Merrill Lynch Reviews 

Don't for any reason get Merrill Lynch, all the money I've been saving for 7 years is in limbo because they can't send me basic information, I've been asking for it for 3 months now and I can't transfer my roll over plan because they couldn't follow basic instructions. I'm on hold for an hour an a half most of the time. I'm still waiting for my money. I'm so frustrated, angry or the irony that I can't do anything thing about it but wait and leave a bad review, they're a bank and I'm just a basic nobody.

I have been reporting their website doesnt work for over a year everytime I speak to them on the phone. They have NO email contact on their website (a VERY bad sign), they havent fixed the problem, they seem unresponsive at best.
The problem is simple, I have shares in a company that changed its name. They show me zero shares in the original name and dont show me the new name though they show the value of the shares. They DO show the shares briefly when you try and sell but then they rearrange the page with 'unuseful male cow poop' notices which are frankly irrelevant and the little panel they display it all in is not big enough. Its urine poor website design and would take a very short time to fix, they just need a scroll bar! If you have more than a single set of shares in a single company that never changes its name then the page will work, anything else and its trash. How can they be so blind, so ignorant? Its s***.

They do not follow SEC trade rules; you never know how many $$ you have. They put $$ from a sell trade into a margin account to avoid paying interest on the $$. Eventually, the $$ arrive in the cash account.
The mobile app logs you off every 3 minutes. They make it as difficult as possible for an investor to trade. You have to baby sit the app to avoid getting logged off to make a trade.

Have shares held through this company. I'm in the UK and so any contact with them is very very tough. No email contact.phone numbers never work from UK. Even when the company I work for asks them to contact me I get no call back from them. So basically I have money with them but any account issues and you're stuck if in UK. Would not hesitate in not recommending.

They shut down an elderly family member's account and won't explain why. They say the account is "under review" but they won't say why. They never warned her so her checks are bouncing even though there is $$ in her account. Have they been hacked again or are they really just this bad at customer service?

Should be zero stars. Along with the stress of my Mom passing - Now Merrill is finding reasons to hold up changing my children's 529 account to my name. My poor daughter is going to have to pay credit card interest charges because their Rep. Austin Tuttle doesn't know what he's doing. This is now almost week 7 and nothing has been changed

Merrill lynch are bank robbers, feeding on the financial naive. My wife had a small sep/Ira. Too small for active management so they without asking converted her account to send directed which she didn't understand. As a self directed account that the owner thought was managed, didn't generate transaction fees so ML decided to close the account -10% in fees. ML is not to be trusted..investor beware

Probably the worst banking institution I have ever dealt with. They are quick to allow you to transfer money in, but it is a different ball game when you want to transfer money out. They will slow roll you until you get so frustrated and move your money somewhere else. Save yourself the headache and bank with someone that actually cares about you. I would suggest doing so before anything urgent. It may take a couple weeks to get your money out of there.

Not able to access account. Transferring by phone is hopeless endless loops. If you do not have a USA social security number you are lost. They do not actively use their own brokerage account number. Really bad.

7-12-2024

Takes a considerable amount of time to connect with a ML representative on the phone.

More recently, they have delayed my 401(k) rollover for weeks.

In summary, working with ML has been generally stressful, uncomfortable, and inconvenient.

Update:

I opened a case with the BBB.

ML reconnected with me.

They said my last phone call for a rollover was disconnected to explain why they didn't do the rollover. I completed the phone survey after last phone conversation with ML rep. ML recorded this survey, so they have proof that my last phone call for a rollover completed successfully.

Summary: ML completed the rollover after receiving communication from the BBB and reconnecting with me.

Case: Closed.

My father passed away and left me his Merrill Lynch capital account and cash management account. Seven weeks after his death, Merrill Lynch is still dragging their feet on transferring funds to the duly appointed estate's executor who was approved by probate a month ago. We need the funds to manage final expenses, and to pay for taxes and urgent home repairs on his property, among other things. We keep being told that Merrill Lynch needs a new document, delaying the promised transfer by several days each time. On the last call, the Merrill Lynch representative made a snarky comment about me to the executor, saying, "someone really wants their money..." Yes, I do want my money. I had to take three months off work to move across the country, care for my dying father, then manage the funeral costs out of pocket. What I clearly don't want in my future is Merrill Lynch gatekeeping my account and outright blocking me from liquidating funds. I'm transferring everything to Fidelity as soon as possible.

1. Getting a wire out can only be done by phone call.

2. I did that and 5 days later the funds were back in the account without any reason for rejection and 32.5 USD short.

3. Account details were good and valid so I reattempted. Same result. In total, 65 USD short.

4. After 30 days of over 7 calls longer than 1 hour and 2 rejected transfers and 65 USD short, still no reply, no explanation of rejection (recipient bank clarified they did not reject or even receive the payment).

5. a text ticket opened in the system and a complaint registered more than 7 days ago, both are waiting without a reply or even an acknowledgement.

Stay away.

Cannot keep your money safe / don't resolve their errors

ML made a mistake with the tax authorities - wiring my money (incorrectly) to the IRS. People should be able to trust a bank with money - that was not the case here. Upon flagging this one would expect a resolution. ML admitted the mistake and indeed promises a resolution swiftly. Unfortunately it required 15 calls - some of over an hour, but they never solved it all. Good thing at the end they stopped promising a solution/ compensation so i no longer had to waste my life on the call centre (that hangs up often at random moments). Just to be clear - in they end they did not resolve the problem / get the money back they misplaced. Recommend against using them to keep your money (safe).

The review below titled "Do Not Invest with Merrill Lynch" -- about the sick game they play with beneficiaries to prevent them from getting their money -- is SPOT ON. Same thing happened to us. Certainly ensures that I will never invest with Merrill Lynch and neither should you. A scoundrel of a company.

I have had a 401k with Merrill now for 2 years, I have been able to access my account 1 time in 2 years. Customer service gets you a busy prompt or an option to put your whole SSN in-lol. This bank is a joke for 401k, I will be pulling all my money out!! Screw you Merrill Lynch, you lost another customer!

Do not invest with Merrill Lynch. When you die, your beneficiaries have to go through loops to get their money. Even when you complain to the SEC they just write lies back to the SEC in return. They tell you things on the phone, promise to call you back and then suddenly don't take your calls anymore. My Aunt died in October 2023. It is now May 2023 and still have not paid out the distributions to the beneficiaries despite us doing every form, signed letter, etc. We were told checks were cut last month but no one has gotten them. Great job office in Chicago, Illinois. Once they get your money, they aren't ever going to let it go.

Attorney Yohan Lee is a Advisor to the Merrill Lynch. His office is located in California. I had to report lawyer Yohan Lee. Report Fraud FTC GOV n 172269563. It was reported to the Court of Justice which confirmed my right to compensation for the serious damage caused by Lawyer Lee to my company due to causes attributable to bank fraud. This review will remain active until damages are paid. After payment of damages I will cancel it. Attention to the lawyer Lee but also to some of his representatives, it is not clear whether the responsibility for the damages suffered falls entirely on him or on his representatives. But this is not our problem. He is a lawyer and surely if he is not guilty he will be able to recover the damage from those responsible and not continue to harm us. Note: we have also already sent an email to Merryll Lynch and also to Banknof America. Antonini Ceo Mecdom group

Liars, maniupalutive, cheaters, downright horrible company to deal with. Both parents have been clients for over four decades. When it came to me managing mothers account they have been given both of us the run around for years. Back in 2019 filled out POA paperwork at a local branch. Apparently it was never filed on their part because five years later when I made first inquiry to release ROTH funds account was frozen. Even though account access was granted in 2019. Apparently they felt "elder" abuse wss taken place. Again even though multiple attempts were made in 2019 to let them know legitimate activity was requested. Forward 5! years. They gave us the run around with 2024 POA forms, lied to us when they said they were researching requests, lied to us about process, lied to us about check distribution, cheated us out of potential interest earnings, sent us condescending letters, the list of how horrible their agents and reps are goes on and on. Meanwhile mind you an ex of mine was taking care of my Dads account (totally separate from Moms) transferring money out of stocks, linking distributions for her own financial gain, and that went on for years and years. Not until I took over financial affairs for my Dad did I discover. But they never questioned and my Dad was siphoned dry. Mom holds multiple assets with multiple financial institutions and Merrill is by far the worse. They preach that they are customer orientated and customer friendly which is a bunch of hot air. Just bad ethics, bad morals, bad company. I only pray that others don't have to deal with the frustration and humility that my mom and I had to endure over a 5 year period. Waiting on ROTH funds to this day...... JUST PLAIN 😥

I cannot even begin to explain how long it took to get tax information from them. I had to call them because the company I worked for couldn't give me any of my account information as they did not have it. So I called them.... over and over, being a total of 6 times in the past 2 months. First 2 times I was told that I didn't give them the right information and it was said they still couldn't resend it to the ADDRESS THEY HAVE ON FILE because I answered the question about my leaving date wrong (which it has been years since I have worked for that company). The next 2 times they said they were sending it in the mail, never did. They said it would take about 10 business days to arrive, but it has been days over that amount of time. The 5th time I called them, I asked to speak with a manager, I was transferred to 4 different people, then finally management. I told the manager that I will have to contact the IRS about the penalties I would receive for not filing in time, telling them that this company was (the first few times) refusing to send my tax information to me, then the rest of the time, saying they did send it, but never did. Magically, after this, he knew how to solve the issue, and he told me that he thinks I can just have it emailed to me. That manager then put me on hold and had to "go ask" if he could email it to me instead as to not receive penalties since the date is so close. I feel like he should know if he is indeed management, but obviously he did not. He then got the email wrong after checking with me 5 times to make sure it was right (not sure how that happened), he sent it to the wrong email. So I didn't receive it yesterday like he said I would. Had to call them again today asking to speak with a manager which they did not transfer me to and finally got an associate to figure the situation out that the manager could not. It was sent over through email finally, and it was quick and easy with the last guy, except the fact that he would ask a question then put me on hold for several minutes making me not want to speak with him at all. It was about an hour on the phone with them every time I have called before this. Always putting you on hold every 2 minutes for about 5 minutes with each and every person. I also found it to be funny when I called them for the second time last month and asked to speak with management, the associate then got very rude with me and told me that I would be told the same thing by the manager (my account couldn't be accessed), which is extremely unprofessional and so sad to see people like that working for this company. He told me he couldn't help me with anything else and told me to have a great day. Which I feel like If I'm asking for a manager it means I no longer want to speak with you as you are no help to me, regardless of what you think they are going to tell me. Obviously I was being lied to because the manager did try to email it to me but got the email wrong, but I did indeed finally receive it this last time. Obviously I cannot file without this documentation, and if I received a penalty it would not be my fault because I was being refused and lied to. They couldn't even resend the document in the mail to the address on file without asking an ungodly amount of questions just to make sure I am who I say I am. The also had to do this to have them email it to me which is understandable, but if I'm asking for it to be resent to the address on file, then I shouldn't be denied for answering my leaving date wrong (as again, its been years). Which I understand needing to ask questions to verify, but a lot of the questions were weird and made me uncomfortable (Name, Social Security, DOB, address on file, when I left the company I worked for, what color an old truck I had was, what my dads age was, how tall I am on my drivers license, and more) This is the worst customer service I've ever dealt with, not saying they are all rude, some of them are nice, but man do they make things frustrating when they can't even do what you ask the first few times you have called. The first people to answer the phones are rude. I mean I even to a manager who didn't do his job correctly yesterday, making me call again today to talk to an associate who helped way more than someone who is so called "above them". What a disgrace of a company, so glad I never have to talk to them again. I mean what a bunch of loops you have to go through to get them to do anything for you. If you are looking for a sign to go somewhere else, here it is.

I deposited $5300 in November, 2023. The funds were put on hold, and shortly after I made the mobile deposit, my account was frozen & I have been unable to access those funds. It is now March, 2024. Merrill refuses to return the funds to me or the issuing bank.