TD Ameritrade Reviews 298

No complaints until I tried to get ahold of someone regarding the many thousands of dollars they manage for me and found that there is literally no way to contact anyone who is useful. Contacting Ameritrade directly gets me sterling advice like "try looking through your email".

Called in as Had an issue with my account. The representative continually talked over me on the phone. I finally said I’m the customer stop talking over me so I may explain my problem. After many years I’m changing companies for my trades. Too big no REAL CUSTOMER SERVICE anymore.!!!!

I've been with TD Ameritrade for 30 years. The service and experience I have had with them has taken a considerable downward turn since the Schwab deal. I am withdrawing all of my accounts and moving them elsewhere. Just horrible. What are they thinking??

Decent UI, customer service is very good. Not sure what everyone else is complaining about. My only qualm is that I wish they could pull my records from my account. They said it was lost in a fire! Don’t they have servers for that?

I have been a client of TD Ameritrade for at least 30 years. I love their trading platforms, research tools, and educational offerings.

Their private client service agents however are terrible. They will call you periodically for brief, friendly conversation, but provide minimal to no help in answering actual questions. They are also unresponsive if you try to contact them outside of the call they initiate. Mr. Steve Schmidt and Mr. Brad Alexander were the worst two agents I had over the course of 35 years.

TD Ameritrade is my favorite brokerage service among T. Rowe Price, Fidelity, and Schwab. I would like them even more if they dispensed with the no- value-added private client service agents.

I've sent 6 emails with no reply.

I tried changing from Margin to Cash account 1.5 weeks ago and they still haven't changed it. I've had to talk to 5 people and no success. I even complained on Twitter. I sent them 5 emails and talked to 2 customer representatives on Thinkorswim. I've been with them 10 years, I'm very unhappy with TD Amreitrade. F-

platform is fine, easy to use but one aspect of TD Ameritrade makes it a Bad Bad choice for small investors. Fee structures. Reorganization fees of $38.00 for many may be fine however for a stock total valued of pennies or a couple dollars they charge excessive fees not based on value of stock just one time $38.00 hit. Nakd good example R/S 1-15 total value $5.86 for 1 stock owned screwed with $38.00 fee that is excessive and don't care about customers so TD Ameritrade now has a -negative rating with me

TD Ameritrade used to be somewhat better, but ever since the Schwab acquisition, TD seems to be completely checked out as a company. Call wait times are longer, customer inquiries fall on deaf ears, the platforms have become less reliable, and the technology has not kept up with the times. Based on my observations and experiences, TD has no real interest in improving their services, adequately addressing customer concerns, or retaining clients. They are just running out the clock until Schwab takes over.

On the customer experience side, I have dealt with many instances of subpar service, including, but not limited to:

-For the last two tax years (2019 & 2020), the original 1099s TD sent me contained errors, and they didn’t issue corrected versions until after long delays. This delayed my ability to file accurate tax returns and impeded my financial planning.

-Several times, TD sent me sloppily formatted, vague messages regarding things that “may have occurred” and the "appearance" of something "potentially" improper as relates to trading. None of the messages ever referenced any regulations, or indicated that I had *actually* done anything improper. It was clear that absent a few references to specific trades, these were pro forma messages containing examples of improper trading that did not apply to my specific situation. I’m guessing these qualifier-laden, ambiguous messages were written in such a way as to protect TD from getting sued by customers.

-The “Block Desk,” TD’s completely unaccountable and inaccessible version of a Star Chamber, placed trade restrictions on my account based on inaccurate, incomplete information. This shadow entity does not even respond to their own customer service colleagues when they attempt to contact the Block desk to resolve a restriction (since the Block Desk does not respond directly to customer issues). It doesn’t matter if the facts don’t support their conclusions- they take unilateral actions to impede or prevent trading at their whims.

-Customer support reps (those who actually pick up the phone) who have almost no ability to help customers with anything but the simplest of issues. They either don’t know how to help, don’t care to try, or aren’t empowered to do so. Either way, it makes for a terrible customer service experience.

On the technical side:

-The mobile app has a history of being unstable and has several significant design flaws. Some examples:

-There is no way to change your default trade expiration from “Day.” So every time you want to try to make a trade in premarket or after hours, you have to manually change the expiration. I have lost out on innumerable opportunities by having to take the extra time to update that field. Why any developer thought that this setup would make for positive trading experience is beyond me.

-In the History section of the mobile app, when you click on a given transaction, the app often displays incorrect details (such as a different transaction). This makes it essentially impossible to trust TD Ameritrade’s data integrity.

-If you make a series of trades in rapid succession, there is no easy way to return to the Watch Lists (landing) screen. You either have to exit the app and log back in, or click the back button repeatedly. Neither of those choices facilitates successful trading, and like many other aspects of the TD experience, it’s clunky and poorly conceived.

-I have a strong suspicion that TD Ameritrade was throttling some of my trades. On multiple occasions I placed large Market orders on active volume stocks during regular hours, and a full minute or sometimes even two would elapse before the order started to fill. This is an unacceptable practice from any broker, and it’s even worse when done surreptitiously.

The end result of my dealings with TD is that after numerous unsuccessful attempts on my part to get specifics about potentially applicable regulations, demonstrate (via math, evidence, and common sense) that no improper trading was occurring, and abide by the opaque, subjective moving target that is TD’s trading policies, I decided to unwind my positions and cease doing business with TD Ameritrade. Since they have set such a low bar, I think it’s going to be pretty easy for me to find a better broker to use.

Previously, TDA was a good company. But it has been changed dramatically about 2-3 years ago since it was merged with Charles Schwab. Now you have to be very cautious about its stealing/robbing your money. I have experienced many times of its TOS platform freeze to prevent you from closing your winning trades recently. Yesterday (12/19/2021), when I was placing an order for ES2 (SP500 futures) options, the showing ASK price was ~42, but TDA filled my buying order at 60 by suddenly widen the Bid/Ask spreads from ~41/42 to ~20/60, which immediately led to ~$1000 loss of that trade. This enlargement of spreads lasted about 2 seconds and occurred during submitting my order, and then back to normal spreads level. After I reported this to their trading desk, they refused to refund my loss and insisted it was not their fault, saying price slippage is normal! It was a shameless Manipulation of Bid/Ask Quotes! Dear trader, leave away from this ugly broker, it is not the well-respected broker anymore!

I swear their customer service thinks of excuses that make no sense on the spot. I made my account a week ago and it immediately got a trade restriction. Their explanation: "It's my banks fault"
According to my bank though everything is fine. I can even transfer thousands of dollars between accounts but I cannot trade. Their process of getting this restriction off my account has been the biggest pain in the ass ever. Every time I call them they tell me a new excuse and each representative says something that contradicts what another one said. I was hoping that I would enjoy using Ameritrade's Thinkorswim and maybe I will in the future, but right now their system is complete bullsh*t.

If I can give negative rate I would! Customer Service won't help you and will insist that nothing can be done. I got a message in my account that my bank transfer didn't go through then the next day they just sold my other stocks to compensate the deposit. When I called asking for help I got the worse service that we can't do anything. I worked in customer service since day one and it's a fact that no client will know every minute details which is why you are there to help but these folks wont. They will not guide you.I hate this bank!

2021 is the first year my spouse is required to take out RMDs. We have elected to give a portion of our RMDs to charity. Td Ameritrade requires completion of a confusing form that appeared to be confusing even to Td reps. After several phone calls to reps, it was clear they were confused as to how to complete the RMD requests. In addition, with some of our requests, state income tax was withheld, but not with others - Td's doing, not ours. We have made at least 8 phone calls to clarify and correct Td's inconsistent and incorrect information. It almost appears that the concept of giving a portion of RMDs to charity is new and foreign to Td reps. This entire experience has been repeated for several months and is so frustrating that we will be switching our Td accounts to Fidelity. I would encourage others not to use Td Ameritrade, at least not until they get their act together!

Horrible they take two days to close a trade and put your money back into your account unless your ankles in your hands are tied people don’t want to let you free to trade and enjoy a good trading day. When you win you lose and when you lose you lose... horrible!!! What do they send you an alert when your funds have cleared, no they take your money and your money is there money until further notice

Use them only if you have money to throw away. Their algorithms are set to rob you blind. Just logically think about it, how can this company make a profit when they charge no commission? It's called a rigged system, no different than a slot machine. It's programmed to take a dollar and turn it into .85 cents. Stay far away.

I’m trying to DRS (direct register my shares) in my name, not tda’s name. I’ve been told 7-10 days. Then 1-3 days. Now it’s two weeks later and I’m being told 2-4 weeks.

Every complaint I make give back some boilerplate email that is meant to kick the can down the road a bit longer.

I don’t like the lack of info and the lies.

I doubt they actually own my shares.

I will transfer everything to Fidelity and then get my shares to computershare from there. I want my shares in my name.

I have use TD Ameritrade for well over 3 years and at first, it was not a smooth experience, so I left the account for over a year dormant, but last year I found a forex strategy while doing research on google on TD Ameritrade called "Pip quotient formula" which i tried and started making proper profits using it, now my problem with TD Ameritrade is the huge amount they charge for every withdrawal, it is too much and something needs to be done about it, i would have rated their service at 4 stars but this charge on withdrawal is a huge turn off for me,

I bought shares through TDAmeritrade.
I asked to put them into direct registration (a computer entry) and there is no cost.
The first six people gave me a total run around. Number 7 actually helped me submit the correct forms.
Waited another week, nothing.
Called back and was told my order is being expedited.
Called back a week later, got agent number 8. I asked to speak with "direct registration team".
I was told they will not allow that.
Number 8 also said my order was being expedited.
I asked to speak to a manager (number 9).
Number 9 told me that my order is not being expedited and I have to wait possibly 2 more weeks.

This is literally a three minute operation on a computer keyboard.

Every time I call, I get a different story and I cannot get my shares out if their possession.
These guys really suck and will constantly and consistently lie to you.
My advise is to find someone else.
TD Ameritrade happily takes what you have but try getting it back...

I opened secondary account to keep my long term positions separate from my trading account. I transfer this account from Vanguard to keep my accounts together. First they told me that I can only have one margin account as per regulation, but if I add my wife as a joint holder I can get the margin. I was going back and forth re submitting all the required documents multiple times because their customer service team was completely incompetent in processing the documents. Finally I started talking to the supervisors who straightened everything out and got it ready for approval. I checked few days later and was told that after looking at all the documents the account reviewers said that there is nothing else I need to submit to get the request processed and that it should happen in 2-3 days. I called the next week only to find out that they all of sudden now need my wife's utility bill with address on the bill. I was furious. After a month dealing with this when nobody has ever mentioned this, reviewed this and said that everything is good to go, I am told this nonsense. I made it very clear that I am currently stationed in Germany and my US address is my permanent address where I currently don't live. I even told them that even when I was living there, I never had a single utility bill because my rent included all utility bills. Their reply was - we still need your wife's utility bill to process the margin on this account. Somebody tell me please, is this normal ???? Mind the fact that nowhere on their account modification form does it state that utility bill is required to get margin approval. When I requested any documentation to show me where it says that utility bill is required, they did not respond to that.
This is absolutely the worst and most incompetent customer service I have ever encountered. This company is clearly discriminating against military service members who get send overseas by refusing them the same liberties that they offer other customers. I decided to just take my 200k and move it over to fidelity. They do not deserve my business.

TD Ameritrade are thieves and liars! They froze my account with $10,000 for no good reason, refuse to send my money back. I sent my details, ID, background check report, to clear up THEIR misunderstanding. They claimed some bogus fraud reason. They gave me the runaround, zero help. They got the interest from MY money.
Even after complaints to FINRA , they would not return my money as asked.
Stay away from these reprehensible scumbags . And also stay away from SigFig Wealth. There are many other responsible and ethical institutions for managing your money.
Don't use TDs ThinkOrSwim. Use TradingView instead. They have many more indicators and tools, and are free

I would give TD Ameritrade a 0 or negative star. But 1 is the lowest