January 2023 by Sophia L.
If I can give 0 star, I would. I have been banking with Bank of America for many years, so when I decided to roll over my 401k, I signed up with Merrill Lynch (owned by BOA). That was a mistake, and I will never use this company again. 1) Impossible to reach. You will be put on hold for 1hr or longer each time you call. 2) They pay your cash position the worst possible rate. I had my account with them for 3 years. Due to a surgery, I did not check the account balance for a while. I have a IRA with Fidelity which pays normal market interest for cash positions, I have 3 times more funds in Merrill, and in 3 years time, they only paid $8 for my funds, which means Merrill scammed about $4,000 in interest alone. 3) I decided to get all my funds transferred to fidelity. I filed the first request, it took Merrill 20 days to tell me they declined the transfer, so I filed another request. This time, they charged me $49.95 to transfer my funds to fidelity, which I was not made aware when I signed up for the account. I was told because I am a platinum honor client with BOA, they will waive many fees, but that is not case. 4) Merrill has one of the worst investment selection around. Their IRA does not allow reverse ETFs or options. You basically can only buy, usually at the worst prices possible, without any risk management tools to protect your investments. I spoke to a supervisor from their resolution department. The supervisor was arrogant if not rude, inconsistent with his explanation throughout. Basically, if you are d*** enough to let them use your money for free, then you are a good customer. However, if you show any sign of intelligence, then you are welcome to leave. I will NEVER used Merrill again, worst investment experience.
