Merrill Reviews

Upon her death, my mother-in-law left an investment with Merrill Lynch to her children to be paid out equally. Since the first check was mailed out, the company has allowed one sibling to keep the original amount and has been telling the other siblings the amount may be different. My husband was sent a check equaling his sibling’s check. They called days later to ask him not to deposit it because it should be less. After several calls from the family, we were insured that they would make it right. My husband received another check of the same amount and deposited it, thinking they’d resolved the issue.

Don't ever do business with Merrill or Merrill Lynch. I am 65 years old and been working in the business world since I was 18 years old. This company is by far the worse. Do not invest with them and if you don't know they are affiliated with Bank of America, so stay away from them too.

My experience has been nothing but positive. My investment portfolio has grown about 12% over the past year...respectable, considering the economic turmoil. My advisor has reached out to me several times to discuss options. One big advantage is Merrill's relationship with Bank of America. He helped arrange the initial payment schedule for our mortgage and, when we decided to change from monthly payments to bi-weekly payments, he helped us navigate the process--basically filling out the forms for us so that all we needed to do was sign them. Truly stellar!

Looking for attorney to sue Merrill for defrauding my 90 yr old mother. They are misusing people for Account retention. They are known for this policy. I will never recommend these illegal people.

Merrill Lynch provides abysmal customer service. My recently deceased family member had mutual funds in Merrill Lynch and I was one of four beneficiaries. After their passing, it took us about two months to obtain the funds. As we turned in notarized forms, set up cash management accounts for an expedited process and other tasks, we were continually promised the funds would be available to us in 5 -7 business days only to be told there had been an error that basically caused the clock to reset.

My experience with the Power of Attorney (POA) process at Merrill Lynch has been one of the most frustrating and disorganized customer service experiences I have ever encountered. I submitted POA documentation so I could assist my elderly father with his financial matters. What should have been a straightforward administrative process turned into months of repeated calls, follow-ups, and conflicting information from different representatives. On multiple occasions I was told the POA had been successfully updated, only to call back later and discover that nothing had actually been done to correct the errors made by the back office.

My mother passed away in December, and funds from her Merrill Lynch account were supposed to be distributed to me according to her will. What should have been a straightforward transfer has turned into months of delays, confusion, and poor communication. On December 30, I met in person with a Merrill Lynch advisor at the Palm Beach Lakes branch on Bank of America and provided all requested paperwork to transfer the funds into a new Merrill Lynch account they opened for me. Since then, I have had to call every week to ask for updates. Each time, I was told the transfer was being held up because the account had to mature before it could be transferred and that it would be resolved within two weeks. That explanation was repeated over and over.

The worst customer service! The capability to try and reset your password is extremely troublesome. You must call in to get a release code. It took a very long time to get through, and once I did, I was asked for a phone number for a code to be sent. I gave a secondary number I use and was automatically told Oh it doesn’t match what’s on file, call back again. First of all, you didn’t ask me for on file number. Secondly, it’s infuriating to have to redo it all over again because your system doesn’t allow reps to retype. This should be more customer friendly, it’s ridiculous the loops to go around to get a password reset when you have all the required information.

Can't log in. Called and waited for a person to be told sorry we don't have a tech support department. Don't give them your money. You will never be able to access it again.

I hate these people and I'm calling the SEC on them. Liquidated an IRA on 2/2/26 and still can't get the money deposited into the bank. They have made mistakes. Screwed up cost me money and every time it's an excuse why the money is not in the account. Stay away from Merrill Lynch edge.

Attempted to transfer a few IRAs into Merrill. This was beyond their abilities to handle. The individual that pretended to know what he was doing made it abundantly clear that the clients are the last thing that matters. Beginning with leaving me sitting in the lobby for 20 mins past my scheduled appt while he discussed who knows what with another Merrill employee. After 3 weeks of his "professional" service including 0 returned calls, 0 returned emails, it became clear to not pursue placing funds with Merrill would be a disaster. The alleged professional appeared to only be good at stealing oxygen, other than that no value witnessed.

Horrible experience - advisor obviously hadn't listened before meeting. Even in meeting didn't hear the issues since chosen basis was wrong he just continued with his pre-planned spiel based on those wrong assumptions. Stress testing applied that was both what would be considered poor advice and one piece pretty unrealistic. Didn't include Social Security income in model. If not for Bank of America requirements would be pulling all of my funds. The after meeting summary was written before the meeting, because again heard nothing with concerns/corrections in meeting.

I sold securities in my IRA to roll over into another IRA with another firm. No problem selling, but transferring funds required excessive security. OK, but when I called a few business days later to see if the funds were transferred, they said no and assured me they were on cue to go out that day or the next at latest. Today, another week later they called to report that they could not wire transfer as requested but would send a check asap. Is that incompetency? What else could it be? I am hoping that the delay is not financially unfortunate.

Terrible customer service ~ waited on phone for over an hour to be connected with a distributions specialist. Comparative poor performance with investments. Am glad to have transferred funds elsewhere.

Mother passed at the end of May. Merrill Lynch contacted me in mid September. It has been one thing after another. They want you to call them for every little thing because verbal verification is all that they have for security measures. thought everything would be good to go once Merrill received all of the paperwork from my credit union. Oh no, it wasn't that easy. They really are stuck in the 1980s. Even Social Security allows you to apply for benefits online, without having to speak to a human lol. I'm finally done having to deal with Merrill Lynch! They have been the slowest, most inept, and most frustrating financial institution that I have ever dealt with.

I am the beneficiary of a very large estate. It has now been 15 months and I am still awaiting funds. The transition department is incompetent at best as I have had 10 disbursement forms (prefilled by them) denied by the disbursement team. The last one denied for a missing check mark!! You can not speak to any management, nor can you have one transition specialist handle your case. It has been an absolute nightmare for a situation that my family member was ensured would be a smooth and quick process!!

My father died in September of this year and he had my brother and myself as beneficiaries of his inherited IRA. Paperback completed by the last week in September. But NO… every other day, I received a call from a different rep. stating paperwork was wrong. This went on with papers filled out wrong after they were right by others we spoke to through December. Then the papers started to get lost. They could not release funds and actually were withholding our monies. How much revenue did this company get from the account by holding our money?

Pissed that my company uses these scammers for our 401k, instead of Fidelity or Vanguard. Zero good, simple fund options. All their choices are composed of numerous other funds, just so they can charge you a bunch of additional fees, and force you to pickup trash that you wouldn't otherwise want! Companies who screw consumers this way are exactly why government regulation and oversight NEED to exist!

The absolute worst in trying to break through the automated voicemail system just to return a phone call to a live associate. I'm a legacy Diamond Honors tier client and I'm only still here because I have no confidence in their back office operation/administration ability to properly transfer my account to the firm where I have the majority of my holdings.

I recommend that anyone who has set up their affairs and used a lawyer to set up a POA never use Merrill. My father went to a top trustee lawyer and assigned me, his daughter as executor and POA. He has a small IRA at Merrill and when we wanted to transfer the IRA to another institution, they locked the account even after sending all forms and documents to their POA department in Florida. The documents were sent multiple times and were signed for and each time they lied and said they never received them. I recommend NEVER to trust your money with them as they are unethical in their behavior and tactics. FINSTRA was of no help. So in other words, they are stealing money from their clients.

The worst service ever, online issues with accounts and login issues, unable to trade online, so I had call and was on the phone for over an hour. Not to mention that every time I spoke to someone, I was misinformed about various things. Horrible experience, extremely frustrating.

So recently I run across a Bio Tech stock that I want to trade. Goes from $8 PS to $65 in under an hour. I put in Buy at $31. Says Can't Complete Transaction Online Must Call. 17 minutes to get to the trading desk! Stock already dropped below my buy in to $30.50!! While on the phone with trading specialist discussing why I can no longer self-direct my own account, I'm told Merrill is now a conservative platform!! What a joke! What they mean is they no longer want us regular traders to make money like they do. Dumping Merrill and BOA!! 40-year relationship down the drain. BOA no longer cares about their customers' best interests!! That should have been obvious when Bank of America voluntarily provided the FBI with a list of customers who made credit or debit card transactions in the Washington, D.C., area around the time of the January 6, 2021 without a subpoena!!!

I’ve had an extremely disappointing experience with Merrill Lynch’s 401(k) services. The customer service is poor, and the wait times for hardship withdrawals are excessively long. What’s worse, there’s no communication when withdrawal requests are denied—no explanation, no outreach, nothing. When my request was denied, I received no communication explaining why—despite their stated policy that “you will receive a communication with the specific reason your request was not approved.” The denial reason, buried in the portal, stated: “Your request cannot be processed because your financial need does not satisfy a qualified hardship reason under your plan's rules and the IRS regulations or the documentation you provided was not sufficient.” Yet no one reached out to clarify what was missing or offer help.

I was lured to transfer my account from another brokerage to Merrill Lynch because of their lucrative offer when transferring various levels of securities' worth. It began in the fall of 2024, but because if Merrill's anal requirements, this didn't occur until March 2025. At first, my advisor, Malcolm A. seemed to know what he was doing with one of my accounts, but the horrors began with his attempting to transfer my IRA account, which he attributed to some fraud alert on my account transfer. So, I asked him for a written response to that alleged issue, and at first he said that Merrill would not do that, but I insisted, and told him in firm terms, if not, I would file a complaint with the SEC.

My experience with Merrill was terrible, I was let go from my company which used Merrill. I asked them to liquidate the shares I had in the company and the account information to send it to. Instead they sent stocks to my bank and they rejected them. Then in my online portal the money was just gone, I was lucky to find one statement that I had to dig for that there was proof of me having those shares. Then, I called them to straighten this out, I was in the phone for 3 hours trying to explain and getting transferred to everyone. They finally tell me I have to reach out to my former company because they have my shares.

We have had Merrill for 14 years. Our investments lost 50% of their value and never rebounded. When we tried to liquidate the assets they locked our account, accused us of fraud and required us to jump through all sorts of identification hoops, only to delay and ultimately refuse to cooperate. We've spoken with three reps all of whom were less than helpful and one who was asked to escalate the call refused. Pretty bad. I'd give them a 0 if I could.

Merrill is a terrible company to rollover retirement funds to. They withhold the rollovered funds for more than a week after the fund deposit before one can starts to invest. They basically make money on your money without allowing you to do anything with the fund. I would not recommend to roll any fund over to Merrill.

If I could give negative stars, I would. Today we were treated like criminals when we wanted to call and ask for advice about taking out our 401K for medical reasons. We were met with rudeness, critical, nasty responses of, "We do not do your taxes." I know you don't do taxes, but on your brochures and all our letters you said to call for advice. If you don't like your job, get a new one. This lady made us feel even more terrible than the day we heard my husband had cancer. Do we want to cash out our 401K-no. Do we have a choice-no. It's either that or not get treatment for my husband who is out of work and will be out of work for several months.

It has been a horrible convoluted process to get my deceased mother’s account transferred to my father’s account. They have not honored my power of attorney and I have had to drag my father who has dementia with me to the bank. We have been told this. We have been told that. We’re in the third month and still no transfer. Still on the phone for hours.

I applied to write covered calls. Not thrilled that they declined, but I could accept. At the same time, they blocked my account (no transactions or withdrawals allowed, though apparently deposits are welcome!). I called, and was promised a call back. Three days so far, no call. Rather than calling again, I mailed a letter to close my account. (I also have an account at Robinhood, which has been a *much* better experience.)

I see others have posted similar comments about trying to get a deceased loved ones account closed. I’m dealing with my deceased mother‘s account (only $30K) and this has been the most egregious financial institution I have dealt with. They have made me change a document three times and notarized each time. Instead of telling me the first time I submit the document what to change, they wait and tell me each time I submit it something different needs to be modified. I am convinced someone is compensated for keeping an account open as long as possible. There can be no other reason to put people through this. I have been a Schwab customer for years and they make everything so easy compared to this company. Stay clear.

We have been dealing with my sister's estate. She has an IRA account with TOD to beneficiaries. Should be a simple distribution since we had death cert and letters of Testamency. Not! Many errors, and NO follow through. Frequent, ‘we must process’ this and it takes days. They say they have everything they need and when nothing happens, we call. "Oops we were waiting for cause. Sorry, the other department dropped the ball." It has been 5 months!!! We are considering small claims court or a lawyer if this goes on much longer!

Merrill Edge has delayed distribution of my deceased mother’s account for over a year. When there were document complications, they did not reach out to us, to make us aware of the complications. They have lost documents, claimed they did not receive other documents, and kicked documents back for any little corrective issue they can find. Their employees are clueless and give conflicting information. They put you on hold for 20 minutes and still don’t understand what is going on with the account, when they come back. They never follow up, in the timeframe stated for follow up. They have been using these funds for their own benefit, profiting from their bureaucratic failings, which suggests it is intentional. Once this issue is finally resolve, they will never see a cent from me, my family, or friends.

Tried to deposit money in ira. Their customer service couldn't figure it out. Worst experience I've had in long time. I could talk for hrs about them. In the end they did nothing for us and said basically you will have to take further action. Don't know what that means except sue them I guess.

Hold check too long before depositing. Hired a pack of crap to block you from making conservative trades, may or may not go though. One is a short term ETF. All totally avoidable. You may want to try one of the others.

While the employee I spoke to was nice, this is the worst company to work with and I do not recommend. I never received a check to transfer to an IRA and they cannot reissue with a ton of hoops to jump through, delaying months of interest being earned etc. Asked to speak to a manager, on hold forever to then be told they can't find one, then told they would transfer me to a survey and was hung up on. This company is difficult to deal with and good luck if you have a question, they will ask for your personal information and transfer you over and over again for you to repeat the information and they make it soo difficult to get your money out.

Merrill sent me a letter telling me they are forcing a closure of my 401k and will cut me a check. I requested a rollover. They denied my request for a rollover and refuse to let me take my money to Fidelity. They want to roll me over into their IRA. I am on hold for 3 hours and 18minutes so far to discuss with them.

I had a terrible experience today with Merrill lynch about two hours on phone and never did get help. Worst ever company. No training of employees. Had to find my own info cause they weren't familiar with their own website.

This is my first time I use Merrill Lynch to trade stocks with my CASH ACCOUNT, after I executed two orders, there were only a little over $1000 cash left. Today I found out there were extra executed buy & sell orders in my account after my original two buy orders, the extra orders by Merrill Lynch made me lost $1500, I called and they give me a reason saying I had an order was not canceled, so they executed the order, then they found out it was mistake and sold. Okay my account is cash account, not margin acc, how could execute an order with $1000 cash available to buy $49000 stock? And even it is true that original order was not canceled, should Merrill lynch has restrictions to avoid duplicate or over cash availability order to be executed? Merrill lynch also charge over $30 for the trades. The phone call with an senior manager was abruptly cut off.

I was advised by Josh ** that my taxes on a roller would be paid out of my 401k into my Roth. I had a 45-minute phone call with this rep regarding taxes being paid. The amount I rolled over was based on tax amounts to be paid, which I was TOLD SPECIFICALLY WOULD BE TAKEN OUT OF MY 401k, so I did not have to come up with the money out of pocket. When I went to file my taxes, the IRS told me I was liable for the amount of $1,100.00; it WAS NOT TAKEN OUT OF MY 401k as instructed by this associate. He is uneducated about their products and how they work. Oh, by the way, the company's resolution to this was HE WILL BE COACHED!!! Oh, thank God!!!! What a joke! Do not do business with this company. Read the reviews!!! It's absolutely the worst company to put your hard-earned dollars into. They don't care if you lose your money. They only care about collecting it for their billionaires' payouts. Check out the CEO scandal...