Merrill Edge
reviews and complaints

Hello,

I have been with Bank of America for 13 years, and I am a Platinum Plus member with your bank. I am quite disappointed in the service I am getting from Merrill Edge, and calling them involves waiting on the phone for 1 hour. Emails are impossible.

I wanted to transfer a significant amount of money ($100,000) from my BofA accounts to some safe conservative accounts with Merrill Edge which I joined a few days ago. I have been locked out of my Merrill account for no reason, and I do not seem to be getting answers except that my account has been disabled due to security concerns. When I see a practice going on that is clearly unprofessional and with poor customer service, I want the company to know that clearly. This is why I am writing.

I do not seem to be getting the satisfaction from the Merrill agent, Juan Davila, at Bank of America in Bellingham, Wa. For what is clearly a mistake on the Merrill side is very annoying. I have been reading many reviews of Merrill Edge, and the 1 star rating is well deserved. Some of the complaints relate to something similar to my issue.

I'll stop here. I have been a loyal customer with your bank, but your operation of Merrill Edge is unsatisfactory to say the least. I do not expect anything to change, but it has given me great pause on what I do and where I keep my money.

Thank you.

Regards,

Robert W Blankinship

I have been trying for almost 2 years now to rollover my IRA from Merrill Edge to a IRA that I have put together to pull all of my former workplace 401k's into one place.

Anytime you try to contact them you are on hold for a minimum of 2 hours, record thus far has been 4 hours, for a phone call that lasts 2 seconds for them to tell you why they can't do what you are requesting.

First time it was because of the program I was in. Second time the signatures were too old from when it had been initially sent, so they requested newly signed documents. Not withstanding that they had been sent 2 or 3 months prior and they were just now getting to them. Still haven't even heard back from them since the third attempt was sent October of last year.

At this point my financial advisor has recommended that I do a Indirect rollover just to get the funds as they have been unwilling to cooperate up to this point. I would never recommend anyone use any of their services, as they never return calls and you have to wait forever just to talk to them.

I do not have high hopes that doing the indirect rollover is going to be an easy process either. I just want my money in a place that cares about its clients and does not hold the clients' money hostage. Also, when taxes come rolling around it will make it much more difficult being forced to do this as an indirect rollover as opposed to a direct rollover. Overall, you can tell i am highly dissatisfied with this company.

I was locked out of my account even though I had the correct password. I was given challenge questions after I had to reset my password again. I was given challenge questions which they said were answered wrong and was locked again after one attempt!

I have been on hold for more than an hour counting and nobody is picking up! How can they manage my money if I can't reach anyone! There isn't even an option to send an email (which creates accessibility issues for me as well)

please answer your phone I need your help please

today is Augtust 20, 2022 I have forgotten my user name and password.

I have forgotten my advisors name. '

It was Paul Bruns, then I spoke with a man named Bram but I forgot his last name.Please help me.

the advertisements would be very helpful IF i could get into my account.

I've been on hold for 25 minutes

someone please respond.

Karla Greene

[protected]

Reason for subject suspension is invalid. I was suspended for selling an option (I bought in error) before paying off an invalid loan Merill gave me. Two Merill employees TOLD me to sell the option in question and then they suspend me for selling it. I sold 6 stocks and then the option which more than paid off the loan Merrill gave me. I don't know who to contact about this.

I placed an option order by mistake on 8/5/2022. I calculated the cost at $105, but it turned out to be $10.500. Why, I put number of shares instead of number of contracts, 500 in lieu of 5. I did not realize the mistake until I got an email from Merrill. Yes, I made the mistake but I did not have $10,500 cash to use and Merrill gave me a loan. In the past I have received notice that I did not have enough cash to buy what I was trying to buy so I either changed or cancelled my order. I do not have a margin account and they should not have funded the option. Now they want their money which I will provide because I don't want to lose my good stocks. I would appreciate some help to resolve this. My account number is 56X-54388 and my name if Florence Bradley.

Sent them a change of address/change of phone # form, contacted them by phone several times & they don't answer nor let us leave them a recorded message, & have E-Mailed them several times & STILL NO RESPONSE FROM THEM.

I am very very concerned. I am the owner of 2 retirement accounts w Merrill Edge. I have been arbitrarily locked out of my online account. There is no other way to reach anyone for support. Their updated 800 #s do not answer any calls. I have been on hold around the clock and cannot receive help from anyone. There are no branches or physical locations listed anywhere. There is no way to reach anyone.

In February 2022 my father passed away, leaving his money management account of approximately $125,000 to his children. I am his daughter and executor of his will. In April I supplied Rich Altman and Zafar Ghafoor with copies of my father's death certificate, probate paperwork from the court naming me as executor, and a copy of his will since they would not honor his previously submitted list of beneficiaries (which matches his will) since my dad had open his account when it was still Merrill Lynch and not Merrill Edge. When I supplied all the information I was told I would hear back in 5-7 business days. That was on April 6, 2022. It has now been over two months. I have called and emailed both Mr. Altman and Mr. Ghafoor MULTIPLE times and they ignore me.

Victoria Harvey

I closed my Merrill Edge 401K account because I reside in / am a citizen of Australia. I asked Merrill to wire the funds to my Australian bank because Australian financial institutions will accept checks denominated in US$. So Merrill sends me a check in US$ that is literally worthless because I can’t cash or deposit it in Australia. I have spent 10+ frustrating and expensive hours on the phone from Australia trying to get customer service to solve the issue, but instead get transferred repeatedly (even when the agents tell me they won’t transfer me) or get useless advice like "google how to deposit the check" or "open a bank account in the US" or “use the app”. Is there anyone out there in Merrill world who can help me escalate and solve this? I need my money here in Australia … and it cannot be in the form of a check in US$!

On 12/27/2021 I withdrew $2,000 from my IRA as a withdrawal of excess contribution. Before I did that, I had spoken with a Merrill customer service representative who told me I did not need to fill out any form. All I need to do was to sell $2,000. I remember specifically asking does one need to fill out a form to withdraw excess contribution and he said no. Then Merrill sent me a 1099 treating it like it was an early withdrawal. I have spoken with Merrill on multiple occasions and explained that it is not an early withdrawal but an excess of contribution. Merrill refuses to fix it.

Dec. 2021 – I contacted Merrill Edge to have my IRRA Account liquidated.

The receiving broker sent transfer paperwork to Merrill Edge with instructions to wire funds.

01.18.22 – I contacted Merrill Edge to check on the status of the transfer of funds. I did not note the name of the representative I spoke with. He informed me that no paperwork had been received. I contacted the receiving broker and they overnighted the paperwork via FedEx. I believe Merrill Edge received the original paperwork but did nothing with it.

01.22.22 – I talked with Jason who informed me they did receive the paperwork from the receiving broker today and he will expedite the transfer and that it takes 3-5 days for an expedite.

01.25.22 - I talked to Robert who informed me that this account was a mess and he did not understand why it was taking so long. He gave me his direct phone number and promised to follow up and keep me informed. He did not do this nor is the phone number valid as there is no option to enter his extension number.

01.27.22 – I talked to Andy who informed me the check will be “mailed” today by end of day. This is the FIRST time anyone said to me that a check would be sent via regular USPS mail! He informed me that they do not do wire transfers because the government would look at the wire as a disbursement and that could cause the IRS to charge me taxes. This is the most absurd comment as I could easily show the IRS that it was not a disbursement. He again told me they do not do wire transfers and this is the normal process. He refused to allow me to pay for Certified Mail as I am concerned a check that size could easily get lost with no method to track. Who puts a check this size in the mail? How irresponsible!

02.01.22 – I talked to Ron, he offered to take this to his manager and I asked to speak to his manager directly because the funds are still with Merrill Edge. Ron’s manager is Crayton and he assured me Crayton would call me.

02.01.22 – I received a call from Glenn, not Crayton. He said Merrill does not send money via wire and that my paper work from Equity Trust clearly states the funds are to be mailed. He later clarified that he was looking at the paperwork incorrectly. He then explains that Merrill only uses ACAT to send funds because the IRS would not see that as a disbursement. I explained that to the receiving broker and they are set up to receive ACAT. The receiving broker sent ACAT directions to Merrill. However no one at Merrill saw this. Incompetence!

There are multiple emails where the receiving broker got involved to help me resolve the problems and even offered their FedEx account number to send the check. Merrill still refused!

02.23.22 – I left a voice mail for Glenn to let me know if the checked had been mailed yet and to please call me. He has not called me. Prior to my voice mail I sent Glenn an email asking for the status and Glenn has yet to reply. Unprofessional!

Today is 02.25.22 and I have not heard from anyone at Merrill and the funds still have not reached Equity Trust. I talked to XXXXX who informed me that the funds were withdrawn February 11. He put me on hold to see if he could find out when it was mailed. I told him I received a letter from Kesha, in Research and Development and that I need to speak with her as well. There is no phone number on the letter to contact her except the main number to Merrill Edge.

Merrill Edge is owned by Bank of America. I will STAY FAR AWAY from these organizations. They are great as long as they have your money but the very second you want to transfer your funds to another organization you are no longer important. No one in the Merrill Edge organization knows what the other has said or is doing. They did everything they could to stop a transfer.

02.25.22 I received a call from the receiving broker and the check has finally been received. Merrill Edge has the worst customer service I have ever experienced. I will never do business with Merrill or any of its affiliates.

This complaints website shows 18 complaints and only one has been resolved. That explains the service you will get with Merrill Edge. I am so glad my funds are no longer with this organization.

my father passed away 8?20 my mother and I tried for a year to get the account closed. I had to fax the same documents several times for an entire year. Eric Hill was the first person I spoke with. he said all we had to do was fax a signed document and the check would be sent. I never heard back from him. Then I spoke with Alex McCleod and Josh Duprey. they said all the paperwork was in that a check would be sent. 11/21 my mom passed away. The next day I get a call from Eric Hill he said he would now send the check. he just needed to talk to my mom one more time for her permisssion. She passed away the night before. I am now the beneficiary. Eric Hill said he would expedite the paperwork for me. I faxed my moms death certificate to Merrill. It is now February and no one has called me back. I am now on hold for 1 hour waiting for someone to answer the phone. The worst company to do business with. Can someone at Merrill please call me. Eric Hill knows the situation.

Initiated four Roth IRA Excess Contribution withdrawals from my wife's Roth IRA, after we figured out we would not be able to directly contribute to it for CY 2021. The withdrawals were made, but Merrill Edge's system still says we made $2, 000 in contributions for CY 2021. We have been on the phone with them numerous times to fix the issue. Not one of the calls gave us the impression they were going to fix the issue (they just kept giving us options on how to deposit the $6, 000 I should still be able to contribute, which, BTW, none have worked).

I'm worried that if my account is not fixed, I will get penalized by the government for contributions over the limit ($6, 000 plus the $2, 000 they haven't fixed).

PS I'm not posting her account numbers to a public website. If the company wants to take this situation seriously, they can contact me through this website.

I have been told that I can get my money out on January 7th and my online account is disabled or locked and I can't get my money out. I am sick and I can't go to the bank and I need the money out for certain things. And I called today and someone hung up on me too. I am tired of getting redirected to something else.

I tried calling Merrill Edge yesterday, I hung up after being on hold for over an hour. Again today I am making another attempt, so far I have been on hold for 30 minutes and counting. It looks like working from home is really paying off for Merrill Edge employees.

I started out with a form, called in to make a change and spoke with a rep who did not clearly identify himself. Ended up speaking with this Rep two other times as he did not relay or complete the request correctly. I started the IRA conversion on 11/8/21, no action was taken by ME until 11/12, 15 & 19, they sold fractional shares in my account and they were not directed to do so. The IRA to Roth IRA conversion remained incomplete. I called in on 12/6 and spoke with another Rep who told me that the process would be completed on 12/13. 12/13 came and went and I called in on 12/22 and spoke with another rep that informed me that I will need to initiate another request and pay more taxes to have the conversion completed and have the account closed out. I informed the Rep that this should have been completed all at once as all tax payments were made from the initial request, he informed me that it was up to me to pay tax on this request or not… This whole process was ridiculous.

I've tried for over 5 hours to speak to a live person at ME -as I must take my RMD and I've never spoken to a person -on hold for over 5 hours. I'm elderly and alone and I don't know what to do. Once I called at 9 am to 11:30 on hold and then at 1:40-300 pm. Someone needs to tell me what to do.
Should I just keep calling
Call Executive Office
Call local TV station
I've never ever experienced this kind of service with a financial institution. Please have someone help me. I live in Lauderdale by the Sea, Florida

I act as the POA for my elderly father since my mother passed February 2020 under a joint account. Close after her death, the process to resolve managing the account to be able to extract the cash funds held my Merrill Edge have been exhausting due to internal departments working separately and unwilling to facilitate action, resolution or basic customer service processes to an endpoint. Despite sending all the required legal POA forms, their Merrill forms, one notorized, and complying with all of their add-on requests in a timely manner, there appears to be an intent of non service to return effort to an endpoint of account management. There appears to be a deliberate attempt to hold the cash assets, it is impossible to get a single person in life services that will update, give the entire truth of requirements or their set backs to return the owners cash assets. Also, what is more annoying is that they lose legal docs and forms and blame you falsely for the neglect, only the ones notorized. After all things are done in replicate, and they state they have all documents, the add on another form for their compliance with no date of commitment to respond or to act in accordance with their own administration. It does not take 1 year to handle a death certificate to remove a deceased spouse. You cannot withdrawal cash when the deceased person cannot sign their name, so you do all the paperwork that they misplace 1.5 times, and still no answer. So, I do have details and I may be contacted directly, it is apparent to me that this is an intentional delay to not return cash funds, how is this resolved, the brokers are not permitted to handle this, it funnels via the Life Services who does not followup, or talk when it is in their favor to do so. It was our cash invested, and it is our cash to withdrawal. It is not their property. Would you please assist me in this battle, enough. I did not include data details for privacy. Diane Marie Baker, POA

Dear Sir,
My name is Hoang Tran. I have account at Merril Edge : 57X-76215
-8/20/2021 I bought 2 contracts buy to open DE call @$2.20 /share
-8/23/2021 I sold to close 2 contracts DE @$4.30/share but somehow Merrill Network
messed them up . It showed all trade orders like this:
-8/23/2021 @ 9:35am ET 1 contract DE sell to close @$3.50/share
-8/23/2021 @9:56am ET 2 contracts DE sell to close @$4.30/share
( this is the price I set to sell DE )
-8/23/2021 @3;39pm ET 1 contract BUY TO CLOSE DE @$5.35
( but I never SELL TO OPEN any DE contract Because I NEVER OWNED any share DE )
I thought something wrong with Merrill Edge Network
-8/23/2021 After market closed I call [protected] .I talked to manager (her name Amy).They promised they will correct all problems but they did not do anything.
-8/24/2021 I called again 2 times then nothing happened .
-8/27/2021 I called again 2 times then they did some corrections on my account activity .
But again they did something weird on my account. I did check my Realized Gain/Loss & Income
I found out only 1 contract DE sold @ $4.30 /share . I was missing 1 more contract DE .
I called to talk to Jonh Prophet & Cary Hearn about this problem .They promised they will correct it .
But nothing happened
-9/9/2021 I called again & talked to Carry Hearn but he said he did not know when the problem will be
solved .He had no idea about time frame.
More than 3 weeks but nobody does anything to solve this problem .
How can Merril Edge doing a business?
Would you like to help me or I have to go some wherelse to complaint about it.
I did send a complaint file to Securities & Exchange Commission on September 10-2021 .
Thank you
Hoang Tran