Ameritrade

Mindy of Framingham, MA October 23, 2009

On October 19, with the assistance from an Ameritrade representative, I sold two securities through my on-line account. I was told the charge would be 9.99 per trade, and that I would be receiving a check for a total of 109.10. I received a letter from TD two days later, saying that they "were unable to process [your] request for a check in the amount of 109.10 at this time because of: Not sufficient funds at this time." I called TD on 10/22/09 to ask for clarification, and was told by a rep that I was charged 4.00 in fees. When I asked what the specific fees were , she said the fees were determined by the amount of securities sold,and something about them being a kind of tax. I found that interesting because the two stocks I sold were not the same quantity, and each was charged 2.00.

In the meantime, I received my TD statement in the mail, and saw the 2.00 charge under the subtitle "FEES," no further explanation. I called TD back and spoke to another TD rep. When I asked this person what the specific fee was for, he said for getting a paper statement vs. an electronic statement, and that a letter was sent to TD customers informing them of this new charge. I told him I never received the letter, and asked if he was aware of other customers who didn't receive the letter. He told me he spoke to a "handful" who hadn't received the letter. I wondered out loud to the rep if the actually number could be in the thousands, and he said he didn't know.

He quickly said, however, that he would waive the charge. I told him I was less concerned about the 4.00 charge than I was about the potential many who might be hit with the same charge and not even realize it, or if they did realize it, not take the time to question it. I imagine TD is making a substantial amount of money through this recent fee. I asked the rep to please re-send me a copy of the letter that allegedly went out to me, and was told he was unable to contact the division that sent it.

I asked for a phone number for the corporate office, and after consulting with his manager, he was unable to provide a number. I am writing this letter because I question whether letters were actually sent by TD to customers who receive paper statements. I received two very different explanations for the fee. If the fee is legitimate and the proper process was used to inform consumers, great. However, if proper notification/procedure was not done, and TD depends on consumers not noticing the fee, or not following up because it is small,then it is not OK. 2.00 in and of itself is not a lot of money. But 2.00 charged thousands, or hundreds of thousands of times, is a lot of money.

Carmencita of Skokie, IL May 4, 2009

The company may have stolen from me more than 5 grams or more. I have been with the Company for 15 years. 4 years datek and 11 years Ameritrade. I have complaint to them many times but nothing happened. They just ignored you complaint. I got pissed off Friday. Their system was down for trading but was able to place ordered of 1000 shares of hgsi at 2.35/share but split second I decided to cancelled my order due to their system down and I need to go out for an appointment. But when I came home the shared I cancelled was executed. I told them I cancelled that order before I left why was it executed. The said there was no cancelled received. I 100% cancelled it but I was told by the person I spoke too that there is no record I cancelled. The Ironic part of trading is that they control us they do anything they want with our money. They can delete anything in the systems that investor don't want to know. I have probably complaint more than 10 times with them but with no solution. How can we protect ourself from Company that steal our money?

Charlie of Forest Lake, MN February 26, 2009

Charlie of Forest Lake MN (02/26/09)
TDAmeritrade screwed me - exactly the same as they did to Karthik of Newton MA (02/21/09)  Without any notice or phone calls - TDAmeritrade sold off my BAC shares and other equities just because they decided to raise the margin of BAC. Will be file complaint and suing .

financial and mental - unjustice to investors

Karthik of Newton, MA February 21, 2009

Karthik of Newton MA (02/21/09)
I bought 39300 shares of Bank of America Shares on Margin on Wednesday.at avg. 4.72. Margin call was issued on Thursday , but the email was sent out on Friday morning . ie. 02/20/2009. They did not give me any call.

I responded to them ssaying that i will be able to cover the cost by wire transfering the amount. They had BLOCKED my ECH (electronic transfer from ym bank because of 1 time the bank rejected.. eventhough i changed banks.. they did not enable.. and in the past 9 years of trading with them. this is the first time it happened)

Credit risk sold my position in the morning for a loss and liquidated my position for a 60k LOSS at 3.26 eventhough the stock went up to 3.54. they did not sell my shares but chose to say that the credi risk team do manually to sell the positions according to their thresholds)

I called them and yelled at them for purposely robbing investors money and they did not care. THis is not the first time this happened. Earlier 2 weeks back they did the same with my GERON stock After that f'kin they allowed me to buy on margin at price 3.95 around 3.pm.. (13,000 shares at 3.95 cents) then again it was forcefully sold out for a loss at 3.53 pm for 3.90

(I don't understand their credit risk threshold for 5 cents in 1 hour unless they manipulate the Bank of america security to cream the investors. One possible reason is that they know BAC will go up on 02/23/2009)

Again No emails were sent out to me. NO calls were made. This is unfair. I called TD ameritrade and threatened to sue them if i don't get my 5100 shares. and i also told them that i will wire transfer the money on Monday morning to cover the margin cost for the 5100 shares they sold at 3.52 pm THey did not answer me.

What is the need for them to sell at 3.90 at 3.52.. so that means TD Ameritrade is involved ina business of short selling and knows that Bank of America will go up on Monday.!!! Filed a complaint to SEC and FINRA.

Prof. of Rome, OTHER January 14, 2009

Prof. of Rome OTHER (01/14/09)
I was misled into signing up for a margin account, rather than a cash only account. In the application document, the default account was margin. I am foreign person and did not understand. I moved my life savings into this account. Margin was developed. The market went down sharply. TD Ameri sold without my knowledge and I have now lost all my money.

i lost all my savings 1.9 million dollars

Stuart of Mahwah, NJ October 31, 2008

Stuart of Mahwah NJ (10/31/08)
Proceeds from stock sales were to be in a cash money management position. My proceeds of 38,000.00 is now worth 1,700.00 less and cannot be touched or withdrawn. I was told it's because they lost money with Lehmen Bros. I wish not to be a partner in Ameritrade's poor business decisions.

1,772.00 lost as of Oct 31st 2008

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