable of.

Won't provide information based on how long he will hold my money for. Once again, I believe this to be simple and fair question, for how long would my money be held for. As previously mentioned, I was not asking for specifics but merely an estimate or an average time. Something as simple as 3 to 4 years would have sufficed, even if it was mentioned that there was no guarantee that this would be the case. Just to provide an estimate for how long I would not be in possession of my money nor the management of it.

Constant and consistent mis-gendering by the lower level employees on the phone even after correcting and requesting them to stop. This has played a major factor in my overall experience. After going through so many people and through so many uncomfortable situations, it had made me recluse myself from further having to interact with this company; yet, I had no other choice because this company had taken my money. When I brought this to the attention of the senior investigator as well as to how insecure it made me feel, it was brushed aside. Instead I am met with a remark stating that if I do not comply, I would lose everything.

The biggest issue that I am dealing with now is the management of my money. At first I was told I could not make any closing trades by customer service. After much back and forth and eventually talking with a manager, whom then clarified that I am allowed to only sell my positions, filled me a sense of relief. I was under the impression that at least I would not lose money on a bad trade and could liquidate my positions if I needed to. With that in mind, I decided to leave the account as is and mention that I would revisit the issue sometime in the near future. This was when my account was first restricted; however, that all changed when my account was later closed. The investigator had decided to deal with my case personally.

At first there was the question of my funds, I had previously transferred a large amount into my account. This was money that was given to me by my mother and it was accounted for. Afterwards the investigator had contacted her, verified the funds, questioned the relationship between my mother and I, and proceeded with asking for other information. To my belief, not obtaining the information that he wanted, closed my account. Then proceeded to close my partners account after our phone call, did not even bother to reach out to my partner at all. This person has now made it so that I cannot even sell my positions and now my money is fluctuating in the stock market. I have no control or management over it and I am now stuck with potentially losing all my money.

To further add insult to injury, took my partners money as well. So whom is responsible for the losses that occur while our accounts are closed. The investigator had informed us that they were still in stock form.

This entire ordeal has given us tremendous stress, sleepless nights, dark thoughts, self harm, anxiety, and other negative emotions and thoughts too much to be able to include.

Relief: I want my money back, account closed, and apologies given. If I am still required to send the documents, then I want a different case person and a secure way to send the documents i. e website or at the office. Also Francisco's account should be reviewed, and closed with the money given back to him.

On Monday, March 8, 2021 I attempted to purchase 16, 616 shares of Gambit Energy when the stock was at .03 a share. When I place my order Etrade refused saying it was unsafe. I again tried to place another order today and was refuse as before the stock is now at 6.00 a share this refusal by Etrade has cost me over 99, 000.00 in potential earning from not allowing me to purchase the stock. When I contacted them about this they say there is nothing they can do about and refuse to compensate me for there refusal.

E*TRADE is a complete fraud
Selling of stocks without notice, arbitrary stock sales being done! What is going on here...
Had a stock SWET with ran up rather rapidly last year, as it peaked and I was considering selling - I all of a sudden get a notice that my stock was sold at roughly 1/3rd the value.
Saying that I had a sell order at that price?
If that was the case, shouldn't it have sold at that price as it made the run thru that price?
No explanation was ever given, nothing from E*TRADE at all...
NOW, the stock was halted pending filing of paperwork from SWET and now I've received a notice that I have a negative balance in my account. Went into see what was going on and all my stocks are GONE...
I never received notice, I never placed a stock sell, I never authorized any sale, I never received a notice of any fees due or stock would be sold off to cover fees.
WTF is going on, I am reading NUMEROUS complaints about this company E*TRADE doing this to people's accounts similar...
There is apparent fraud and it needs Government intervention

I opened an ETRADE SOLO 401k partly due to promotional offer of cash ($300) plus 500 free trades. They would not fulfil the promotion because outside funds were transferred to account before promo was applied - they would not backdate or make retroactive the application of the promotion.

Nowhere in their marketing literature is this exception to the promotion noted. Apparently you must notify them, in writing of some sort, that you would like the promotion applied to the new account before any funds transfer into the account occurs.

I'm immediately pulling the funds out from E*TRADE and will use TD Ameritrade who promised to deposit the same promotional cash bonus into a new account immediately.

Beware of BAIT AND SWITCH!

Here is the promo details copy/pasted from the E*Trade site (12/23/2016):

Here's how to get your cash credit:
Mail or fax your completed small business retirement plan application to us
Call Customer Service at [protected] once your account is open to be enrolled in and receive the offer.
Credits for cash or securities will be made based on deposits of new funds or securities from external accounts made within 45 days of account open, as shown in the chart below. Your account will be credited within one week of the close of the 45-day window, as follows:

Receive
Deposit or Transfer
$2, 500 + free trades $1, 000, 000+
$1, 200 + free trades $500, 000 - $999, 999
$600 + free trades $250, 000 - $499, 999
$300 + free trades $100, 000 - $249, 999
$200 + free trades $25, 000 - $99, 999
Only Free Trades $10, 000 - $24, 999

Here's how to get your free trades:
You will receive up to 500 free trade commissions for each stock or options trade executed within 60 days of the deposited funds being made available for investment in the new account (excluding options contract fees). You will pay $9.99 for your first 149 stock or options trades and $7.99 thereafter up to 500 stock or options trades (plus 75¢ per options contract). Your account will be credited for trades within a week. Account must be funded within 60 days of account open with funds from outside of E*TRADE.

More important information
Offer valid for one new E*TRADE Securities retirement account opened by 12/31/2016 and funded within 60 days of account opening with $10, 000 or more with funds from outside of E*TRADE. Excludes E*TRADE Securities brokerage and E*TRADE Bank accounts.

You will not receive cash compensation for any unused free trade commissions. Excludes current E*TRADE Financial Corporation associates, non-U.S. residents, and any jurisdiction where this offer is not valid. This offer is not valid for business, Custodial, Estate, LLC, Sole Proprietorship, Unincorporated Organization or E*TRADE Bank accounts. New funds or securities must remain in the account (minus any trading losses) for a minimum of 6 months or the credit may be surrendered. One promotion per customer. E*TRADE Securities reserves the right to terminate this offer at any time.