I've been very happy with Merrill Edge and my self directed account. The investing platform is easy to use and has plenty of information and ratings for stocks. All the service reps I've spoken with have been friendly and helpful. I am very satisfied with keeping all my investing with ME. read more

I actually made an appointment with a rep at a Merrill Edge office inside a Bank of America. I have been doing business with BofA since 1984. I needed to wire out a large amount from the Edge account. Completed a wire form and expected the wire to go out the very next business day. Did not happen so I called the customer svc number. They had a hard time finding the completed wire form which should had been scanned at the Merrill office. No go on the wire on Friday so I waited until Monday to call again. Took over 20 minutes and still they could not locate the wire out form. Merrill edge cust svc rep on the phone told me to just wire out of the account by accessing the online acct and cxl the previously wire form. I submitted the wire and appears to go through on the same day around 10:32 am PST. If you want better customer service, I would suggest opening an account with Charles Schwab. Merrill Edge is NOT the place to be. Will be moving the remaining balance of the account to Charles Schwab. read more

I thought they would improve over time, they only gotten worse. They seem to put a code that you have to implement for the day in order to buy a security of any kind. They put in measures so that you can no longer trade low securities on your own, having to call in. They have gone from free trading platform to call us first. This is getting out of hand. read more

Most incompetent unprofessional company I have ever dealt with. Absolutely uncaring, cannot get even the simplest of things done without having to wait weeks. I have worked in customer service and insurance industry for 20+ years. If I treated a customer this way I would be fired and would lose all my licenses and be banned from the insurance industry. Do not use BoA or Merrill completely and totally incompetent and unprofessional. If I could give ZERO stars I would. read more

Customer service is non-existent. I was told the Merrill Edge executives do not allow customers to contact them. Look them up in the BBB. Their rating is D-. That says it all. read more

I deposited my check on Friday the 11th the mobile app said it could be 1 to 3 business days i was fine with that then the 15th hit still nothing then on the 17th I called again they asked why I needed the money I told them it's my work payroll I need it for bills car note and food she said I apologize if you wish to invest it we could maybe give you funds but for the most part I need to wait until the 25th that's 2 weeks for them to give my my own money read more

Just an extremely frustrating institution. I purchased a ROTH IRA a long time ago through Bank of America. Of course then later Merrill Edge took over. I've asked repeatedly what needs to be done to get my ROTH IRA to perform better because I've been bleeding money every year. They always want a call to push more product and basically just waste my valuable time. Here's my thought. Please just do your job and make my money worth at least what I put in by the time I retire. If I could just take it out (without penalty), I would. I can invest better than what Merrill Edge is doing with my money. read more

Horrible experience. Former customer, can't get current 1099 that they are required to send me. Customer service rep unintelligible. AVOID! read more

My dad recently passed and had an account with Merrill Edge that needed to be liquidated. We started the process with their Life Services Team in July, and after 8 weeks of constantly calling, we finally were able to transfer the funds out. Their customer service level is very poor. Nobody answers their phones, nor do they return voice messages. When you are able to get someone, they put you on hold for a long time and any phone call seems to take an hour, and then tell you they still need the paperwork that we submitted weeks before. They always promise to call back with better info, but no one calls. I finally said that I wanted to speak with a supervisor, but they say they don't have any that they can transfer you to, but will create a case number for a supervisor to call you back. 5 days later a person called, and he wasn't even sure why they asked him to call me. Everything takes a minimum of 3-5 business days to get through their system. It was such a frustrating experience that I would suggest avoiding using them if you have a choice. read more

If you want to do some personal investment, don't go to them. Your interest is not their goal. I made a one full year CD in B of A. They told me it's 5%+ interest. At half year point, the investor, which is a third party, Morgan Staley, stopped my investment and cashed in my money. I did not know that. I ended up getting only half of the interest and I did not know about it. read more

Wow... It was a great firm back in the day. Now they are a shadow of what they used to be. I transferred assets in which was a nightmare. Now I am having difficulties just wiring my money out. So, I filed a FINRA complaint read more

I have an investment account with Merrill Edge. I spoke with four different reps and I still have not received my money. They treated me as if I was nothing. I worked at Bank of America for years and this unfair treatment was unwarranted. I requested my funds on May 13th 2022. On May 17th I was told the trade was completed. I was to receive my funds with 5 to 7 business days and to no avail, the rep did not do so. I called on May 25th and spoke with the same representative who dismissed my and gave the phone to "Tiffany" who told me I would have to call back after the holidays because my check was returned in the mail. That's a lie. I reviewed my account on line and my address was updated 7/24/2020. Please see attachment. I suspect a complete cover up with the representatives working for Merrill Edge. Instead of owning the mistake they play games and I want satisfaction right now. Rodney read more

Gave up after 2 tries to open a self-directed IRA at Merrill Edge. Terrible communication and experience. I put all my portfolio into a Fidelity account that took me 15 pleasant minutes to open online. Love BofA but they need to fix this! read more

Abysmal back office with no ability to effect the most basic asset transfers even after being presented with certified death certificates multiple times and certificate of appointment from probate court. They have a plethora of decentralized teams that are great at outreach but don't actually know how to complete a basic back office function. If you're a legacy account like me, get out while you can. read more

MERRILL EDGE is the most inept corporation I have ever had to deal with. It has taken 17 phone calls concerning handling my 88 year old mother's estate and still we have gotten nowhere. I've spent more than 22 hours on the phone talking to the incompetent and uncaring people that represent MERRILL EDGE on the phone. Still we have gotten nowhere. I tell everyone that I care about to stay as far away from Merrill Edge and Merrill Lynch as they possibly can. It is rare that you see this extreme form of incompetence. read more

Absolutely the worst company I've ever had to deal with whole times are well over an hour and a half I'm looking to pull my money out as soon as I can read more

I would give it a zero if I could. The only reason I have a few dollars with merril edge is because BOA pays no intererst rates (.01%). 1) hard to find inform on web page, 2) account exexutives at local branch knows less than my kids 3) outdated prospectus on web page 4) web page is not user friendly 5) take forever to get hold of a human ( they could at least say someone will call you back and you will not loose your place in the queue) read more

i just opened an Edge self directed account. I wanted to make simple trades (purchases) of treasury bills. I have been unable to make these purchases. Calling customer service is a joke. Wait times have been 25 minutes, whether after hours or during the day. Customer support, when you finally get someone, is not very knowledgeable. In short, Edge is not the place to go for a self directed brokerage account. Stick with Schwab or Fidelity. read more

I wish I could give 0 star. I have been on hold for 1 hour. After 1/2 hour one rep picked up, took my information and put me on hold again. They will call you non-stop when they want to sell you but when you need to talk there is no one available to answer. Do not use this brokerage. read more

Absolutely the worst brokerage out there. I have a small account with them, some stocks options from a previous employer. Every couple of years I try to execute a trade on-line, but have never once been successful. One time they needed me to use some sort of special verification card they were going to mail to me. Another time they had suspended the account for unexplainable reasons. Always some reason or another. Last week they asked me to participate in a survey. But when you click on any of the answers, the web page prompts for a project ID. But they don't provide the project ID. Here is the blurb from the survey participation request. Insane! Thank you for choosing Merrill Edge to help you meet your financial needs. We value your feedback and we want to know how well we are addressing your needs. To help us make improvements and continue to deliver a superior client experience, we have asked Convergys Analytics Solutions to conduct a client survey on our behalf. This survey will take about 10 minutes and you will not be asked to provide any personal information. Thank you very much for your time. We appreciate and value your input. read more

Absolutely terrible. Long wait times for terrible service. I've called THREE times to resolve FRAUD on my account and they transfer me to the wrong department before I can even explain my situation! read more

No one answers the phone! I've been on hold for over an hour! Ridiculous.

Wish I could give negative 10 stars. My dad had a retirement account that passed to my mom and my mom died last month. Trying to close this very small account has been awful. Every number I have called I have been on hold and no one picks up. I was given a new number to call today by a local office and I have been on hold for 2 hours 44 minutes and 45 seconds!!! Do your kids a favor and avoid this company. What a black hole. Horrible horrible service. read more

Stopped in with my mother after her doctor appointment and there was nobody there to help us from Merrill Edge! Then we were sent to the Mercer Mall location and the guy left 2 hours early!!!!! My mom is 86 years old and walks with a walker!!! She gets tired!!!! It takes 2 people to get her upstairs!!!! More to come!!!!! So after getting my disabled 86 year old mother to Merrill Edge office I find out they had us fill out the wrong papers!!!!!! read more

i would give zero if there was each time call them, i have to wait almost an hour to get someone answer. the very bad is the same problem, i called more than 4 times, once a week. each time, the service told me it was fixed, but not true it has been few monthes, still didn't fix very bad read more

Limited investment selection, limited to 100 options per trade, unnecessary manual review on orders, delayed option quotes 1. Option orders are limited to 100 contracts. You need to call into the trading desk for larger orders. By then, the market has moved away from you! Many times, you sit on hold for 30+ minutes to place an order!!! 2. They "REVIEW" your order before it hits the market which will delay your trade. 3. If you transfer your account out, they jerk you around and it takes weeks. They screwed up mine, and held $400k hostage for 3 weeks before releasing it to my new broker!!! 4. They will lie to you left and right. Stay away from it if you are an advanced trader. read more

After being on hold for an hour the dial tone led to silence with no one answering. Customer service is genuinely a joke.

I purchased 2 Morgan Stanley Private Bank CDs through our IRA brokerage accounts at Merrill Edge which matured today 4/11/18. On 4/10/18 my Merrill Edge IRA accounts reflected an accrued interest in each of the 2 CD accounts of $900+ each. Today that money is not reflected as being anywhere in our accounts. The interest is no where to be found. The principal is reflected as going back to our cash accounts but no interest is reflected. What I have done to resolve: 1) I sent three e-mails about this problem through the Merrill Edge on-line message center one to the attention of the corporate actions group. No one has answered after 8 hours 2) I spoke to a ME rep in the premium elite team in Rhode Island office. He said he checked with the corporate actions team and they said they had not received the interest payments from Morgan Stanley private bank. So he made a conference call to Morgan Stanley where we were transferred around more than 4 times. One of the person's spoken to at Morgan Stanley was a Ronald Compton in cash management office who referred us to their outside transfer agent Bainbridge who knew nothing about how to answer this question. The Morgan Stanley Private Bank representatives all said they did not know who could answer the question about where my interest payment was and why it had not been deposited to my account the SAME day as the CD expired as it is supposed to. Either Merrill Lynch or Morgan Stanley is floating my money. Filing complaint with FDIC and Consumer Protection Bureau among other agencies. Anyone who says banks don't need regulating this is why they DO! Regulations protect consumers. read more

Merrill Edge Is the worst, it's horrible, a nightmare. I signed up, then couldn't log in. I called back and the customer service person got me in. The next day couldn't log in again. The CS person consulted with someone else and got me in but changed my user id. No problem at least it got me in. Set up the rest of my account linked to my BofA accounts and transferred $5000 over to take advantage of this market dip due to the Corona Virus. Couldn't get in the next day. Call back again and they have no record of my account or my $5k. CS person was told by tech that my application is in a loop where it is resubmitted and rejected over and over. I am now told it will take 14 days to resolve it and get to my money. So much for the dip. It is gone and so are the opportunities. Did I mention their platform sucks? 5k poof! Worst trading day ever read more

The website is way too complicated and not user friendly. Several keystokes to see information that should be on the main account display. Customer support is either non-knowledgeable or very sarcastic. Pop up error messages are codes with no explanation what they mean. Calling in is ridiculously slow - plan on 30 minutes to an hour to get through and they still might not have the answer. read more

Worst customer service you can ever imagine . I knew the hold would be long so I called premarket , waited 30 min and finally got someone . They verified my acct and then said I would have to go back on hold to talk to a trading person , so here we are 65 min into the call and I get hung up on . I have been Bank of America for 35 yrs but may have to move banks . read more

Don't leave a credit on your card for more than 30 days because they will steal your money. That's right, for your convenience they will "adjust" your account back to zero, keeping the funds. I called their customer service and they refused to return the money. It was less than $10 so they had me over a barrel in that any further action(s) would likely end up costing me more than what was stolen from me. Clearly they have no moral problem stealing so I go to thinking about how many other crooked things they plan to do. Good thing there are many other CC options available. read more

If you are trading options, Merrill Edge is not for you. I was trying to sell some covered put, but got denied, I called, the agent told me I have to transfer my cash from a money market account to another money market account to be recognized as cash. If I move the money to that money market, I can't use them to purchase stock. I can't move money online, have to call to move and it takes a business day to move. I still have account with them, because I want to have Platinum Honors status. I have credit card with them the rewards is good if I keep PH status. read more

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 not a single Australian financial institution will accept a check 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 give me 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$! read more

My experience with Merrill has been *very* unsatisfactory and unpleasant. It's hard to reach trading and you are put on hold for long periods of time. There is no way to email the firm.... the customer service is "horrible" and very poor follow up. I'd much prefer Fidelity. read more

If you like missing out on trades and not having funds in a timely matter.. go with Merrill Edge... Horrible layout

Merrill Edge level of service , honesty and follow up is horrendous. Without going into the long tedious and painful details I needed to speak with them no less than 10 times between 12/23 and 1/12 to get a check sent from my cash account and still have not received i. Each time I called it took no less than 50 minutes to speak with a service representative. I have been with them for 17 years and I have moved all of my investments to another fir. They blamed everything on Covid fo their poor customer servicw. read more

Would have given zero stars if possible. On hold for over 30 minutes on there help line, then hung up. Talked with a Merrill Edge "broker" at a Chicago suburban location and he was no help whatsoever. Couldn't answer even easy questions. Not able to trade certain stocks and ETFs, not even on the pink sheets. There's is a ridiculous service. Any other platform is going to eat their lunch. Im out read more

I am repeatedly annoyed with this company. The biggest annoyance I can think of is with their Cash Sweep Program, your settled cash is moved there, and when it comes to trading violations are triggered when there should have been cash in your account, it instead triggers a violation. Their support staff are very smug. Even when you point out that there was enough settled money in your account, they will not cooperate or do anything to help you. Hence there are violations triggered when there should not have been any. I had this today again, after selling a stock I'd held for 2 years!!! I then bought back my position with settled money. There were no other unsettled trades. Yet this triggered a violation. On examination there is money that was moved into their scammy Cash Sweep Account. I have had enough of Merrill Edge. read more

The customer support and it's attitude to the customers it the worst. Part of my stocks was blocked due to OFAC restrictions, Merrill just moved the assets to an escrow account without direct notification to me as a customer; when asked 7 times now for a written confirmation that these stocks are still mine, and just blocked, refused to provide any written statement confirming my ownership of the blocked asset. I have the same stock blocked in TD Ameritrade and JP Morgan accounts, by they, in contrast, provide all the statements with a proof of the ownership for the blocked stocks, willing to support me as a customer. Quality of service at Merrill is subpar, which is quite familiar to anyone who called Merrill Edge support service and had to spend 2+ hours each time waiting for an available representative. Even when came to a personal appointment with a Merrill rep at the Bank of America office, these folks dI'd the same - call support and wait for 30+ minutes. I see them as the worst brokerage firm in the market. Will run away as soon as I manage to transfer my stocks out. read more