E*TRADE Reviews 

Trying to open a cd, I had an acct 20 years ago...closed that one 20 years ago. They can't figure out how to really close it so I can deposit 60,000. Into cd. Spent 56 minutes with Cash( his name) he was great but system awful. Still can't give $

The picture on my profile was not chosen for decoration.

It reminds me of a period when a close relative believed they had built an investment portfolio worth over £425,000. Everything looked convincing on the surface, the figures kept growing, the conversations sounded reassuring, and confidence was high.

What changed everything was realizing that seeing numbers on a screen and having access to those funds are two very different things. That realization came much later than any of us would have liked.

The image remains because it represents a lesson that cost far more than money: verify independently, keep records, and never mistake confidence for transparency.

Some pictures tell a story. This one certainly does for me.

This has been horrible. 6 months they werent able to fix W-8 form i filed on their end, kept telling me that it'll be fixed in a week! Untill the day I want to sell my shares and I CAN'T. I LOST money and they can't help.

Tried updating my beneficiaries but uploading the proper documents and heard nothing back. Bank account doesn't display beneficiaries so I called to confirm this had been taken care of.... Nope, Etrade rejected the request for a legitimate change in beneficiaries on several accounts. No call to discuss, no email letting us know, an irrational reasons. Saying Addresses had not been supplied but were clearly on the form where requested. Although customer service is polite and nice, no resolution because the legal team hides untouchable and won't come out of their basement to figure out why. Really unprofessional communications to just not contact me and let me discover it hadn't been taken care of and no good rational for why..... Crap!

I would rate them a fat zero, I I could. Good platform to trade stocks, awful customer service. I honestly don’t know how these guys have stayed in business as long as they have. I am moving my Roth to another company.

Non-existent customer service. The chat is entirely useless. I tried multiple times and gave up after over one hour. First of all, it takes several attempts to get past the virtual assistant. The waiting times shown are totally made up (13 min? yeah, right) and when it gets down to 1-min wait, there it stays indefinitely.
Avoid like the plague.

HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE. My mother is hard of hearing in her 80's - I was on phone with her and she said I could be. I didn't ask my name to be on the account or anything. Just helping her.... They claimed it was fishy - which is fine. So don't accept the account. BUT they pulled the money anyway! THEN WOULDN'T GIVE US ACCESS TO CANCEL IT (Within the first 24 hours) AND AFTER THREE WEEKS WE HAVE YET TO GET A STATEMENT OR ACCESS!

Trying to open an account. I had an e-trade account about 30 years ago that was closed. Because of this my SSN is on record so I'm having to upload documents to prove my identity (DL, SSN card, letter of intent). I understand that.
However once I do the upload, I get no feedback from Customer Service. I have to wait 4-5 business days and then call Customer Service back to see if my documents were acceptable. If the documents weren't good enough, I simply get told the quality wasn't good enough.
First, if I've been told to do the upload, I feel Customer Service should reach out to me and let me know there was an issue.
Second, information about what documents were unacceptable should be provided.
Third, there are a lots of systems that let me know right away if a picture of a document is unacceptable, instead of having to wait 4-5 business days and then calling Customer Service again to get this information.
Fourth, I've had my identity verified by electronic notaries, and feel that should be an option.
Lastly, I've been trying to resolve this issue, off and on, for 3-4 years. The only reason I've kept at it, is because my company uses Morgan Stanley At Work (Shareworks) which requires an E-Trade account.

I spent hours on phone calls checking the status of my application for a savings account. In addition, I had to submit my ID four times!
The process began May 6, 2026 and today is May 26, 2026 and it is still in process. Supposedly at least 4 associates and one supervisor submitted requests to expedite the application process and I'm still waiting to see if an account will ever be opened for me.
The customer service associates were understanding, but nothing was ever accomplished, no solid answers & even the supervisor could not get a simple savings account opened.
They apparently do not need the business.
After reading the numerous complaints about Etrade, I will go elsewhere with my business.

Get away as quick as possible

No possible to contact them over email
Not possible to move stocks and funds out without fighting with the company.

I recommend to find another broker

0 stars if possible

Easy to set up account, but you can’t add more accounts to transfer to or do wires (and possibly other transfers) for 60 days after you open account. Of course they don’t mention this before hand. I likely close my account, what a drag.

It took 10 minutes to chat compared to Schwab less than a minute. They don't provide e-statements monthly unless you have activity and there is no way to review your end of month balance.

I would rate this zero if I could. Etrade provided the worst setup experience and customer service I have had in electronic banking. I have setup accounts with other banks instantly - including ones with investment arms. I had to submit an application. That took a week. I got into my account once to give them money. Then I was locked out because the system had not entered my phone number correctly. I called customer service and had to submit a ridiculous amount of paperwork to get a code to access my money. Note the transfer had gone through though ... Etrade had gotten their money. I had to call 72 hours later to check on that request, and I was told that I would need to call every time to get a code to get into my account until my carrier verified my phone number. WHAT?! Seriously, what?! I've worked with literally multiple banks with INSTANT setup verification. This feels like a scam. I transferred out all of my money and will close the account once the transfer is confirmed. I wish I had read the reviews first. DO NOT give Etrade your money.

They owe me three days of interest ... and really the three weeks worth of wasted time when I could have been earning money.

Etrade is awful. I had $6000 stolen from my account within a few months of opening my account via blatant check fraud. Police investigated and found the perps in possession of a stolen checkbook I never received. Despite a successful investigation from Law Enforcement, they dragged their feet. After four months of getting the run around, I filed a complaint with the CFPB, and only then was I able to retrieve my money. By far the worst bank I've dealt with.

I opened a 6-month CD with E*TRADE and was surprised by how outdated and poorly managed the beneficiary setup process is in 2026.

To add beneficiaries, I downloaded their required PDF form, completed it, and uploaded it through their DocuSign system. After several days with no communication or status updates, I called customer service and was informed that the form had been rejected because it required a “wet ink” signature — meaning I had to print, sign by hand, scan, and re-upload the document.

The paperwork requirement itself is frustrating, but the bigger issue is E*TRADE’s complete lack of communication and transparency:

• No notification whatsoever that my legal documents had been rejected
• No dashboard status tracking or alerts related to beneficiary processing
• No warning that my account remained without valid beneficiary designation despite being fully funded

This is more than an inconvenience. If something were to happen to the account holder, unresolved beneficiary paperwork could create unnecessary probate complications and delays for surviving family members.

In 2026, requiring physical signatures is already outdated. But silently rejecting beneficiary documents without notifying customers is unacceptable for a major financial institution handling estate-related account designations.

Customers should not have to repeatedly call just to discover that important legal forms were sitting rejected with no notice or follow-up.

The E-Trade systems third party authenticator , doesn't recognize my phone. To log into my account I must submit a MFA code request cover letter & front/back of my drivers license each time I want to log in, wait two to three days for new approval, each time, then call customer service to help log in with a new MFA code....This is for a CD , which has an ACH daily limit of $100,000.....It took 6 days to open & fund a CD. By contrast, I held back a considerable amount and opened a CD at Marcus Bank in less than 5 minutes . ETRADE has not been enjoyable , the only worse experience was at Lending Club bank, both should be avoided. The customer service personnel at ETRADE did try to help, but only after the MFA code approval...Therefore 2 stars.

Quick update on my trading experiment: it didn't go great. Dealing with funding issues and execution lag really killed the performance. I’m definitely leaning back on Laura Jane Hertges (found via Google) for my primary holdings. It's much smoother when you have guaranteed profits instead of fighting the market yourself.

I don't know what happened to customer service at etrade, but it had deteriorated to trash. I had a false naked short option in my account due to an unpaired covered call, resulting in the etrade system triggering a cash call. I had the settled shares in ahead of my covered call, additionally I do not have short option trading privileges in my acct. The customer rep was unable to resolve, so I asked to speak to a manager, any manager and I was told none were available to talk to me. This is during business hours on a Tues morning at 9:40. Not 1 manager was available to take my call and was told a manager will return my call within 24hrs. I pointed out the the rep, that within 24hrs my shares could be liquidated if the false cash call was not resolved. The rep said I would have to speak with a manager. I said how do I do that when none are around to take my call?

BEWARE! Please do your homework on this company BEFORE transferring your hard-earned dollars to them. Weeks after I transferred my pension to this place; I am now actively seeking another company to service my retirement. I do not trust them. Inefficient to downright incompetence on the part of associates, and sadly managers. Requested a simple distribution from my account on 4/17; it is now almost 5/17, and I've had no real resolution. I've made approximately 10 or more calls -and I've received equally as many different responses. No one seems to stop, read, and take action or find the root cause of a process. I even escalated a complaint...they go nowhere. Their processes are - wait, I don't believe they have them. As sooooon as possible, I am moving my money to a more reputable securities company, because my experience has been one for the books. I have never experienced anything quite like this before.

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