Merrill Lynch
reviews and complaints

Hello

I am based in the UK. My MyMerrill account has been blocked locked and I have gone through all the steps on the website but I keep getting an error code at the end when I request a code to my mobile or landline - I think the system may only work on phones operated in or by US telecoms operators.

I managed to speak to someone on the 800.637 7455 number today but they said I needed to speak to the Stock Options team on [protected] but to get through the IVR you need a Benefits on Line ID (I have MyMerrill not Benefits on Line), a US Social Security Number or an internal verification number and I have neither. There is no option to speak to someone or just hold on.

I only have a Merrill Account Number 7CR-15721 from my previous employer which was Fiserv and I can’t reset the password online. The reset option doesn't seem to work outside of the US and there is no UK point of contact for assistance.

This isn't a complaint, but I'm concerned over being asked for my social security number. On 2/6/2024 at approximately 12:45 I spoke to a women named Jackie who was pleasant and helpful. She told me that she didn't have my cell phone on record to send a security code and needed my personal information. Unfortunately, I complied and later checked my account online and found my cell phone listed under contacts. Is it normal to require that information. Thank you. Richard Merkle,[protected]

Received a letter on 9/21/23 welcoming me for opening a cma account. The account was opened on 9/16/23. I did not open this account. My name is Charles Egan, 446 northern parkway, ridgewood, nj 07450. [protected]@aol.com

[protected]

Bank of America (your owner) informed me someone opened two checking accts on 9/18/23. I did not open these accts. This reminds me of wells fargo ghost accounts. That cost them big time. The SEC needs to hear.

I was an employee of Walmart and opened a retirement account through them with Merrill Lynch Associates, a retirement 401K account. I'm still on hold with these deliberate criminals, Merrill Lynch sent me an email 2 days ago about a transaction that I'll currently attempting to research. A call to their customer service department this morning and speaking with a David Salina resulted in him informing me that he was "unable" to locate any account with Merrill Lynch, yet I explained to him about the email informing me of a transaction on my email account, and even suggested I forward it to him. (I'm still on hold with another CS whatever, this is taking my whole morning). Still on hold. I can't get online access, because I can't remember as a celebrity security question. She just asked me to verify the VIN Number of my Car! What was that? She just hung up on me...

I have sent a full email as I am copy pasting below. Dear Madam, Sir,

I am a long platinum member of B of A & Merril for more than a quarter of century with stellar relationship & credit.

I just found out today, as I was calling to know what to do with maturity of my $250,000 CD that I opened in March of 2023 for 6 months with maturity in August 2023.

This solicitation was done by one of your agents in Woodland hills as Rom Rabin called me without knowing me and solicited me to bring quarter of million dollars of new money to Merril edge.

Now I found out that not all my money was invested in CD as I had he initial $150k at the time I first met the agent and we discussed the CD rate and he mentioned there is CD at 4.75% and I could add the other $100K by April 1st to reach the mount to $250K CD and be able to also earn promotional $1,000 which I did. The first time the agent told me I have to establish the CD & he said when extra $100K is wired he will add to my CD. I wired the $100K and it showed in my summary account as $250K on or about March 28th of 2023. Since he confirmed the money is in my CD account & in fact it showed in my Summary account, I was comfortable that CD was fully funded.

The agent got his wish of having a new $250,000 being transferred as new money and assured me that I am fully invested. Even in the conference room of Merril Lynch office we calculated how much is the return of $250K in six months. I took the second $100K out of Logix interest bearing account & wired to Merril with the hope of making over $6,000 in six months, while I was flabbergasted today to find out he left me high and dry and as soon as he got his benefit of transfer never followed up on our numerous conversation in person that my full amount is invested appropriately.

I have escalated this matter & Supervisor Michael had a very one sided action trying to diffuse me and kept saying this was self-directed account. Not when your agent has solicited me to open the account. That was the only reason I brought $250K to Merril as new money on my hard earned money to make full benefit of higher CD rate like millions in US.

I have been put in a situation that agent clearly told me I am fully invested of my $250K that first time I had to establish with his help & all good. Therefore lack of fiduciary responsibility, misdirecting me in finality of my D as fully invested, and not showing duty of care after luring me in by bringing new money of quarter of a million to Merril & never cared that according to my only interest that I needed all my CD to be fully at 4.75% and basically after getting his own benefit with his superior that he brought one more account of $250,000 never cared to stay true to his own acknowledgement that my full $250K is in established CD after second wire transfer.!

I am requesting that highest level of customer care of Merril to look at this unfortunate situation for me against my intent that I was fighting for getting the best CD rate and be fully invested at 4.75% and not taking money from interest bearing account out of Logix & park it at Merril & let it sit idle for six months.

Since I found out today. I had to mitigate it and invested the $100K in daily 5.02% Merril daily interest account with the help of Eddy Pivonka of Merril & very helpful as he brought it to my attention that my CD was merely $150K & not $250K that was the only intention on my end and Rom Rabin acknowledged verbally as we discussed in full detail even calculated the approximate interest in six months on $250K.

Before I am forced to take this matter to your legal department, I expect Merril with its motto to always take care of customer when the care is just and not let me down.

I relied on all my conversation with Rom Rabin of Merril Lynch, and his action is costing me not only financially but aggravation of luring me to a situation that it was completely against my wishes that I elaborated to him before establishing the CD account. The minute my second $100K was deposited he gave me assurance that all the money is in and my CD full funded as I confirmed when I saw the amount of $250K in summary of my CD account. Today I learned for the first time that CMA account that shows $250K + is more than one CD account!

I am escalating this matter to highest level & possibly having legal to look at it on your side as well as I am letting my counsel know of the same. If not resolved by your high level customer care group that I have relied on almost all my life, then I have to resort to all available remedy to shed light more on the situation. You have to look at my relationship with Merril & B of A and something like this has never happened to me as we had the best business relations for decades.

Please see how I have been left in the dark on the simplest financial CD opening as I relied on the agent’s verbal confirmation after my second wire from Logix credit union interest bearing account.

He absolutely knew my intention was to earn every penny on my 4.75% on my fully funded $250,000 that I had to work so hard to make sure it gets to my account before April 1st. I never had any clue that agent did not show duty of care to make sure my full amount is correctly invested in CD account which was my only intent and numerously discussed in my meeting with him in person and he fully acknowledged & told me I am doing the right thing to get 4.75% at Merril and he will help me throughout the process.

Michael (Supervisor) on the phone today tried hard to water it down and saying my account is self-directed account? and if that is the case then why agent of Merril solicited me and told me he will make sure he will find me the best interest bearing account and making sure to help me is all done correctly. He even gave me wire transfer credit but did not care to tell me that $100K was never correctly invested and completely told me otherwise, I saw the full amount showing in my account and never bothered to keep calling other Merril brokers to quadrupole check on Rom Rabin. I trusted him. As I have always trusted Merril Lynch & B of A collectively.

Even today the branch manager (Woodland Hills/Waner Center) telling me that everything is with Merril edge & they have nothing to do with it while their agent solicited me & helped me opening the CD and was on top of it until the full $250,000 was funded, But not fully in my established CD at 4.75%

Awaiting your response ASAP.

Kind Regards,

Mahmoud Malakafzali

[protected]

[protected]@gmail.com

Hannalei Enterprises Inc.

Investments and Acquisitions

Been trying to take possession of an inherited IRA for months. Customer service is terrible, they have no records of any of my requests. The idea I'm getting is they are stalling because it is inconvenient to go ahead with the transfer. They are waiting for the manager to approve the transfer, first he was on vacation, now he simply isn't responding. He was supposed to call me yesterday but never did. I called today and there was no record of attempting to contact. They won't even tell me the name of the manager. I'm losing money at this point as my investments are withheld and cash value goes uninvested.

My wife told rep to change from their "guided" investing to self-directed investing. Told him to sell everything. Guess what? Nothing is sold and my wife is down $900. Their supervisor is of no help. Big banks just want your money and invest it themselves to make money off of you. You can do exactly the same as them and not pay those "guided" fees.

Lets start off by saying if you need help with anything you will be put on hold for 30 plus minutes and be told you will receive a call back. This has been happening to me for the past year. Merrill has entered my IRA under the wrong year and contribution account. Now I have the IRS sending me notices for taxes that shouldn't be due. I have tried numerous times to get Merrill to fix it and each time someone says the will work on it and call me back I NEVER get a call back. Merrill entered my IRA contribution for a different year then stated on the check and changed the type of IRA as well. They have screwed up my account so bad its not even funny and now worst of all the IRS is contacting me. I called yesterday again and was told the representative had to speak to the " Back office" what is that even mean. For such a big corporates company they should have a specific department that handles issues with a main contact person not calling back and having to explain the whole situation every time. Very disappointed and disgusted with how things are being handled. In the end only the investor gets strewed and its not fair when it was not your fault.

My son lives in australia. we want to transfer stock to him. In order to do that the stock must be in his name. Firms in australia will not just take stock in our name into his account it must be same name. our son wants to open an account in his name so we can transfer it to his merrill account then transfer

it to his account in australia. No trading will be done it that account it would just be a passthru account. Merrill's office in Santa Rosa will not do this for us. We are Diamond clintes with 1.4 million with Merrill.

Will you help?

[protected]@att.net

My brother Marc Pierre Walsh is the Trustee on my inheritance in Houston TX.

[protected]@ml.com. [protected]

He is a senior VP Private Client Group.

Over the last 50 years since I was 12 years old, now 61, our relationship has never been good: toxic and bullying and he was excessively abusive at various times. This continued throughout our college years as we cohabitated in the Townhouse our parents acquired at UT Austin.

His Trusteeship must be terminated at once. He is now flagrantly disregarding key provisions and rules of the Trust/& not reimbursing legitimate medical expenses that he pre-approved and that I went out of pocket on. But it gets worse from here.

One recent key example: he verbally abused me on the phone last year over an emergency expense to ship my Toyota RAV4 EV cross-country

From North Carolina to San Diego CA. Toyota Corporate had even promised in writing they would reimburse the shipping cost of $1500.

He was furious that I shipped the car to San Diego (with $150 Down) for this verified Warranty Repair at Mossy Toyota of San Diego.

Upon the delivery of the car at Mossy, he verbally abused me calling me a “F#^$*ing Little [censored]”. I’m now 61 and approaching retirement.

Of course, after the Warranty Repair was completed, Toyota reimbursed directly to Marc the shipping cost— to return it to my Trust.

I do not wish or deserve to tolerate Marc’s abusive control and highly unethical behavior via his “approving” or “disallowing” my emergency expenses when they arise. I need to be free of his presence at all times to regain a sense of normalcy in my life & good mental health.

Recently, after submitting a detailed Email to Bank of America Feedback: hollyoneill.[protected]@bofa.com-

he must have heard something about it. He must now be furious again since he is now retaliating!—- and he has not reimbursed the agreed medical monthly membership fees to my medical provider in San Diego GoForward.com. Two payments made by me $149 so now $298 in arrears, affecting my finances! My Trust is in two parts: a Merrill CMA with about $250K in it—- and a Pacific Life Annuity created in 2011 that pays me about $1350 a month now (for life). I’d like to use $150K of CMA funds to buy a small home in Costa Rica, retire in and be set. Marc refused.

This is a truly worst case scenario for me, both my parents have long passed— and Marc was entrusted by my Mother Monique to manage my funds wisely since he was their money manager at Merrill Lynch for many years. The Trust was created in 2011 and my Mother Monique passed in FEBRUARY 2019 so exactly 4 years ago. Marc has a long history in the family of lobbying my parents and sisters against me. This must end now.

As Trustee when we interact on Trust business—he obviously should be acting in my best interest as I am the Sole beneficiary.

Marc Walsh should be observing and adhering to the highest ethical standards and maintaining a professional demeanor at all times when we interact for Trust business. He has not provided the Annual Financial Report for 2022 / a clear provision of the Trust, another clear violation.

I will close for now, there are more egregious lapses to cover. I have a great Attorney now in Austin -Cathy Tabor, and we are preparing to litigate but only if necessary. Cathy has advised me that if Merrill/ B of A does not act on this in a timely and efficient manner that they can also be named as co-defendants for negligence in not ensuring fiduciary duty is complied to in managing my Trust. Again, I do not wish to litigate.

I would like Marc Walsh to voluntarily resign as my Trustee since he clearly cannot be trusted any longer. This is clearly allowed by the Trust rules.

————————///———————-

Marc is a multi-millionaire and I am of modest means. Why he would insist on remaining Trustee at this point is preposterous to me.

Why would he risk his reputation and his time in this capacity as Trustee on my inheritance— unless he wanted to torment & control me?

I eagerly await your response and the prescribed plan of action to resolve this untenable and highly unethical legal and financial situation.

Michael Patrick Walsh

[protected]@gmail.com

[protected]

Mailing address:

Michael Patrick Walsh

2083 Sunset Cliffs Blvd

San Diego, CA. 92107

I tried to log in to my account yesterday and it didn't recognised my details - I asked them to be reset via my email [protected]@gmail.com - nothing was received. I phoned your "toll free" number for help - the staff didn't know what to do, kept putting me on hold, transferring me, asking me the same thing over and over again. I KEPT ASKING IF THIS WAS A TOLL FREE CALL as I was getting worried with the lack of efficient service and the time I was on the phone - in total 36mins from the UK - it cost me £123! I received no help, no resolution to my issue. No way to contact you on your websites other than phone numbers which I won't be doing again! I then thought maybe you have an old email address for me but imagine my surprise to receive a follow-up survey asking for my feedback on that call to my current email address. I am really really frustrated and disappointed with this service - I can't log into my account, your appalling customer service team have cost me £123 for a waste of time phone call - I expect reimbursement for this and help to get access to my account - how do I do that when I can't call you!

I have a account with them and noticed a stock had went up so I tried to sell and the app told me to contact them with the number listed. I got through and they then placed me on hold for 40 minutes. I was cut off shortly after the conversation started. so I called back and another 40 minutes and then I get a nasty trader who was very rude and I explained that I want to close my account and she would not comply so I tried a third time and asked for a manager in which he wanted to put me on hold again and I explained that I was at work and I could not hold for a manager could they ;please call me back since I have alreday been trying for 2 hours to close my account and it still is not close and I have no access to my money that they are supposed to be holding...

I started the process of rolling my 401K on 12-19-22. I checked on 1-22-22 and the money was out of my account but someone sent it to the wrong PO Box as they left out one of the three zeros. I called an they asked me to check that I gave them the correct PO box and it was. We had gone over it several times. Then I called back and they said they would do a stop payment and send out another check. The accounting department had to check with suporvisor to make sure I didn't have to have an affidavit signed and they waived this, but said the new check wouldn't go out for 3 business days or probably by 1-3-23 with the holidays. They wouldn't send it UPS without me paying $25 for their mistake. I explained I had a meeting with my adviser on 1-3 and wanted to get the money by then. They came back an said since I gave them a PO box this couldn't be done. I could have gotten them an address. Now it looks like the money won't leave there until 1-3 and take 8 more days to get there. I feel I am losing interest and I will have to keep track of this money seperately now for the MRD I have to make since it wont be in my account by 12-31. I spent nearly and hour trying to get this resolved to no avail. This is really bad service that wasn't my fault.

Sir:

In November 2022 I decided to sell my stock. What a challenge!

I am 86 years old and have purchased and sold stocks over the years.

I have stock certificates. Yes, paper stock- PAPER!

I took them to Merrill Lynch and a broker there had NEVER seen paper certificates and could NOT help me. I was told someone would call and help me in a couple of days The call never came.

I went to my local bank and was helped by a young gentleman who had never seen paper stocks before but he was willing to help. He completed the transaction in under an hour. I have since received the monies from the sale and all is well.

Sir, I find it very interesting that a brokerage firm, namely Merrill Lynch, could not affect the sale of stocks for me.

Respectfully,

Cherie Freeman

On the 10 of November 2022 my accounts were closed out after depositing funds for selling a few of my stocks that I own. I received a letter stating I had 180 days to cash check but never received the funds. My name is Betty Figueroa phone number is [protected]. I will not hesitate to seek other options that may be available if need be. The funds were deposited into the account and have verified it not only thru the online account system but a few of the workers who work at merrill as well.

I called into ML and was connected to "Chris"...all I needed was the "ticker" symbol for one of my funds since ML does NOT post this on their statements(?)...he was very condencining and stated that 401k plans do not do that...I informed him 3 separate times that he was incorrect...and that my Fidelity & Janus funds do and I can go to ANY site and look up the NAV...he basically called me a liar...and said he could help complete a rollover...what a clodpoll!

He was very unprofessional on the phone...I hope he doesn't plan to make this a career...Fidelity & Janus would be happy to have my account! As in the movie...Pretty Woman..." You work on commissions...right?...Big mistake...HUGE!"

One of my friends deposited and invested some money at the bank of america in france about 35 years ago and so far, he has not managed to access his money due to political issues, he was a movie director and producer before the iranian revolution. But after the revolution, he was banned from working and was unable to make films, and now he is a lonely old man who needs help with the basic necessities of life.

He told me his story and asked me to help him, considering that I have friends outside of iran.

He plans to share some of this money with the company or person who can help him to recover it. Due to merrill lynch is investment management division of bank of america, I send this letter to you.

Because the investment account may have grown so much over time. He wants to know what the total amount of money is right now.

I thought he might be able to help us find a way to access this money, and he might know a trusted company or lawyers that can help my friends.

Of course, he decides to deduct and pay commissions and additional costs for these actions from the original amount. You can see relevant documents attached.

Due to difficulties of getting schengen visa he cannot go to france, but he can go to uae or qatar and show his original docs to check this account.

Also, I have asked my friends who are in taiwan to investigate this matter and help my friend to recover his account through a financial lawyer. They may also contact you. I invited my friends in taiwan to participate in one of their projects because mr. Asadollahi told me that bank of america told him that he should receive his money with a company in the format of a project.

You can see relevant documents attached.

Total of investment: 131,040,000 hong kong dollar

Best regards

Mohmmad haghighi

M. [protected]@jamsaz.com

Mohammad. [protected]@gmail.com