Charles Schwab Reviews 717

I have been a loyal customer for many years, but I've been locked out of my account due to their claim that I broke some rules which is not even in the contract. And it's been impossible to reach customer support, I have sent countless emails which was ignored. Now my money is sitting in my account without been able to collect it out. Right now, all I can think about is cëntury 100 They are straightforward, transparent, and every withdrawal I've requested has been handled promptly.

I've been a client for 20 years and have only experienced superior customer service. During that time, I transferred all of my brokerage accounts to Schwab to take advantage of easy access, excellent advice, 24 hour service, low to no fees, and an easy to navigate website.

I had to call them just now to help with a wire transfer problem triggered by security on my computer. The service rep talked me through an alternate approach and the wire went through. The whole procedure took about 10 minutes.

I highly recommend this bank & brokerage firm.

In August of this year I opened an account online with Shwab in anticipation of money to be received from my late father's estate, also with Charles Schwab. I then received a request to send in a hard (paper) copy of the application which I did from overseas. Fedex cost: $ 60. I then received a request to send in a signed and notarized letter of authorization which I did. Cost: $ 30. I was then told that I had to send in a copy of my ID which I did. Cost: $ 6. I was then told that the ID was illegible and that I would have to resend it which I did. Cost :
$ 7.

I funded my account last week by linking my checking account from another institution to my Schwab account and purchased some shares of stock. When I went to sign onto my account I found that I was locked out and I had to call, which I did. I was told that I was under investigation for fraud and that my shares had been SOLD and my funds were returned to my originating bank and that if I wished to proceed, I would have to write a letter of explanation and send in proof of my bank account and funds which I did. Cost: $ 7.

Instead of communicating with me or asking me for information, C. Schwab liquidated my account and accused me of fraud. I'm not sure how I could defraud myself since the funds came from my own personal account but in any case, this apparently is how Charles Schwab treats its customers. At this point, I have very little faith and confidence in Charles Schwab to hold and manage my account and to act professionally and courteously towards its customers. This has been going on for THREE FULL MONTHS. It is an outrage. They offer no solutions, no apologies and no consideration for their unprofessional behavior and attitude.

Follow up to my story: After PROVING that I have funds and that the funding account is in my name, I called three different times and finally spoke to a Schwab rep today who told me that they CLOSED my account. Once again, no call, no email, no notification whatsoever. Caveat emptor. On the plus side, I'm glad I found out how awful they are BEFORE sending in a big deposit. Disgraceful treatment and service. Quite astonishing, really. I'm glad, at least, that I found out how unprofessional and inconsiderate they are BEFORE sending them a much larger deposit. Beware and save yourself the grief that I went through.

Follow-up story: after 4 months and letters of complaint, etc Schwab actually addressed my issues and made an effort to make me whole. They investigated, apologized, and credited my account with the money I had lost so I kept my account open and made a trade. I am going to see how things go with them before deciding how to proceed with future transactions but the moral of the story is to stick to your guns, be tenacious and sometimes the consumer can win.

I feel so disappointed about them lately

This place used to be my favourite, but their services are gradually gotten worse over time since the take over.

I wouldn't pick them over the amazing #Apex# #point# #llc#. I recommend.

They dont let me move money like td ameritrade used to. Trades are not free. They don't let me trade my OTC position without a phone call and charge a lot to do so. I had to call them because my OTC position disappeared completely when they took over. It's horrible. I'm so frustrated and have had enough of their horrible web service. Everything about their service and ease of use seems like TD Ameritrade transfered my account to a scam service when Schwab took over. 0 out of 10, do not open an account with them for general banking or otherwise. It's my money and I need it now.

Terrible company! So sad that a crappy company like this took over such a great product like think or swim platform and now we are stuck with them being a long term customer of think or swim

They are the worst. They blocked every payment I received or sent without being able to provide a good reason.
They don't find any solutions when we call them, they just repeat the same script over and over. What are they doing with this money they hold for sometimes 10 days?

I opened an account from the UK as I was returning to the US for a job. Had the account for about a month, received and used a debit card, etc. Then made my first payroll deposit and the account was frozen. That was October 31. It is now November 18 and I can get no information whatsoever on when I'll have access to those funds. Found a local branch and provided copies of drivers license, the cashiers check I deposited and a utility bill. Their "fraud" team has had that documentation for 10 business days now and still no response whatsoever.
I had to open another account with a local bank so I could pay my rent. They suspended my account for an international payment and once I provided the required documents they had it fully functional again in 10 minutes.

I am writing this message as a long-time customer of Charles Schwab to share my devastating experience and to warn you about the serious risks associated with this company. For several years, I trusted Schwab with my investments, only to have my entire portfolio – including my favorite high-growth stock – suddenly and inexplicably liquidated without any notice, explanation, or consent. The funds from these sales simply vanished, stolen by the company’s own team.
This is not an isolated mistake; it is deliberate theft, an illegal scheme, and outright fraud.Charles Schwab operates like a criminal organization, arbitrarily seizing customer assets regardless of how long you’ve been with them. They even forced changes to my private account password, cutting off all access while they emptied my holdings. What they have done is a crime – robbery disguised as brokerage services.
I worked tirelessly for years to build my savings, and in one ruthless act, this fraudulent company wiped it all out. No customer is safe. If you value your hard-earned money, please act immediately: withdraw your funds and move your business to a reputable, regulated platform.

I've been a Schwab customer for over 10 years, and I've overlooked the quirks. The final straw for me came this week, as they denied a request to temporarily increase my zelle limits -- causing me to be late on a payment to my daycare despite the money being in my account. Their customer service didn't even bother to follow up and tell me about the denial or offer any alternatives. They've given me no options to move my own funds. It's time to switch to another bank.

Ever since Charles Schwabthey took over the think or swim platform that platform has got slower and slower and slower, especially on mobile when TD Ameritrade had this thing it was fast and up-to-date

I used Schwab to hold my equity awards. Never liked their trading platform, always confusing to navigate. Worse, it was always an absolute pain to move money to my outside account in my home country, several times the money transfers got bounced back, with signifcant exchange rate losses that couldnt be explained by market movements alone. Since I no longer work for the company that put my equity awards into a Schwab account I am very happy to finally close my account and relationship with Schwab.

You would think it is simple to create an investor checking account with Charles Schwab. Well, it isn't. I called in advance to determine if I needed to take any action before applying and the banking division representative said I needed to unfreeze all three credit bureaus. I did that. However, the banking division kept saying they could not get my credit reports but I knew for a fact they were open.

This went on for a few days. Finally, I spoke to someone in the verification department who said the banking division was wrong. It turns out that they really did not want credit bureau reports, what the really needed was ChexSystems reports.

I was trying to fund my brokerage account by doing mobile deposits, and suddenly my mobile deposits were denied. The message on the phone app was that my account was no longer eligible for mobile deposits.

I have never had any trouble opening accounts at any financial institution before and this has been nothing but frustration. My checking account is still not open and my brokerage appears to be unusable.

Pathetic.

Someone please wake up the CEO, he allowed the compliance person free reign, and that makes it, probably, impossible to open an account if you are non us citizen based overseas.

I can open and operate an account with many trading-apps, but I can’t open an Thinkorswim account without being an expert in form filling, and I’m not an expert in form filling. That means I’m unable to open a ThinkOrSwim account. Opening an account is too complicated.

I want a ThinkOrSwim account because it supports my trading style --- some apps do not even allow me to place a limit-order unless I phone the order in. I’m not into simple apps and like fully fledged trading platforms, so please!

A point of worry: I can login, but I assume that I have not passed the compliance because I can’t find the funding/withdrawal screen. If you hide the screen now, what are the other circumstances where you hide the screen?



I hope Schwab take note and make opening a Thinkorswim account as easy as many apps.

Yours W. Jensen

They are on the whole pretty good compared to their competitors. Their debit card is really handy and does not rip off on FOREX rates unlike most banks. It's the least hassle so far, and they have real people, not some poor English, scripted person in the third world parroting rubbish (looking at you Capital One and Chase, and Xfinity, the worst of the worst).

Downsides:-

Linking accounts is a hassle, as is typical with most institutions, it shatters into pieces for no particular reason with their "verification" algorithm that is poorly designed, relies on bad third party data and has no manual override.

Their staff just wring their hands as if the brokenness were done by some mysterious spirit they are powerless to intervene about and have no means to escalate to senior management who have a tin ear. This drives people nuts and limits my willingness to trust them with money.

They think they can second guess, countermand and treat customers like infants. The mindset is BAD.

This is a common failing of the "digital revolution" /AI many companies waste vast sums on, believing slick IT salesmen selling them garbage promises only to harm their business and customers who find themselves thwarted instead of leaving stuff alone that works, or at least used to work. I've been with them 20 years and would say it has gone downhill as they add more and more layers of krud to their IT.

Opening a company account is completely impossible, takes hours and is vastly frustrating, then gives a message "try again another time" (and so losing all the work and time investment) which seems to be the industry "standard" (bad). In that sense, they are no worse than the other bad companies the finance sector that seems crippled by their increasingly Byzantine IT and process for its own sake over function.

Besides that, better than the others and pretty good provided you don't touch anything that might break the delicate and brittle IT they use.

I'm rating 1 because Trustpilot doesn't allow for a zero rating. If I could rate Schwab a -5 I would. This brokerage only cares about wealthy clients. Customer service for Thinkorswim has been reduced to a farce since Schwab took over.

Don't be fooled by many of their positive reviews here, My experience with them was terrible and I regret trying them out because I lost everything to them. Avoid them at all costs and choosing to move on with Grand scale 's trading has been the best decision so far.

TD able to answer question through msg. but, CS a lot of simple question they ask you to call CS. Why can't you just put your heart to reply msg instead of pushing customer to call for non-urgent questions???

horrible experience! the overall process with pay lacks transparency, I made legal claim tru photo

The service is terrible and the bank panel is from 1978.
Can't find anything.