Charles Schwab & Co.
reviews and complaints

As a potential customer considering Charles Schwab Nashua Independent Branch, it's important to note the mixed experiences shared by customers. While some customers appreciate the bank's customer service and investment options, others have faced challenges with account management and communication. It seems that the level of service provided may vary, so it's advisable to carefully evaluate your needs and expectations before committing to this branch.

I have used several brokerage apps. Each have issues. But each have benefits. This app desperately needs to decide if it’s for new or experienced investors or both. Issue 1 after using think or swim this app leaves me looking for more at my fingertips without reading a swab white page of a company rating and grade. Just quick basics that has no need for scrolling.

2 the basic td mobile app shows my account vs the markets at a glance I can see if my trend is better or worse at a glance on this app I have to look at two charts and guess. This could be clickable on the current markets chart.

3. Slices is awesome it lets me do something better with cash over $5 than buy a less desirable stock. The process is learnable but anyone new to investing will be intimidated. I have years of investing under my belt and find it frustrating at times when multiple investments are selected and an error occurs.

4. The stash app had a couple good features that I would like Schwab to make available. A) invest cash balance down to the penny if your goal is to invest all of your monies the $5 rule blocks some growth. If I cannot select the stock myself I don’t really care it’s pocket change let it slice into some kind of Schwab etf.
B) the Schwab card is nice but how about a slices reward for using it! Again fine with the slices being a Schwab investment.

Looking forward to the Schwab TD merger completion and really hope Schwab mobile adopts some think or swim features for non futures traders to enjoy!

I like the mobile app i just have some insight to suggest changes from good things that worked elsewhere.

Never wrote a review before, but I figured I’d go out of my way since this bank has gone out of its way to make everything inconvenient. Yes, admittedly it has a good customer service team. That’s where the positive comments end. ACH transferred money to my account from an online bank to make a major transaction. When it came time to order a cashier check, it got denied. Reason being? One department that was suppose to verify my identity didn’t communicate that to another department responsible for preventing fraud.

The app uses a identity verification process (sending a government issued ID via photo in the app) apparently Charles Schwab either didn’t bother to look at it, or didn’t receive it causing the issue. Since then, it was a four business day process (not counting the day off their senior manager at fraud protection took for absolutely no reason) of one email a day to verify my identity and the fact that, I am indeed ordering a cashier check from my other bank that was transferred via ACH.

Overall the experience was just hyper risk adverse and incredibly inconvenient that almost resulted in the party in my major transaction pulling out of the deal because of this bank. I felt as though I had to justify the spending of my own money and the time spent there was judging whether or not Charles Schwab would become my primary bank…and they failed miserably.

Also my checking account has restrictions placed on it where I can’t withdraw the remaining $44 from my balance back into my primary bank, which honestly at this point, isn’t worth putting up with Charles Schwab to get back.

Just my two cents.

UPDATE @ FEB 21 2016: Despite issues with former version, I've stuck with it given the protests others have cited with the subsequent updates. I try to login today and I received a push message informing me I *haveto upgrade the app by March 3rd... however, the app won't let me login today. Maybe it's time to look to moving my assets to Vanguard or Fidelity.

UPDATE @ NOV 5 2015: The last two updates won't allow trades in a security where you hold fractional shares. If you reinvest dividends like I do, you most likely hold fractional shares. Won't allow me to Sell All or Sell a whole number of shares and retain a balance that includes any fractional shares. Really, Schwab? Really?! I was able to perform this SIMPLE function from your mobile app for years now, but you can't get this basic component of equity trading working in late-2015? May be time to move to Fidelity or Vanguard.

UPDATE: The most recent update has a mind-boggling error. When you select the Order Status button at the top of the main page (once you're logged in) you're taken to a dead-end! There's no "back" button or drop-down menu to allow you to navigate to another function. The only way out is to quit the app, then log-in again. Dumb as a bag of hammers.

INITIAL REVIEW: I'm pleased with the app on both iPhone and iPad, but I would like to see the following additions:

1) Touch ID login
2) Links and 'copy' function w/ newsfeed articles
3) Better graph + performance tools

On the latter, I'd like to be able to *easilysee how my investments have performed over last 1 mo, 3 mo, 6 mo, 12 mos on one page in comparison to common benchmarks (SPX, NYSE, QQQ, sectors).

Just opened my first non-retirement brokerage account, and glad I did it with Schwab. I'm looking forward to learning and utilizing all the desktop/web tools they have available.

Mobile app UX and features are important to me, and Schwab has 99% of what I'm looking for, and it's nice being able to link external accounts for monitoring. Just missing some things I've found in other competitor apps. I have a Vanguard account, and have downloaded the Fidelity app (no account).

Even without an account, the Fidelity app UX and news/research features seem more robust. Their initial greeting/feed page is cleaner and provides relevant, updated news stories. Even adding stocks/funds to the Watchlist is easier—always has the magnifying glass at top right of the app, in addition to having "Add symbol" button at the bottom of the Watchlist tab. Even the greeting of the Market Open/Close countdown clock is a nice touch. For news and research, I tend to check the Fidelity app or the Market Watch app, then switch back to Schwab.

The Vanguard app provides an easy, clear way to compare their own funds and ETFs in filtered lists—no need to search symbols individually. It would be great if Schwab provided this in-app for their own funds/ETFs, and even better if they provided a way to compare other funds/ETFs more easily, and search by sectors.

Lastly, it'd be great to be able to trade international stocks via the app (I haven't found that option yet, if it's already possible).

Hopefully, these features are possible to implement in the Schwab app soon. And time will tell how it progresses if the Schwab/TD deal goes through. Thank you for reading my feedback.

In regards to the app...
It’s easier to sign in to the app using my phone VS the website from my home computer...which although has 2FA... is a little cumbersome.
The app does make depositing from my checking account into a Schwab account rather easy!

On the website,
1) Many areas are pretty deep in the menus so it can be hard to remember where they reside when you only access them once or twice a year. Like naming accounts or the paperwork needed to transfer securities from one account to another, for example.

2) When listing Beneficiaries to my IRA and brokerage accounts... there’s no way (that I’ve found or a Schwab rep has showed me) to edit the Beneficiaries listing... it creates a PITA list to review. For example, a new Bene is created if a name is misspelled by caps or a single letter... so the list grows and grows and grows. - UGH!

3) I also have a TRUST set up with Schwab... and
A) the personnel don’t seem to be as top-notch as my local Schwab reps Trent Fifield, Scott Cullitan l, and DIANE ROEING (she’s the BEST)!
B) I prefer hard copies of my statements... the trust statements don’t arrive until the third week or later in the month... all my other Brokerage statements arrive in the second week...

4) BIGGEST BEEF - getting 1099’s out! Mid-February (fingers crossed) is late.:... please strive to get them out the First week of February (second at the latest)... any delay causes a ripple effect and only raises the stress levels for clients like me (& our Accountants).

Thanks for letting me bounce these concerns to you... perhaps some “Higher-up” in the Schwab Ivory tower will react and mend some of it...

Have a great rest of your 2021.

Tom

Overall, the app is pretty good for day to day monitoring of brokerage accounts and trades. I do have a few suggestions that would make it even better for me: 1. Allow users to see the settings for which securities have automatic reinvestment of dividends turned on and allow users to toggle this in the app. 2. Show some type of pie chart that breaks down my portfolio by asset class and then further by type (large cap, small cap, international, etc). Would be cool if the categories for this chart were customizable. 3. Need more information on stocks. Some stocks move extremely and yet nothing shows up in news or official filings. Would be really cool if there was a field where Schwab analysts could put notes on stocks for all to see (even if they’re wrong it would be nice to have that info available). An example of this is a particular stock in my portfolio that had trading halted for months due to a legal battle. This didn’t show up on news and I had to dig deep on the internet to figure out what was going on. 4. Cryptocurrencies—it would be really nice to include Bitcoin or other major cryptos in the “indices” section of the Markets tab. Spot price of gold too. 5. Annoying security settings. For users who use a VPN, the Schwab app frequently blacklists your IP and then you have to manually enter your password again to reauthenticate after manually disconnecting the VPN and switching to another server. The app is not VPN friendly but that is the only way I can safely browse the internet. Hope to see some of these integrated if possible! Thanks

Update 2/4/22: App is buggy and daily percentage move and account balance calculation changes unpredictability between multiple refreshes. App needs a “report bug” feature.

Updated 10/25

I love Schwab. But I absolutely loathe this app for stock and options trading.

1) No dark theme. C’mon, it’s 2018, get with the times. The white glare is painful if you try to daytrade on the road.
2) Poor display and non-intuitive interface. Unlike other apps like TOS or RH, option strikes, dates and prices are not neatly displayed in a row. You have to search for them. In day trading, time is money. Nobody wants to waste time to trade on Schwab when other apps work faster.
3) A better chart display with mobile friendly tools would be welcomed.

I know it’s challenging to be an effective banking and trading app at the same time. Perhaps Schwab should consider creating a stand-alone trading app to compete with Etrade, RH, Tastyworks, TOS and TDA etc.

At $4.95/trade plus contract fees, Schwab is not exactly cheap. But a low-cost trading platform like Tastyworks can easily beat your app. Schwab customers deserve a better mobile app for the prices we are paying.

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An app is supposed to make your life easier but this one doesn't. Schwab is a decent bank but needs to step up on its online offerings.

This mobile app is a major fail since I can't even log in. I am a bank (not brokerage) customer. A customer rep told me this app is ONLY for those with a High Yield Investor Checking account.

This company is trying to operate as a bank and brokerage but doesn't offer sufficient integration between the two. Either you integrate or release two apps separately for bank and brokerage. But customers should not be the ones running around figuring this out for you.

The "Talk to Chuck" icon is pretty cheesy. Combined with its circa-2004 bank website interface, I'd say Schwab needs to overhaul and redesign its mobile and Internet banking system.

Overall, I’ve used this app for quite some time. I’ve done trades through the app and transferred funds, etc. But my most frequent use is for bill paying. Unfortunately, the bill paying portion of the app requires that you select a date for payment using a “rolling” list of the dates such as “November 24” where you roll a month then a date followed by rolling in the year. The problem comes up that there is no way to tell the day of the week you’ve selected. Why is this important you ask? Because the app will reject you paying a bill on a holiday, a Saturday or a Sunday. So if the typical biller wants payment on a Monday and you decide to pay a few days in advance you may end up picking a Saturday. The app then notifies you that you’ve selected a “non-business day” forcing you to go back in and change the transaction leaving you to guess a new date to make payment on a business day. Very frustrating. Why couldn’t the app simply mark usable or unusable dates in some manner so you don’t have to keep going back and fourth trying to pick a date or go out of the app to find a regular calendar? I’ve pointed this out before but they’ve never addressed it.

Update of 31 July

The app has now incorporated the ability to see a calendar as to when a payment is able to be made on bill pay. Excellent update and I am now rating the app as 5 stars. One small point that I would like to see fixed deals with the addition of a memo to the check. While this function is available, I am finding that once I enter a memo to the check and hit the “review” button the memo does not carry forward into the final check approval window. I have to hit the “change” button on the review pane to go back to the entery window and re-hit the review button one more time to get the memo to appear on the final screen for approval. I’m using version 11.7.0.162.

March 1st 2023:
I appreciate this app for its banking features, but I think it needs a major overhaul on its UI design. The current interface looks outdated and dull compared to other trading apps like Robinhood or Webull, which have sleek, modern and visual effects that make trading more enjoyable and intuitive. I also find it frustrating that there is no way to check my realized gain and loss for any time spans within the app. This is a crucial feature for any trader who wants to track their performance and optimize their strategy. Please update the app with these features as soon as possible.

On a positive note, I want to thank the devs for fixing the Greek options issues that were plaguing the app before. However, I still think they are highly inaccessible and require a hold-down to view them. It would be much better if they were displayed on the same screen as the option chain or at least had a toggle button to switch between them.

Overall, I think this app has potential but needs some serious improvements on its UI design and functionality. I hope you take my feedback into consideration and make this app more user-friendly and competitive with other trading apps on the market.

Old Review:
The Schwab Mobile app is great, but it's lacking in one key area: the ability to view options/derivatives Greek values on open positions. As a frequent user, it's frustrating to have to switch between multiple apps or wait until I'm at my desktop to keep track of my options. The lack of Greek values makes it difficult to make informed decisions, especially in high-stakes scenarios like market volatility or critical trading periods. Having this feature would greatly enhance the functionality of the app and provide a more seamless user experience. It would also help me better manage my risk exposure and monitor my options positions in real-time. Overall, I highly recommend this app, but I hope the developers will consider adding the ability to view options/derivatives Greek values in the future. I will change the review once there is a change or update that adds Greeks for the options chains.

The app gets better with each upgrade. I really like the additional features for option traders: Idea Hub with actionable trade suggestions, Trade Calculator which tells you potential profit/loss before you place the trade, option chains with all the Greeks and theoretical values included and Watchlist where you can store possible trades until you make your final decision. I no longer use the Schwab desktop apps and do all my trading from my iPad. Trading enhancements and access to even more account details are on the way. Keep up the great work Schwab, I haven't used a mouse for months now.

5/14: I agree with the other reviewers who have posted negative feedback. This "upgrade" is a huge step backward. If you have not downloaded it yet, stick with the previous version.

9/15: this so called upgrade is an absolute atrocity. It is totally useless and I am no longer able to do option trading with this particular software. I have filed a complaint with my financial advisor at Schwab and have told him if this particular problem is not fixed soon, I will have no other choice but to transfer my account to TD Ameritrade; it is certainly not acceptable and below the dignity of Schwab to release alpha software such as this to its customers who have been faithful to them and in my particular case I have been with Schwab since 1986 and I'm now thinking of leaving this broker simply because of this ill advised release; if you have not downloaded this piece of useless crap, please do not do so since your trading will be paralyzed completely if you own an iPad or iPhone. Charlie needs to know about this and fire the developer who heads this project.

9/20: just installed this new upgrade to the upgrade. They still have not fixed the option trading function which no longer works. Someone must be listening however in San Francisco: I complained to my financial advisor and to the chief options advisor for my area, and they did at least attempt to remedy the situation. Keep on complaining until they get this right. This app in a functioning mode is an absolute must for iPhone and iPad users.

the inconsistent attention to usability drives me nuts... small gripes, but still.

when you're using the mobile app to deposit a check, you take pictures of the front and back of the check. it was a lovely day when they upgraded the app so that accepting the photo of the front of the check automatically set you up to take a picture of the back... without having to click a 'take photo of back' button... makes perfect sense, streamlines the process, all good.

unfortunately, if you use a fob to generate a 6-digit security number for an additional level of security, the same usability sensibility is not offered. on a desktop machine, you enter your userid and password and are taken to a second page where you can enter the number generated by your fob... with the cursor already in the input field, ready for you to type your number. on the iphone app, though, you have to click into the 'one time password' input field before you can enter your number. why? why not put the cursor there for the user? it would be so easy to remove that unnecessary click.

also...

the iphone app offers the use of touchID... but only if you're NOT using a security fob. since newer iphones have and support touchID, why can't schwab support use of touchID when logging in from a mobile device that supports it, and use of the security fob/token when logging in from a desktop browser that doesn't? i have canceled my security fob so i can switch to using touchID on my phone... but that means that desktop logins will be just userid and password... and no additional security. who thought that was a good idea?

speaking of security lameness... why does schwab, in this day and age, limit passwords to 8 characters? seriously? how does this communicate attention to detail and security mindfulness? i have been asking every representative i've spoken with over the last two years to pass this feedback on to the development team, and they suggested i post a review here. really.

i did discover that your userid can be much longer, so i have a longer passphrase userid with a (god help us all in this day and age) 8-character password.

schwab: get your act together. please.

My overall experience with Charles Schwab has been pretty good. I needed a local bank, and there are plenty of branches near me. So I signed up for the basic checking account with little intention to use the brokerage account. This thought was furthered when first using the app.

There is A LOT of info right in front of you, and non of it is particularly friendly. It’s all monotoned besides a small bar in front of the boxes. Overall, I would call it cluttered, but functional. The app would benefit from basic changes: changing the color of the boxes, rounding corners, and minimizing the amount of boxes on the home screen. I’m fine with clicking on an investment box to see the individual performance of my brokerage account vs my IRA account, but I do not like having to scroll to see my checking account.

I’ve been using Charles Schwab for the entire year, and I still find new learning curves with the app, and different annoyances. The lack of zelle, while understandable, is annoying. The amount of clicking I had to do to figure out where to buy bonds, only to see I’m not eligible for some reason is annoying. The longer loading time for some screens for no seeming reason is annoying. The complete lack of swiping in navigation is outdated and annoying. However, for each of these annoyances and learning curves, there’s also been a positive experience.

Charles Schwab as a bank, has been amazing. It made me invest beyond just a portfolio at a young age. This has been a fun experience, that has also taught me a lot. They have also has helped me start an IRA for retirement and get a head start. While I use other services such as Wealthfront, I have far and a way learned the most from using Charles Schwab. And finally, the free use of atms is amazing, especially as someone who is about to spend a year abroad for school.

While the banking app is not as nice as my experience with capital one, discover, or wealthfront, the banking itself has been amazing. They have also been putting in effort to improve it by adding features such as stock slices and a new assistant. However, I still hope they overall the app and invest in some UX.

The UX I’d give a 2/5
The bank a 4.5/5
Overall 3/5

Seriously, I never thought I’d ever write that as a title. Charles Schwab is absolutely amazing. I’ve never written a review before but I felt so compelled to write this one.

Ever since I switched banks, I’ve never had one bad experience. Even when I opened it, there was a brief hold placed on my account due to the Patriot Act. I called and was immediately connected with a real person located in Chicago. They worked quick, got the hold removed AND gave me $100 for the inconvenience (I thought of it as a minor issue but I loved how they went above and beyond for me).

In the time I’ve been with them, the 3 things I love the most is their debit card, app, and customer service.

The checking card is free to use at any ATM and no foreign transaction fees (plus they reimburse you any ATM fee incurred by other institutions). Since they have no brick and mortar banks, this is the compromise. Try to find that with any other bank.

The app is truly amazing- really focuses on the markets and helping you get all the info you need and want quickly. Plus want to deposit a check but not wait days for it to be processed? Every time I’ve deposited a check, the money has hit my account within minutes.

I’ve already hit on their customer service, but to add on, recently I had some fraudulent charges on my debit card. So I called them to see what those transactions were about, and within 15 minutes of me just placing the call, they reimbursed me those funds and issued me a new card (2 day shipping). No questions asked, no headaches. Just great customer service and quick action.

A few other things to hit on, their interest rates on all their accounts are better than all the competitors’. The brokerage is fantastic and fees are extremely low. Plus they have intelligent investor portfolios which I HIGHLY suggest. And they have a podcast to help you learn and keep up with the markets.

In the years I’ve been with them, it really seems like they have your best interest in mind, and they strive to give you nothing but the best service possible. It’s weird to say because it’s so rare, but every call and interaction I’ve had with Charles Schwab, I’ve always found extremely pleasant.

I recommend them to everyone I can.

Between the in-App Account Balances main page and the specific account transaction history page, to the website main balance page and website specific account page, I am given FOUR wildly different balances for the same account, none of which reflect what’s actually in my account. How the #%^am I suppose to know what I can afford if I have no way of seeing how much money I have?!?!

Purchases also sometimes show up within minutes and other times days later, the money being spent, but the account balance not reflecting any changes. And other way around where money is deposited, it SHOWS it’s deposited and available on account overview, then on account transactions where it should say $x.xx deposited or even Pending, but it shows last purchase as yesterday and no hint of having spent money TODAY, rendering the account useless as not only is my balance PRIOR to the deposit inaccurate but the deposited money isn’t available to use.

So pretend you had $20 on Monday in your Schwab Account. And you spent $5 Monday. And on Tuesday you know you have another $20 being deposited, given that it was already sent from another bank on Monday, per the time stamped receipt you have in hand. You also know you spent $5 on Tuesday morning. So Tuesday evening when you want to buy dinner, you think “Let’s see I should have $20-$5-$5 = $10; plus $20 direct deposit from yesterday = $30”. So you go to buy a $15 meal and your card is declined. “Oh geez, how could this be!? I better check my account!” “Well, shucks, I don’t know ma’am, my account says I have $15 In the app!” You thumb over on your app to the transaction history, and it says $0 Pending Transactions, then it shows $5 spent on Monday leaving you with an account total of $15. Well, actually you spent that $5 earlier so you really have $10 in your account. But WAIT what about my $20 deposit? So you log on to the desktop site, and guess what, sheeesh nothing to worry about you do indeed have $30 according to the main account page. Better double check! Hm, how odd, it says in my transactions page that I have $10. ? So do I have $15, $10, or $30?

Seems unacceptable to me and has literally screwed me over more times than I can count, thinking I have money for gas and food only to find out after spending the money that 30 transactions and $400 wasn’t populated into their f{^]^{website or app in time.

The worst when it comes to trading. I was in a position where I tried to close out a large number of options contracts while up 30%. I tried to do this on the app and it froze for over a minute, and then kicked me out of the app. By the time the app loaded again I was already down 30%. This happened two days in a row. The second day I called and let them know of the situation while still in positions. The broker that I was speaking with stated that I can close out at my own risk while they do an investigation. Closed out for a 25% loss while they did their “research”.

My situation was escalated to Tech support and they walked me through normal issues to fix any issues “delete app and redownload”. As soon as I did this, first attempt to place a trade prompted me with an error message stating “services unavailable at the moment”. Then I got kicked out of the app again. Log back in, and tried to place another trade. I swiped down to get new quotes as a test, and within 10 seconds, the app freezes for over a minute, and then proceeds to kick me out again. This time around, I recorded my screen for “evidence”. When IT called me back I let them know of the error that I uploaded, and the video recording.

This is when I asked for a trade correction and they tell me they would investigate. I have to call them back after 2 days to get any sort of info. The associate assigned to my case was OOO and called me the following day. He then stated that technology fails at times and that it could be my phone and an isolated incident, and would not honor any sort of trade correction without “evidence”. When I told him about the video he said we not interested in it. Now have to wait for IT to finish their investigation and come to a final decision.

My trading partners also use the app to trade with different phones (not just iPhones) they also have the same issue. When they called today to get a trade correction after I told them what happened. An associate on a recorded line stated “no one should trade on the app because it is sub-par”. This coming from an associate who knows how crappy the app is.

So now I have to wait for the investigation to be completed by a Schwab associate who wouldn’t do anything to harm their company. All while being told that “in the user agreement that you sign we state that we cannot be responsible for any errors”. No matter what option I had taken (trading in different platforms such as the desktop) I was guaranteed to lock in a very large loss with no other option because of the app kicking me out.

I would highly recommend not to use the app, and with the associate acknowledging that the app is sub par, it is only a matter of time before a class action lawsuit comes to their door. Do yourself a favor and use a different trading platform.

Changing my rating:

From 1 star to 5, here’s why:

1) no fee on penny stocks. I don’t buy a lot of them but a company I’m familiar with trades on the otc market and I love them and had to own some. I’m entering the position slowly but it would cost $10 a trade on ETRADE and is unavailable on Webull and robinhood.

2) 24/7 365 help. I needed to get some questions answered about stock splits and options contracts. While this is generally a very complicated situation I was able to find a detailed pdf explainer and then confirmed with a real licensed agent that what I was seeing was correct. I also was warned that doing what I’m thinking about doing is risky, which I already understood but it was nice that they are looking out. While I’m not at all crazy about this app, I’ve found out it gets the job done, however when o want to quickly check premiums I still use robinhood. The interface is much faster.

Wow idk how these stuffy old rich dudes think they’re going to compete with everybody’s favorite green app. Ridiculous.

1) Paper application to request options trading? Robinhood this is a simple toggle button in settings

2) After making a deposit from my account. My account got restricted and I got an email from their Risk and Loss Prevention team. They wanted a copy of my DL and a copy of a check to verify I own the account. I had verified using trial deposits and my little credit union didn’t include account ownership info on the data that’s transmitted with an ACH transaction for some reason. Schwab removed the restriction quickly but I used to work at a bank and getting contacted by LP is stressful.

3) I transferred money to them like Monday via ACH. These are verified funds, they can take 3 days to settle. I wouldn’t expect to be able to withdraw my funds, and while I can trade, I can’t transfer my funds between my own accounts at Schwab.

4) When opening my account I somehow opened two brokerage accounts because apparently the checking account just comes with it. So when I requested options trading through the paper form, I didn’t do it for the account that has the funds in it, I can’t move the funds, and I’d have to fill out another paper application to request it on the other account. Also I think one or both of my brokerage accounts has margin enabled which I didn’t want. I learned this because I accidentally bought a share of tsla using the account that had a zero balance and the order went through without any warnings that I’d be using margin. So I had to talk to the trading desk and they fixed it right away but still

5) Their options trading system looks like it was designed from a paper trading order ticket from 1929. On Robinhood it’s dead simple to buy or sell calls and puts - on Schwab it doesn’t show you the amount of premium you will pay or receive until you confirm the order. (This I found out is not true, you can see it on the all in one trade ticket)

These guys may be OGs but they need a lot of help. The app should be a Robinhood clone, literally this app tries to do everything and doesn’t do anything very well. The policies and account opening procedures at Schwab are antiquated and need to be updated to the speed at which modern brokerages work.

Jun2022- they are still forcing updates (and minor updates at that, i get forcing a major sec. update but not every update) :( Apr2020- forced update again Feb 2020- I was coming here to update this to a 4 star review, however developers please don’t ever force users to do an app update ( like I saw today). Users may be somewhere with low or slow data/WiFi and just want to check their portfolio performance, yet are forced to do a 100mb update before they can access anything. need to be able to see filled orders from more than a few days ago. improve this pls feb2019- The point of touch ID is to avoid passcodes, I have nothing against passcodes as a backup, but don’t force/require your users to use them. I don’t want to provide my iOS passcode to schwab , and I don’t need it keep track of 5x different credentials for Schwab JUST to check my balance (while at the same time they don’t offer any kind of withdrawal lockdown or security nor totp codes, ie security where it would actually matter beyond show and PR sec.) there is no way to see your executed trades (order history) older than 2days in the app. unacceptable update November -I would like to see a tool that shows your allocation based on sector/ Industry. (ie 28% technology, 30% energy etc.) . Or more tools related to this in terms of a big picture view of your portfolio. I’m aware of the bubble tool. (I would like to note I had to call the 800 schwab support number about something, and the rep, based in the USA , was super helpful and super knowledgeable. also on the 800-number, I was forced to do the voice password set up, this initially concerned me as I wasn’t authenticated at all prior, however I was happy to see that I got an email five or so days later asking me to complete the Voice password setup, if it was me baking the prior phone calls and if I wish to set it up. +1 for security , +1 one for the good support rep). this review will become a five star one, once I see some new features added to the Schwab app. I don’t think I’ve seen anything added in the prior 12 months. update (apr 2018) - another unacceptable issue I’ve come across in the Charles Schwab app, is when you click on client services (ie customer support/help) there are only two options: 1-click to call Charles Schwab (calls the 800 number) 2-provide app Feedback. There is no option to send a message to support nor live chat (which is what should be under the in app “client services” section). frankly cs should just remove the client services button as it’s totally useless, and doesn’t provide any kind of services for the client (beyond providing the appearance of some kind of client services/support- ie anyone can Google: Charles Schwab 800 number) Apparently Charles Schwab doesn’t understand security or information disclosure’s. After wasting time with the Charles Schwab intelligent portfolio app (which requires a brand new CS account), I decided to try this app. I was highly annoyed when I went to enable touch ID, and was asked to create a new six digit pin (I am not going to give CS my standard iOS pin, so thus I now need to record a 10th credential for my CS account, which is ridiculous). Either allow touch ID in accordance with standard Apple app requirements, or don’t allow the feature.

Edit 1:
Title: Important Requests
Date: 10 December
Review:
needs some features to compete with robinhood. i'm going to start using robinhood for these features:
1) add stock slices for ALL stock AND ETFs - currently has only S&P 500 stocks and no ETFs.
2) change minimum stock slice investment from $5 to $1
3) add auto-invest so users can choose something like "auto-invest $8 in AAPL every trading day" or "auto-invest $4 in SCHG every trading day"
4) allow for scheduled transfers from all account types to all other account types. why can i only schedule a transfer from my checking to my brokerage when the stock market is open?
5) on Summary page, my checking account always shows posted transactions multiple days after the transactions occurred, and that then messes with my $/% stats for the day. very annoying. also if i transfer money from my Schwab checking to an outside account like Fundrise, the checking will show the $/% decrease, but the Fundrise account that i added to my Summary using the "Add a Non-Schwab Account" button doesn't show any increase or decrease; this makes it so my $/% change stats are always WAY off and are therefore useless
6) Non-Schwab accounts on the Summary page only show Value, NOT Day Change $/% - PLEASE FIX THIS - that would also fix half the problem above in bullet point #5
7) worry about things like dark-mode later; the things above are WAY more important to your loyal customers

Original:
Title: Stock Slices is missing ETFs
Review:
I’m in my 20s. Please listen to my requests if you want to compete for young customers‼️‼️‼️ Watchlists should be able to hold an unlimited number of stocks/ETFs. I have duplicates within different watchlists because I can only put 40 stocks/ETFs in each watchlist. There is no “Alphabetize Symbols” button within watchlists on the mobile app. There should be an option within each watchlist to “Always Automatically Alphabetize Symbols.” The “Device Watchlist” is useless to me, yet I can’t delete it. Also, the stocks/ETFs within my portfolio should be in alphabetical order by SYMBOL, not by the full name. EDIT: When you click on any stock or ETF, it should show how many shares you own of it, your cost per share, etc. You should also be able to reorder all the info. For example, I would like to see the yield at the top, then the number of holdings (for ETFs), etc EDIT 2: You should be able to view things in alphabetical order by ticker symbol in a lot of places where you currently can’t do that. You should also be able to see the holdings within an ETF, the percentages for each holding, etc (all the stuff you can see on a desktop computer). Also, on both desktop computers and on mobile, the number of shares you own in a certain stock or ETF should be visible in many places (like when you click on the page for the stock/ETF) EDIT 4: Yahoo Finance app shows the spot price for gold, and I cans input how many ounces I own and what my cost basis is for each ounce. The Schwab app (and Schwab.com) should implement these features. It would be awesome if I could see this info next to my Equities and ETFs in the main positions page‼️ EDIT 5: ETF research within the mobile app needs to be improved. Can’t even see the holdings within ETFs. Needs to be improved to show all the same information as the desktop website EDIT 6: App needs dark mode, unlimited stocks within watchlists, your holdings shown on the screen for each stock/ETF, add/remove stocks from watchlists by checking or unchecking boxes (like on YouTube when adding videos to your playlists), show holdings within ETFs EDIT 7: Stock Slices needs to add ETFs and popular stocks like TSLA‼️‼️‼️Also customers should be able to buy way more than 10 fractional shares at a time. Also customers should get able to preset groups of stocks, so they can click one button and it inserts all of the stocks they want to buy. Also it should be possible to click on stocks I already own so I can buy more fractional shares of those stocks!

Hello everyone. Writing this review to provide my first experiences as a new customer who joined for the checking account/iPhone remove deposit. Everything looks good up front, but when the rubber-meets-the-road, Schwab just isn't able to deliver. Schwab needs to set up its game and that likely will not happen with the current set of product owners inside the organization.

Here are the experiences and first impressions on both as a customer and with the iPhone app ~ because remember the iPhone app will only ever be as good as the services offered by Schwab.

• When logged into your account and viewing the MAIN account page, less than 100 characters of the a very full page are relevant to a customer's account. The reset of the page are full of promotion for other products, legal disclosures and a lot of useless and/or redundant content.

• Schwab really isn't prepared for internet banking in the 21st century. Be prepared for very old-school ways.
Schwab is unable to find a way to remain conservative while embracing the nature of the internet, so it chose to remain conservative. Do not expect a current or efficient experience from their website or iPhone application.

• An amazing amount of ever present disclosures and legalese everywhere. Every page of the iPhone app, 2/3rds of the Account screen on their website... every time you launch an activity from the iPhone app you have to sift through disclosures. Again, stodgy old world business behavior defended using the word 'conservative'. More like afraid. There are ways to legally inform customers and protect all interests without shoving it down customer throats at every opportunity.

• Investment and banking information all mixed together, both online and on the iPhone app. Even though you might only want to being a banking transaction, you have to guide your way though a mix of investment all the time. Your interfaces, options...everything... mixing investment up w/banking and that really clutters life, slows down time on task.

• Signed up for a checking account, which comes at the imposed price of opening an investment account. Signed up for remote deposit a week ago and was told I would hear back on status in 36 hours. Haven't heard anything and with each inquiry I learn of a new requirement. All requirements have been met, but still not able to make a remote deposit.

• Do not expect much in terms of their website or iPhone application. Everything 'functions' but just is not designed well and favors the kitchen sink approach over the minimalistic focused approach.

• Here are some gotcha's I didn't know about:
•• Schwab started capping remote deposit check amount.
•• Depositing a check (ie at a local branch) applies the funds to your investor account, requiring a manual switch to fund your checking account.
•• Can't start using remote deposit/capture unless you have $250 in the account. Odd number, but OK.
•• Depositing a check (including remote deposit) puts the event in a FIVE DAY hold. Yes, all checks deposited are held 5
•• Try to write a review on their web site, but can't. Endless loop of being asked to sign-in, and unable to locate review functions once signed in.

Charles Schwab - are you reading?
You venture out into an online checking account and put forward the process for remote capture through mobile devices. You understand, then, that these features and products are going to attract a certain type of customer who is comfortable performing banking transactions online. These users are savvy, experienced and have a minimum set of online expectations that Schwab keeps missing. New blood is needed to support the seasoned an tenured product owners who are still afraid of the internet. Either do it right, or don't do it all.

Everyone - oh, the iPhone app, right? Cluttered with all kinds of functions... mixing checking in with investments. Legal disclosures all over. I'm sure this is a great app for long-time customers of Charles Schwab, however generally disappointing.

The shares of stock CDE were liquidated in October 2023 at $2.51 per share which represented a $0,40 a share from the pruchase price. This stock has been held in the two accounts for about a year and was traded frequently near dips and peaks until it plunged over several months during the time which we held onto it. We need to be "made whole" by replacing the stock in our accounts.

09/11/2023, we completed an online Schwab IRA rollover request form as well as faxing the Wells Fargo account information to Schwab. This rollover was from Wells Fargo to Schwab. We telephoned Schwab the next day to confirm receipt of completed/required material. As of today, 10/30/2023, funds were not received into the Schwab IRA account. Schwab never contacted us about a delay or pending issues. Between these two dates, we have spent more than six hours on the telephone regarding this issue. Today, by telephone we cancelled this transfer, and we intend to work with another firm.

I was told some time ago that I was enrolled in the special DRIP program for CRF. (You get the NAV price rather that the market price).

NAV id $6.49 per share and market is $8.40 per share. Checking today I find I'm getting the market price on my DRIP.

I'm been getting NAV prices at TD Ameritrade for the last 5 years. Why are the brokers at Schwab smart enough to fix this?

ON 6/9 AT 930 AM I went to sell 100 shares of META for a profit of a couple thousand dollars. I entered to trade 100 shares. The schwab software began as a Buy. I think thats the default. I said to myself NO I want to SELL 100 shares. So I entered a SELL TO CLOSE 100 shares. Then when the price changed I tried to get closer pricing to the market so I could exit. That is when the software automatically changed my SELL order to a BUY order. I wanted to sell since the very beginning but the faulty software sucks! I ended BUYING another 100 shares I did not want! I dont have the money for 200 shares! WTF? But since I expect nothing to come from this I am looking for an attorney. I [censored]ing HATE Schwab.

I was recommended that schwab was a great bank to use when traveling. Unfortunately, during my second day of my trip they locked me card. I had no cellphone service outside of the country. I had to call five times through a foreign sim card in my phone to have my card unlocked. The first 4 reps were nice and patient but unfortunately kindness doesn’t pay for travel expenses. The last rep was rude and didn’t give me any comfort. Couldn’t unlock my card either for me. Schwab was supposed to make my trip convenient and it made it a stressful nightmare. If it was such an issue then I wish they would’ve told me from the beginning that i would have this issues so i wouldn’t even Bank with them. Very disappointed. I’ll be closing my account with them.

There is a terrible, consistent bug in the Bill Pay feature. Since this is what I need the app for most frequently, it’s become virtually unusable.

If I enter a payment amount but don’t try to adjust the pay date, everything’s fine.

But if I try to select a pay date on the calendar the app will either:
1) freeze
2) accept the new date but erase my payment amount, so I can’t submit...so I re-enter the $ amount and the problem repeats endlessly
3) crash and shut down entirely

If I don’t try to change the date — just leave the default setting — I can usually submit successfully. Then if I return to the scheduled payment and use the “Change” function, I can usually adjust the date. But what a PITA.

I can’t find anyplace on the desktop site to report this.

If someone in Schwab is reading these reviews please give me a sign... Ok, here goes.
1) the app doesn’t allow to sort watchlists by column, items are pre-sorted by symbol name. Please support sorting by value or number of shares, as well as any other column and persist changes between app launches.
2) Full-screen charts are not real time, screen real estate is poorly managed (lots of whitespace), no action buttons like buy or sell.
3) Gain/Loss tab doesn’t include positions opened today.
4) Can’t specify order brackets.
5) Alerts set up in the app are not visible to Street Smart Edge and vice versa.
6) LOTS of annoying spinning indicators when moving around the app. Somehow Yahoo Finance and FINVIZ provide a much snappier user experience for free even though they are not brokerages like Schwab.

With Charles Schwab’s reputation, I expected more. Quite frankly I use a lot of brokerages and a lot of investing platforms. Schwab is undeniably the worst of all of them.

Whether you are accessing your account through their website or mobile app, it is virtually unusable. The UI/UX is convoluted, it is impossible to effect real time (or even remotely acceptable timeframe) actions on either platform.

Heaven forbid you try and move your money out of Schwab… you will enter the abyss of their dumpster fire of customer service which bounces you around from directorate to directorate - they are apparently incapable of any intra-Schwab communication. This is evidently by design… they have an interest in holding your money as long as possible.

0 of 5 stars… do not recommend. There are cheaper and more effective brokerages.

Don’t rely on this app, ever. If you need to move quickly on a trade, while mobile, you can NOT trust that the app will open and log you in.

This is, of course, in their terms of service, but the app specifically has an added layer of uncertainty. You can’t guarantee availability of the service. That I understand. But the app will FORCE you to update or close the app. It will not allow you to simply make your trade and update later.

Updating the app is nearly impossible on most 3G and 4G connections. It will never load. When you need it most, while away from your desk, it will tell you there is an update and close. You’re not going to lose minutes — you’re going to lose the trading day.

Don’t trust it. Don’t make trades you may need to close out when you’re not at your desk.

I’ve lost money relying on this app. Don’t make the same mistake.

Strongly consider other brokers! Schwab will mislead you. I signed up for a new account and executed trades for 3 WEEKS before my account was suddenly restricted. After waiting to talk with someone for over 2 hours, I was told that my account was not approved and needed to be liquidated. In other words, Schwab changed their mind about me, and I was forced to sell my shares in a down market. I LOST MONEY, and the only reason I was given was some vague reference to a credit report, which I know is not an issue because I have other brokerage accounts with some of the other big guys. Just absolutely mind blowing and infuriating. Schwab, how are you going to let someone trade for almost a month before changing your mind and shutting down the account? It’s wrong, and I want my money back. Potential customers, just save yourself the headache and sign up somewhere else.

It has its moments, but the mobile Schwab app is EXTREMELY slow, when searching tickers, going from one page to another or simply selecting trade parameters such as “bid,” “number of shares/contracts,” etc, you receive the spinning circle of death, and you have to either shut down the app and start over again, or wait an unspecific amount of time for the app to unfreeze and even then, you’ll still have to restart. By the time you’re able to finish putting an order together, you THEN have to submit it, which IF everything goes smooth, you’ll have to wait an additional 2-5 minutes to reach the FINAL page to FINALLY submit your order, but by the time this has all happened, guess what? The price of shares/contracts have drastically changed and you have to start ALL over again. You pretty much can only perform market orders with any resemblance of speed, and that’s if you’re lucky. Good luck!

How can I own my tomorrow when no one calls me back regarding nearly $100,000 of uninvested bank sweep account. I left messages and emails with specific names of advisers with requests for CD rates and constructing a portfolio. No response and I registered a complaint. The one thing I liked about Schwab was the MA branches, but unfortunately not even my local assigned adviser wouldn’t call or email me for 2020 when earlier before the pandemic, we could have diversified with an asset allocation and rebalancing. Regrettably, I liquidated but kept my checking account because my SSD monthly benefit is deposited along with other withdrawals. The dispute and fraud Departments have been effective when needed. It’s a shame that I had to leave the Schwab playground but I was going from swing to swing with no solid advice. I’m now a satisfied customer of Vanguard with less fees. Herstory1776

This app has a major flaw. When you select a stock in your WatchList for more information, the Bid/Ask prices/sizes are not current! They lag by around 2 minutes, sometimes more, which can be an eternity when you need real-time info to make a trade decision. Additionally, repeated swipe-downs of the window to force refreshes do cause updates, but again, these updates are 2+ minute lagging actual prices/sizes. I’ve noticed, this primarily occurs in the mornings, and it seems that later in the trading day the quotes become real-time, so it could be related to CS’s servers being overloaded. Whatever the reason, it’s a BIG deal and needs to be fixed! Currently, the only real-time quotes I can get in the morning hours is the WatchList summary quote and the Trade window quote, neither of which show Bid/Ask “Sizes”, which are critical for trade decisions. Please fix, or I’m going to have to switch to a different company.

If you can get in, 20 percent of the time, I have been with Schwab for 40 years and your mobile app has cost me thousands. No one cares. I have spoken to reps and I.T.
no one from I. T. will return my calls. The reps are the same.
How would you like to have your life savings in Schwab, and the Dow opens down 250 points and the voice mail says,
Because we have so much volume we don‘t have enough people to answer phones and you get on you laptop, and you can’t get the computer to connect to your server and you lose over a thousand dollars.
For god’s sake get some servers in there to handle the volume. Is Schwab reliable?
In know way shape or form. Your web personnel or whoever you buy your service
from is cheating you. Customers are losing thousand of dollars because you aren’t reliable. It’s a problem that is easy to fix if you have a robust system or software on your system. There’s been 2 dozen times this year that I have lost $1,000 because you can’t communicate to someone at Schwab or the internet to sell stocks or bonds. Buy storage and servers to increase the speed of you network.

Just updated my software to 15.0.2 and I lost the ability to use Faceid. After initially losing it I thought it would be easy to Reestablish it, but that was where the fun really started.

My login now sequence is now a joke = 1. App prompts me to please enter password (I enter), at that point faceid allows entry of autofill password. I have to click Login to execute using password, but that doesn’t actually take me into my accounts. After the password is autofilled I get a message stating that I have to create a six digit passcode, which must be entered TWICE, in order to use faceid to access my accounts. After I enter the six digit code twice, finally, it allows me to access my accounts.

Summarizing: 1. Tap once to autofill password. 2. Tap again to click login after password is entered. 3. Tap a third time to to login using password. Tap a fourth time to enable faceid. 4. Tap fifth-tenth time to enter a six digit code (which is technically six taps). 5. Tap eleventh-sixteenth time to re-enter the six digit code (another six taps). 16 taps to access my accounts - FUN. TIMES.

Schwab please reach out to the app developers and have them attack this immediately.

I e been a long time customer and user of this app on both iPhone and iPad. The old version worked flawlessly. The new version is terrible! First, it cannot maintain connection reliably over 1 minutes. This results in screen freezes, errors displayed - but worse is that orders are either not placed or duplicated. Schwab won’t honor these software mistakes. Furthermore, quotes are inconsistent and often wrong or severely delayed. When I say inconsistent, portfolio may say one current price, while order screen shows another and watchlist yet a third! Speaking of watchlists - they revamped them to “improve” but they ended up making almost unusable. You no longer change position of symbol in watchlist. Basically all you can do is delete and re-add from “edit”. Terrible. Old lists lock up after a couple of refreshes. New list often stop working with “oops - something went wrong”. Forcing you to end the app and re-login. Whoever does software testing for this app should be fired! It’s definitely not ready for prime time. It will fail on you during the most critical times that will often cost you real money! After more than 25 years with Schwab, this new version will probably FORCE me to go to another company.