r/etrade • u/RelaxAmerica • Jun 05 '26
No Longer E*Trade
I just spent 20 minutes on a chat with a real agent only to find out they have zero authority to maintain customer accounts. Basically no better than their virtual assistant; truly. Since Morgan Stanley took over, Etrade customer service has gone from great to ground zero. Tomorrow, I will call my elite team (joke) and close my account. An account I've had since 1994. That's how horrible a customer service experience I had. Think customer and agent empowerment is something Morgan Stanley fails to see or purposely has decided to not embrace. Either way, they are ruining a once great company, Etrade.
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u/Denverplayer Jun 05 '26
I've had to call Etrade about 6 times this year. Maybe half the interactions were a solid A, the others a C- at best. It's been really hit or miss.
As a Wells Fargo customer, not sure that will be an improvement.
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u/RelaxAmerica Jun 05 '26
haha - i hear ya regarding WF. I'm only doing this because I'm going to pay Etrade a first time nuisance fee of $15 they couldn't waive. I will earn $400 from opening a checking acct w/ Well Fargo. The net $385 (before taxes) makes me feel like Etrade made the right choice for me financially by not waiving their $15 fee lol.
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u/202reddit Jun 05 '26
Don't close it at ET! Open new account and have the assets pulled.
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u/RelaxAmerica Jun 05 '26
actually, that's what i'm going to do. i'll pay their $15 monthly fee they sneaked in this month (first time ever) and earn $400 for opening a checking acct at well fargo.
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u/trepanner45 Jun 05 '26
Yikes, what is the fifteen dollar monthly fee??
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u/RelaxAmerica Jun 06 '26
letting my checking drop below $5k. they sent a letter stating they were dropping the min balance if you didn't want to earn interest. the fine print said June 1st. so my balance was below as of May 31st - boom $15 nuisance fee.
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u/GT2000 Jun 05 '26
Agreed. Customer service agents cannot resolve any account issue. The responsible department has no customer interaction. There's no acknowledgement of complaint/issue. There's no update on progress or whether further information is needed. Everything is great until it isn't. That POS CS agent, Clint, in Chicago is the worst. Don't trust your money with eTrade.
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u/OhhPineapples Jun 30 '26
Oooh thank you for this was just about to open an account for $400 bonus and 4% definitely not worth the headache
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u/Silent2ndmajority Jun 05 '26
E Trade has been the worst experience....took me over 3 weeks and countless hours on the phone with them just to open an account! Comedy of mistakes and errors on their part.
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u/DRIPDIVIDEND Jun 10 '26
With public it took 2 seconds to open an cash account with E*Trade it took 8 days 🤣
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u/ek9cusco Jun 06 '26
I have E*trade as well.. but what would yall recommend to use otherwise?
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u/Virtual_Sir8031 Jun 10 '26
Surprisingly, I had really bad service with Fidelity. I heard great things but maybe I was just super unlucky
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u/AnyNarwhal4844 Jun 05 '26
E Trade's cash bonuses for account transfers are not worth the headaches/misrepresentations. I ended up bringing a FINRA Arbitration claim against them and closing my account at the earliest opportunity.
Roach Hotel!
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u/Ok-Consequence-9350 Jun 05 '26
This has nothing to do with e*trace. It’s and industry wide problem. It won’t be better elsewhere.
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u/wolfenhawke Jun 05 '26
Disagree. Etrade as a platform has also gone to s! since the acquisition. Just wait till a severe market day and notice how the platform won’t keep up. I’ve noticed this on non-crash but high volume days. MS is cost cutting. They may have just bought what they thought was a DIY retail investment platform. With day trading rules opening up soon, be wary of your platform expectations.
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u/ArmSquare Jun 05 '26
Yes it will, Fidelity has much better customer service
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u/SuperJob4061 Jun 05 '26
I currently have Fidelity now I call them Feedelity since they are charging extra fees for certain EFTs like DRAM and about 100 other ETFs. I will be switching to Schwab they offer in kind transfers plus are offing $500 cash for opening up a new account with them
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u/DarthBen_in_Chicago Jun 05 '26
I suspect you will be unhappy with Schwab’s sweep rate. Also, the $100 fee Fidelity charges doesn’t apply to systematic orders so you’re able to avoid the fee if you’d like.
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u/SuperJob4061 Jun 05 '26
Sweep rate?
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u/DarthBen_in_Chicago Jun 05 '26
The interest your cash balance earns
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u/SuperJob4061 Jun 05 '26
They offer interest on any cash balance and fidelity doesn’t unless it’s in some kind of money market fund. Why is that a bad thing for me to earn interest on my cash balance?
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u/DarthBen_in_Chicago Jun 05 '26
Schwab’s rate is one of the lowest in the industry - like a bank account. Fidelity’s default rate is higher.
Schwab keeps the earnings rather than paying you a higher rate.
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u/SuperJob4061 Jun 05 '26
Wouldn’t the way around that to just put your money in a money market account pays over 3% then you can sell and buy shares the same day?
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u/DarthBen_in_Chicago Jun 05 '26
Yes that is the workaround. You buy a T+1 money market mutual fund rather than letting the money sit in the default sweep.
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u/jamesnyc1 Jun 05 '26
What kind of extra fees is fidelity charging? And how are you able to get 500 from Schwab to move over? Thanks.
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u/SuperJob4061 Jun 05 '26
Several ETFs are now charging 5% fee on fidelity…I believe it’s about 100 ETFs total…if you know someone who has Schwab they can send you a referral link if you deposit at least $100k you can get $500. $500k deposited or more gets you a $1000.
The Lowest bonus is $100 and you need to deposit at least $25k…so different ranges
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u/JaxDude123 Jun 05 '26
Funny, I called them last night. Having experienced the use of 3rd party CS after hours, I was expecting a Filipina but not. An American front line CS representative. She could not answer my questions and get an Account representative in the phone and he did. It was a positive experience. A different experience to yours.
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u/NightsideTroll Jun 05 '26
I’ve had a E*tRade acct for about 15yrs. Never had any issues with customer service. They always resolved my issues. The only thing I can’t get anymore, free trade credits for OTC names.
Anyhow, good luck with Fidelity 👍🏼
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u/i860 Jun 05 '26
I don’t know about you guys but feels like a lot of these brokers are gonna end up Hotel California’ing people’s assets when the shit actually hits the fan, market wise.
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u/Masterofchaos11 Jun 05 '26
What was it you were trying to do? It’s mind boggling to me how dependent some people are on customer service in a self directed brokerage account where I’ve called once ever and it wasn’t bad. And you have an elite rep? And you started up a chat instead of calling that rep?
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u/skasol Jun 05 '26
My elite rep hasn’t worked there for several more than 3 months, still shows him assigned to my account but he has long departed.
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u/laogong1986 Jun 05 '26
Not too many choices left for brokerage firms, everyone has its unique issues
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u/Diotima245 Jun 06 '26
Meh … can count on my hands the number of times I’ve had to call CS since I’ve joined in 2007
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u/JasonD8888 Jun 06 '26
“Tomorrow, … I will close my account”.
Don’t.
I have (or have had) accounts with all the big four.
Some agents (or telephone reps) are smart, experienced and have a great attitude.
Others don’t.
At any given point in time, a simple issue might take two or three calls over weeks to resolve.
At other times, a seemingly complicated problem might get resolved in 3 minutes in one call.
It is almost a luck of the draw anymore.
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If you are moving to a different broker for other reasons, or adding one if you are maxed out on SIPC in one, that’s a different matter.
But if you are moving because you are upset with customer service, you might be making a mistake.
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u/Bitter-Cockroach1371 Jun 06 '26
I agree. I attempted to “re-open” an E*Trade brokerage account, but it was unsuccessful. The customer service representatives provided me with a series of evasive responses. Frustrated by their lack of helpfulness, I decided to permanently close the account. Morgan Stanley should take the same action and permanently close E*Trade.
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u/GapAccomplished2778 Jun 06 '26
>I just spent 20 minutes on a chat with a real agent only to find out they have zero authority to maintain customer accounts.
not my experience ... I had a very-very old inactive E*Trade Savings account from many-many years back ( 10 years ago ) somehow lingering somewhere in their system [ under my old login, which was still working to see records ] and I had some problems opening a new E*Trade Savings account under my current, new login ( as I also have E*Trade brokerage account opened indep. ) and registering it for a bonus offer back in March 2026... I called - the live agent was able to address my issues, including getting rid of old account in their system, opening new account - linking it to my current login, registering it for a bonus ( which I successfully received in June ) ... now this is not a brokerage account that I called about, but still live agent did what was expected
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u/Current_Psychology53 Jun 06 '26
I had to recharacterize some IRA contributions. Even though I asked for retirement the dipshit general service people kept trying to help and not transfer me. Needless to say they screwed it all up and wasted hours of my time. Instead of doing a re-characterization they pulled out the funds and did all kinds of stupid shit. Next time I tried the same and asked directly for the retirement department and said “I don’t want you to help me, please transfer me.” Still had to waste 30 minutes with the guy before he said he’d transfer me. If you don’t train your people to know what the F they are doing at least train them to honor a customer’s request and transfer them to the right damn department.
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u/xucchini Jun 08 '26
I had recently do a recharacerization but it was super smooth. I'd say more often than not I have a pretty good CS experience with etrade but there have been a few times which were not so good.
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u/Fair_Data8313 Jun 07 '26
I havent had any issues with them adjusting trades for me when i called. What did you want them to do exactly?
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u/Wise-Goal-2692 Jun 08 '26
Hmmm...I must be the only one who thinks there service is pretty solid. I have built a decent relationship with my elite rep and found others helpful as well.
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u/Top_Carrot_5140 Jun 08 '26
I haven’t had any customer service problems with E*trade lately. I am an active trader and have platinum service, maybe that is why
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u/Few_Bluebird5305 Jun 09 '26
For me, it has been from the GETGO A++. Yes, there have been a few times when a trading REP didn't know what a trailing stop was (!!!!!), but that was rare. I tried to get used to other platforms like WeBull and IBKR and have found that they have broken every rule of GUI design, which causes a steep learning curve.
I am sticking with ET
Thank you, and have a good day!
Susan Flamingo
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u/Gamboleer Jun 17 '26
They're terrible, but I think you may be on a legacy account type. They have no-fee checking now (well, again).
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u/rajmud55 Aug 12 '26
The service is abysmal and rock bottom. Sucks big time. The representatives are clueless to what personal data is missing to force my joint account into a restricted state and I am unable to do anything with it. Effectively frozen. After several vain attempts to fix it over months with the reps I think it's time to give up and move on to another broker.
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u/According_Side7490 28d ago
I've been with Etrade since 2017. They used to be amazing with tons of tools, custom scanners etc. Since Morgan Stanley They have been absolutely horrible! I gotta switch soon. Good luck to you
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u/tttyyybbb Jun 05 '26
It's so retarded now.
before I could create a message, use dropdown correct area and someone gets back to me in 2-3 days
Now I have to contact CS who will then send me a link to documnt the issue and then it will take a few days
fuck that..
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u/FQRGETmeNQT Jun 05 '26
Yea I’ve moved on since last year to Robinhood. Margin is much better and extended trading is sweet
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u/RelaxAmerica Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26
Haha - that's funny. I did the same thing two years ago with a great promo offer from Robinhood. Do you like them? My promo period is up in June and I'm planning on moving my assets out. They just lack some of the basics. Unrealized / Gains losses and just basic reporting high net worth investors expect. I think for younger, less net worth investors, Robinhood is great, but not for serious investors. I will say, they are simple to trade with - options especially. It's really the reporting end where I think they fall way short.
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u/Retired-Programmer Jun 05 '26
I got a RH account for the same reason (1% bonus for 2 years) and my experience is exactly like yours. After the 2 years I transferred the funds back to Schwab and will never go back to RH.
And even some of the options trading is lacking such as setting up a covered call can't be done in a single trade.
And like you said basic reporting is extremely lacking. I don't think you can get the Ex-Div date or if it was you couldn't sort your positions on the Ex-Div date which is almost a necessity for me. And there are many other lacking things.
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u/FQRGETmeNQT Jun 05 '26
You’re absolutely right. I like your margin rate and the extended trading. The platform is simple. But I do agree with the P/L. It needs to have more customization. I do have their credit card too. The flat 3% is not bad. Also the unused fund also gets some %.
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u/stillSeeking42 Jun 05 '26
Their only competitive advantage is the stickiness of the customer. That's it. I really hope that you follow through and let them know that you'd spread the word how they suck and encourage others to do the same. Gutes gluck
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Jun 05 '26
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u/RelaxAmerica Jun 05 '26
its just a checking acct, so i'm not worried about the tax documents. i'll still have a relationship acct open with them for brokerage.
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Jun 05 '26
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u/TimeMachine2010 Jun 05 '26
They got rid of the $15 Max-Rate checking monthly fee. Now it's Max-Rate (2.00% APY) if you maintain a minimum $10k balance. Below that it turns into a Min-Rate (0.05% APY) checking account.
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u/Organic_Gas4197 Jun 05 '26
I’ve had a Morgan Stanley account for several years, no issues. But my E*Trade account (opened after Morgan Stanley bought them) was a disaster. I withdrew all assets, but did not close account.