E*TRADE: Invest. Trade. Save‪.‬ 4+

Great Brokerage, Bad Call Times & UI Design

E*Trade is a great brokerage so far. I have been using it for about a month now and so far no problems, except for one… Randomly got a notice on my account saying they need to speak with me in order to restore my trading privileges due to ‘suspicious activity’. I’m not sure what qualifies for suspicious activity, me just logging in to check my stocks? But whatever. I do what I need to do and call them. It’s been 2 weeks now and I cannot get ahold of them to have my privileges back. I either am working or busy with life things, and the call time is just too long to be made. I call and 2 hours later I’m still on the phone waiting, and then have work, so I have no choice but to hang up to go into work. All those 2 hours wasted. Please, PLEASE get more call center agents or something because the wait time is ridiculous. Also, there needs to be so many UI updates. How is there not a chart of your stocks that you own showing the $ and % of gain and lose? You can’t go see by the month or day how your stocks have fluctuated? Very weird to me I feel like having a graph is the most important thing in a brokerage when dealing with stocks. Whatever though. I have to say unfortunately this is making me want to just choose Fidelity because they seem to have a more user friendly app design and better call times..

E*Trade (Good) vs Morgan Stanley (Bad)

I don’t know what’s going on here between E*Trade and Morgan Stanley but I got the blame game excuse so I guess they are still working out the kinks in IT. Or it could be Good Cop/Bad Cop.

Basically, Morgan Stanley raised their margin requirements and then sold my stocks almost immediately after I called them and told them I was transferring the money in before 3 pm. However, they sold my cheapest shares on FIFO when I use LIFO on my taxes. I checked my account settings prior to messaging the support desk (my settings were still LIFO) and then asked them why they sold my oldest shares first. They changed my method to FIFO and said I was on FIFO. I changed it back and picked up the phone immediately, because now they are either lazy or doing something shady. After talking to customer service and getting nowhere, I had to get snippy and ask why they are committing tax fraud on my behalf when I’ve always used LIFO. I was sent to Mr. John Hill, who handled the Tax Lots from E*Trade in Utah. He was a good guy. He was able to see all the changes they made to my Tax Method and say the trades didn’t go through correct and then had to submit forms to get my tax lots back where it belongs.

All in all, great customer service from Mr. Hill from E*Trade. I guess Morgan Stanley is really tight on cash. That Fed Borrow rate is super high. 🙄

Love E*Trade, Please Add this Feature!

I’ve been an E*Trade user for 5 years and I’ve seen vast improvements in their business philosophy and how they treat their customers over that time period. They’ve removed essentially all fees related to trading just like the rest of the investment firms. Anytime I have had an issue, I have been able to call them and have it resolved within a few minutes. I’ve been pleased with their online banking and utilize it as my primary account. You might think it’s a pain not having a dedicated bank with an ATM, but when E*Trade refunds you any ATM fees charged to your account, any ATM is your ATM.

My one request is that you add in a feature to the App that is on the website. I would like a tab to view my Dividend Income or my forecasted dividend income for the next 12 months. I know there are a lot of Investors out there that our primary focus is building a portfolio with exponential dividend income. The ability to view it in the App would make it so much easier and remove the hassle of having to view it on a separate computer platform.

I’m happy to be an E*Trade Customer and look forward to being a lifelong user of the platform they offer! Keep up the great work and I hope to see new features added to the App in the future!

Developer Response ,

Thank you for the constructive feedback! We are actively making improvements to your mobile trading experience! Be sure to stay up to date on the latest version through the App Store. Should you have additional questions or concerns, we are available 24/7 at 1-800-387-2331 (Domestic) or 1-678-624-6210 (International).