Merrill Lynch Reviews 

My father had the incredible misfortune of having the company holding his Roth IRA acquired by Bank of America and subsequently transferred to Merrill Lynch when it was also acquired by Bank of America during 2008 Great Financial Crisis. Either BoA or Merrill lost my father's account paperwork including his beneficiary forms and literally every document related to his account since its creation other than a 2010 options application. Unfortunately, in January of 2023 my father passed away suddenly due to Covid 19 without a will. Due to ML having no records of my father's beneficiary paperwork, a rep from ML directed my father's heirs to probate court. Due to probate court complications, I was eventually made the administrator of my father's estate but Merrill Lynch did not want to transfer the funds in my father's IRA to the estate in accordance with Texas Probate Law due to Merrill Lynch governing documents stating that without assigned beneficiaries, all assets would be transferred to the surviving spouse if there was one.

This would have been fine, except Merrill Lynch had no record of my father ever signing any document agreeing to this policy or actually signing any document in their possession, ever. After being this account being held at BoA since 2004, and with ML since 2008, these firms had not a single signed document from my father or any account application or any correspondence at all other than the aforementioned options application for over 2 decades.

After spending 3 years in probate court, spending over $20K on legal fees, the probate court ordered Merrill Lynch to transfer my father's IRA to the estate and distribute to his heirs.

That was in May of this year. Since then, Merrill Lynch representatives have sandbagged beneficiary inherited Roth IRA account creation and repeatedly delayed the account transfers. ML representatives have repeatedly misrepresented timelines and lied about the transfer process and status. I have been told multiple time to expect transfer by "CoB today", "CoB Friday", "2-3 days", "3-5 days", "next week" and after 2 months, the account transfer is still incomplete.

For comparison, my father had multiple IRAs held at other institutions of similar age. They all had beneficiary paperwork and account transfers were completed within 1 week after inherited IRA paperwork was submitted.

This is absolutely baffling behavior and absurdly poor operations for a once prestigious wealth management firm. No surprise to me seeing a 1.5 star overall rating coming here to leave a review and honestly shocked that anyone would want to keep their funds at this institution after experiencing a level of ineptness and deceit from a fiduciary organization.

If you are a sophisticated investor looking to diversify into a wide range of modern products, stay away from Merrill. The platform takes a highly paternalistic approach, acting as if it is their responsibility to protect you from making what they deem to be financial or social mistakes.Their arbitrary product restrictions severely limit your freedom to trade. For example:Cannabis: Completely blocked from investing in this sector.International Equities: Foreign companies trading on U.S. exchanges via Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) are unavailable.Crypto Funds: Spot or futures-based cryptocurrency funds are entirely restricted because Merrill "doesn't think it is a good idea."Advanced Income Funds: Popular, actively managed options strategy funds like QQQI or SPYI are also blocked.Merrill treats experienced investors like beginners. If you want full control over your asset allocation and access to a modern suite of investment products, look elsewhere.

I can’t say enough how frustrated I am the hold phone is absolutely none sense it’s been weeks I tried accessing them about my account when I finally got my phone call back it got cut off and nobody bothered call me back. Is really awful make people wait such a long time and won’t even bother about them she was answering my questions and got cut off after weeks or trying to contact them it takes half my day.

My phone rep today had a very strange attitude with me. I was trying to retrieve a login ID, and she asked me If I was on the Merrill website or the BofA website. I didn't understand her question at first, and I told her that there was an account on both, and she said "Okay great but I'm ASKING IF YOU'RE CURRENTLY ON THE WEBSITE ON YOUR BROWSER." and I said "Oh, yes I am, sorry." and she said "You are." condescendingly, and I said yes to confirm. She then asked my mother some verification questions, as I was calling on her behalf (English is not her first language) and that is obviously necessary for authentication, but she acted suspicious of me throughout the entire call even though my mother was present. She then reset the account's password and gave me a random one, and I was confused as to why she did that. All I needed was to provide my mother's information to her and have her tell me what my ID was. She did end up giving me the User ID and we were able to log in and reset the password back, but I don't understand the stress she was under trying to figure that out for me. She misunderstood equally as much as I did, which wasn't a severe misunderstanding, and it was an honest mistake on her part. However, I definitely gave her more leniency than she gave me. Don't get it

The wealth management team at Merrill Lynch is amazing. While they have managed our financials for years now and done an amazing job, they have helped me keep my sanity while getting my parents estate in order after my dad died. They know me, my family, they care and it shows. My parents had accounts in 10 different financial institutions, which many I found are incompetent or potentially crooks, the team at Merrill Lynch helped me get through all those bank process, get the estate under control and protected. I trust them completely. They partner well with our attorneys and tax team to make sure everything is in order with limited effort required by me. I couldn't have survived this past year without them.

Merrill Lynch has used every possible stall tactic to keep the money in a very small savings account. After my husband's death, I provided all the documentation required. That was 4 weeks ago. Since then I have spoken to Merrill Lynch four times on the phone. Although Bank of America sent them all the documents, they claimed they didn't have everything. I had to resend documents. Then they claimed that seal on the probate documents wasn't clear enough. Each time I have called them, they say that the documentation is now in another office and I can't speak with anyone there to find out why they haven't mailed the check. The amount of money in this account is so small that it cannot matter to Merrill, but when they use these same stall tactics for hundreds of thousands of customers, they are able to hang on to the money. I cannot trust Merrill Lynch.

IF I could put zero I would. This company has no care for its customers. It is too big to fail now under BOA.
No accountability.... No transparency ... no professionalism. I initiated a roll over IRA transfer that is taking over 3 weeks. They do not like to let go of your money. Stay away ...

I made the mistake of dealing with Michael Cook (ML out of Orlando FL area) with regard to an estate I am POA over (my parents). Mr Cook didn't like the position myself and the client I represent wanted to move some funds but eventually released the funds and as result had his boss (Chris Sitler) send a letter of termination to us. Its literally not his money and his ego is hurt so he's "taking his ball and going home" type of attitude with regard to our business with Merrill. On top of that they terminated it within 3 days of us making the alternative decision on what we were doing with some of those funds (mind you the portfolio was still healthy at Merrill). This guy is a coward and his approach is soft - anytime he'd like to discuss his child like business tactics - I'm easy to find....

These guys work with bank of america. And if that aint enough. I just got scammed out of 47 disputes because rude employees with no patients filed them all wrong. But ny lawsuits gonna be right on point!!

Anne Schrenk provides excellent service, simply excellent!!
Continually being pleasantly surprised by what Merrill has to offer.

I will NEVER use this company again. My husband was literally on his deathbed when my advisor abruptly quit/left to start his own firm. I was handed off to another advisor in another state. I had no say in the matter (and this is with millions invested). I have since moved to another non-Merrill firm. Merrill is *still* holding back some funds via "AUDIT HOLDBACK". I changed financial companies 9 months ago. They still have some of my money which is ridiculous! Granted it is a small amount but very frustrating to not be able to finally close out my business. Never again.

As you have read before, if I could give 0 stars, I would. My husband’s family has been getting the run around from this company regarding his mom’s estate. They keep sending us checks for the same amount, then stopping payment on them. This results in charges by our banks if the checks are deposited. They have already sent out and cleared a check to one sibling , then called and told the others not to deposit their checks and they’ll send out a new one for less than the sibling received (due to changes in the market). When the new checks are sent out for the same amount again, they’re flagged for stop payment after they’ve been deposited. Mind you, everyone was to receive the exact same payout. When ML is called, the case manager can’t speak to anyone. This has been going on for almost 2 months. The company’s employees are incompetent and I advise you to transfer your money immediately before your investments are reduced. These people cannot be trusted to handle their clients’ hard earned money! They are a total catastrophe.

If I could give them zero stars, I absolutely would.

Trying to move my own damn money out of Merrill Lynch has been a complete nightmare. The communication is terrible, the process is a mess, and every time you think something is finally getting handled, they come up with some other bullshit excuse or delay.

It feels like they make it as difficult as possible for clients to take control of their own money. Instead of helping, they point fingers, give vague explanations, and leave you stuck dealing with the consequences of their broken process.

This is my money. Not theirs. I should not have to fight, chase, call repeatedly, and deal with endless red tape just to move funds that belong to me. The whole experience has been frustrating, ridiculous, and honestly unacceptable.

If you value clear communication, timely service, or basic respect as a client, stay the hell away. Based on my experience, Merrill Lynch has been an absolute f*ing disaster to deal with.

I am incredibly frustrated with the Merrill Lynch Benefits platform. If you are a non-US-based employee trying to manage or withdraw your RSUs, prepare for an absolute nightmare.

The website navigation is confusing, poorly laid out, and feels completely stuck in the past. Trying to do something as simple as adding an international bank account or linking an alternative payout option is practically impossible online. The automated system constantly rejects international formats, throws generic "Processing Error" messages without explanation, and treats anyone outside the United States as an afterthought. We are living in the AI era, yet Merrill Lynch operates with a website that feels decades out of date.

To make matters worse, finding a clear, direct phone number on the site is an exercise in futility—numbers are scattered everywhere with zero clarity. I was transferred to multiple different departments just trying to find someone who could help with an international transfer.

The only saving grace was the customer service staff. The service center people who eventually took my call were absolutely patient, polite, and professional—but the fact that I had to waste so much time and energy navigating their broken system just to speak to them is unacceptable.

I've had all my retirement invested with Merrill ($1M+) and I trusted they were competent at investing so I didn't need to worry about it, which is why I was paying a percentage of my money every year. Never looked at the accounts in detail over 10 years, but when I did I realized they had raised their fees to over 2%, and their performance was significantly worse than their benchmarks. Shame on me for not keeping tabs on it, and it makes me sick to my stomach thinking about the $100K+ that I gave them in fees over the years and loss of long terms gains on that money. To top it off and get me one more time on the way out, they had created so many different accounts (10 total), and they charged me $95 per account as a transfer fee when closing my accounts. Great, another $1000 to an unperforming high fee company!

For several years, I have maintained self-administered certificates of deposit (CDs) with Merrill Lynch. Several months ago, I decided to transfer funds into an advised account with the expectation of receiving professional guidance with the branch in 33451 US Highway 19 N Palm Harbor, FL 34684. Since the outbreak of conflict in Iran, my portfolio has experienced significant losses. Despite these market developments and the decline in my account value, I did not receive any advice, updates, or correspondence from my advisor or your firm. I expected proactive communication and guidance during periods of market volatility. When I attempted to take control of my investments, it took more than two weeks to have the funds made available so I could invest them myself. This delay further compounded my losses during a critical period of market volatility.

Suddenly liquidated my active account and closed this. They closes the wrong account and won't own up to the mistake. Customer service was extremely unhelpful. Giving me vague answers

My only exposure to Merrill Lynch was when my mother died. She had a brokerage account there. I inherited a part of that. I have never had such a hard time trying to get my money transferred from Merrill Lynch to my broker. I finally had to get an attorney involved. This Merrill Lynch agent is Roy Gray in Swansea, Illinois. Phone calls went unreturned. Questions went unanswered. Horrible experience.

Merrill Lynch have very suspicious links to B-Investor which is a known fraud/scam company. It is also known as Expert B. If you look at reviews for Expert B you will see recommendations made for Merrill Lynch. Therefore do not touch Merrill Lynch as they are clearly in bed with fraudsters.

They auto closed my long standing account. Caused a massive tax event.

When I called them they said they had a typo in my email address which is why I never got any notifications. So now im on the hook for a massive tax event to the IRS, and they sent the check to the wrong place so it auto credited back with way less money.

Granted, I'm also a long-standing BOA Business Account holder. I will be taking all of my accounts elsewhere.

What a terrible company. Never invest with them.