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AS per my letter to ETRADE: BEWARE OF THEM!
ETRADE Securities
671 N. Glebe Road, 10th Floor
Arlington, Va. 22203
Re: Account: xxxxxx
Attn. Mr. Donald Layton
Mr Layton,
To be brief:
With the condition of the stock market, I thought that this would be a great opportunity to purchase some stock. I was looking for a expedient solution, and ETRADE looked like a viable option. I was ready to do some trades.
I transferred $2000.00 into an ETRADE account this weekend. I did this via your online website. After making the transfer from my bank account to ETRADE (transaction complete) I found that there was a four day hold period on my funds. I wasn’t too happy about that, but it was too late.
I contacted ETRADE today (10/08) and found out that there is an additional 7 day hold on my funds, though it was verified that you are indeed in possession of my funds as of today. In essence that gives you the use of my funds for another 7 days, and there are (to my disappointment) still no trades for me. It seems very unreasonable considering that we are in an age of electronic transfers that you would hold my funds for such a length of time.
This is ridicules and bad business. I had hopes of doing some trades, but you guys are so hard to work with. I also spent a lot of time on the phone to your representatives trying to sort this thing out. I was put on hold for a long time. You should release my funds immediately. I wish to close this account immediately. I expect to be refunded my money immediately.
THIS HAS BEEN A HASSLE AND A BIG DISAPPOINTMENT. I will not recommend ETRADE to any of my friends, (all who invest heavily). Close my account and refund my funds. I will file an FTC complaint. This is a bad policy that needs to be corrected.
My elderly (92 years old) mother has money in e-trade and I have been trying to get it out to pay for her assisted care that she now needs. E-trade is making it almost impossible. They won't honor the power of attorney I have (which is legal and was done in a lawyer's office), they had my Mom on the phone for 23 minute grilling her asking her all kinds of info which she struggled to provide (she has dementia). She finally provided it all and then they transferred the call and made her do it again. Then they said that because she had dementia they couldn't accept her answers even though they were correct (after grilling her for over 20 minutes twice!). They had a power of attorney form that they insisted I had to use (couldn't use my legal one from the lawyer) but I had to get it notarized and my Mom was in rehab recovering from a fall and couldn't walk. I finally got someone to come to rehab to notarize it and sent it all in. Then they said they needed a copy of her id, which I sent them. Now they said since she has dementia, her signing their power of attorney doesn't hold and I need a complete medical history of her dementia signed from a doctor (isn't this in violation of HIPPA?). I am still fighting with them trying to get her money. I have had to contact my congressman and I now have the consumer protection agency involved. Don't invest with e-trade...you will never be able to get your money back out.
Going through the exact same thing. Did you ever get it resolved?
Jill will you share your experience? Does the congressman help with these issues?
I am a victim of fraud through etrade. They decided to close the I investigation within 24 hours before submittingal my documents.
I have been trading for 20 years and have several brokerage accounts. I closed my etrade account 1 month after opening it. They have the least knowledgable reps on the planet and the customer service is horrifying - 30 to 40 minute waits to talk to someone when the idiots in the compliance department freeze your account - for trying to transfer money out into another account with your name on it! Unreal I have never seen anything like this place. FINRA should shut them down
Unfortunately if you really want to be sure that funds are immediately available in any brokerage account, WIRE the funds to them (especially with a new account). Electronic Funds Transfers (EFT) are relatively slow and won't clear for 3-5 days, depending on whether a weekend in involved and the actual time you initiated the transfer. Your bank will inform you on how to WIRE funds and their fee for this service. Your brokerage firm will let you know the information you need to WIRE funds directly to them.
Regarding the unrelated comment by badbluemoon, ETrade does not make any recommendations. They will only execute your trande and depend on you to know what you are buying. So there is no way that they can solicit you to buy a particular security. If you happen to call them, they will only inform you of what is available. Auction rate securities were very popular for awhile until the stock market crash in 2008. Meanwhile most investor who purchase these securities have been reimbursed at par.
They did almost the identical thing to me referenced by Mchristo above. If you are still reading this did FINRA side with the crooks? They are a kangaroo Court, the fox guarding the hen house.
E*Trade effectively stole, no stole as in thieves, $50, 000.00 from my IRA account in December 2007.
They committed fraud by selling to me on a solicitied basis no less, a security that just 4 weeks later was illiquid. This trash is an Auction Rate Security. The former CEO was dumping them in his own account in the early fall of 2007 and in E*trades house account. meanwhile the little pos' "brokers-liverworts" there were selling them as cash equivalent, money market funds, short term AAA rated short term bonds. Nothing was further from the truth! To this day I cannot access MY funds, and E*Turd just tells me to go pound sand.
STAY AWAY UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE ROBBED BY A GANG OF THUGS! The "folks" at this bucket shop make Poncho Villa look like a guardian angel, imo.
The latest with E-trade is their false advertising of immediately available funds whe you transfer from one E-Trade to another E-trade.
I made an on-line transfwr, received notfication that funds would be made available immediately. When I checked the account details they were in the balance but not available yet. Since the transaction had been made early am PT (before 4:00 p.m) I called. Funds have always been made immediately as is their written policy.
I received a vague excuse that sometimes it takes longer to process yet they would not clear the transfer.
A week ago when I tried to take out my $1, 000.00 ATM limit the bank permitted $800 only.
After callong Etrade they tried to tell me it depended on the bank (I have not seen that in writing anywhere)
Since I had made those type of withdrawals at the same bank I asked why now?
There have been several inconsistencies of what is policy and what actually happens, but holding money that should have been legitumately available? ISTHAT NOT WHAT WE CALL STEALING?
Yes horrible experience. Actually, https://us.etrade.com/e/t/estation/help?id=1903000000#Know2
tells you that the hold time is only 3 days. They have been holding my money for 5 days now. I replied to their customer service after getting an email about the 4 day period, with this linkage saying, you are contradicting yourself, and it actually says 3 days. I don't know why they are holding the money. I transferred this money from a savings account, and this money has been sitting there for 5 DAYS!
Here is the WORST PART:
I wanted to buy a penny stock with this money. IN THE 4TH DAY OF HOLDING MY MONEY, THE STOCK ROSE UP %56 ! Can you believe how ridiculous this is? Beware of e-trade. Go to websites where you can trade stocks easier. Avoid etrade at all costs. They hold your money and give you contradicting information about it. I just missed a great opportunity thanks to E-Trade. Thanks for nothing...
I found that they hold for nearly 2 weeks when you first open up an account. I did an instant funds transfer from B of A. They have it in their account and it has posted, yet they won't let me at MY money. They will hawever pay me one half of one percent. That won't change my life but it will their owners when you mulitply the millions of dollars they use for less than the prime! What a bogus deal. I am going to move on to another stok brokerage and see what their deal is. Sure does pay to shop around these days!