Merrill Lynch reviews, ratings, pros and cons, complaints from brokerage customers

Merrill Lynch Ratings

Merrill Lynch average user rating: brokerage firms reviews

Merrill Lynch BrokerageReviews.org rating: 3-star brokerage firm rating

Merrill Lynch Review: Stocks, ETFs & Options Trading Commissions

Stocks and ETFs: $29.95 for limit orders; $14 market orders
Options: expensive with complicated structure click here to see it

Minimum To OpenMerrill Lynch Online Brokerage Account

$2,000 minimum for a Cash Management Account® or $250 for an Individual Retirement Account.

Merrill Lynch Promotional Code/Offer/Bonus 2012

(no promotional offers at this time)

Merrill Lynch Reviews


by Ex BoA customer due to ML, 2/4/2011 Pros: none Cons: While they claim to have 5000 mutual funds available, they all seem to have high loads and high expense ratios. I was a Wealth Management Banking Client and was a very happy customer with my Bank of America Discount Brokerage service for over 10 years. I am basically a buy and hold investor of low cost index mutual funds. The methodology has served me well, and for both my IRA and my Taxable accounts I was able to invest in low cost Fidelity Index funds (FSMAX, FSEVX, FSIVX, FSBAX, FIBAX, etc.) using Bank of America Discount Brokerage services. Since the transition of my Bank of America Discount Brokerage account into Merrill Edge accounts, August 2010, I have experienced the following problems (all of which I phoned and received clarification): 1. Without my permission or prior notification, my FRTXX holding was sold and the proceeds were put into a comparable ML Direct Deposit fund. 2. Without warning Merrill Lynch decided that my dividends from FUSVX were no longer allowed to be reinvested back into the fund. 3. Without warning, while attempting to rebalance my portfolio, I discovered that I can no longer execute exchanges between my Fidelity funds. 4. Without warning, I am suddenly unable to purchase any NO LOAD Fidelity funds; however load funds with high commissions and high expense ratios are available to me. 5. While it has been pointed out to me that Merrill Edge provides over 5000 funds, only 145 of them are No Load Funds. All of those no load funds have expense ratios between 1.5% and some in excess of 4% (hardly efficient). 6. After several conversations and questions regarding my assets held by Merrill Lynch it was apparent (and confirmed when I asked), that BoA and Merrill Lynch are like two separate companies. Merrill Lynch has made it very difficult for me to keep my current investments with them. It is unfortunate that Bank of America/Merrill Lynch no longer provide access to competitive mutual funds (No Load, low expense ratio, index funds). Consequently, I have transferred my accounts over to Fidelity Investments account services. Because BoA/Merrill Lynch charged me a $75 Transfer fee to close out my account, Fidelity graciously reimbursed my account with that amount. The more I am learning about Fidelity the more impressed I am. While I liked doing business with BoA, I really disliked doing business with Merrill Lynch.
by Mike, 1/7/2011 Pros: None really Cons: Overpriced, fee-happy, low-tech brokerage The Bank of Abuse lured me to open a brokerage account a few years back with the 30 free trades deal. I only made about 20 trades in the 5 years I was with them but a few times they mistakenly charged me a commission anyway. Once they dumped me into the Merrill Edge account, the couple of trades I made were charged commissions again. Plus, access to the account via Qucken magically disappeared as well (with no notice or anything). After hearing about the $100/year nonsense I had enough; I closed the account (after waiting on hold 30minutes for a CS rep). To add insult to injury the rep was rude and didn’t even ask why I was closing the account. I guess this is the treatment you get after banking with BofA for 30 years with a six figure brokerage account. BTW, I also have accounts with TD Ameritrade, ScotTrade, and Interactive Brokers and they all make ML look like the amateur hour, old-school brokerage they are. And I've never been charged an erroneous/non-disclosed fee or commission from any of those firms even once. Don’t even think about ML if you want to day or swing trade, and even if you are a Buy and Hold investor you’re much better off at TDA or ST.
by Brokerage-Review.com, 4/22/2010 Pros: Many investment products Cons: Highest commissions of all stock brokers. Merrill Lynch is one of the best known online brokerage firms and is now owned by Banc Of America. Firm's clients are mostly wealthy individuals and they pay dearly to have account with Merrill Lynch. Merrill Lynch charges a lot of fees that most other discount stock brokers don't have. Trading commissions are the highest we've seen. Even if you have millions of dollars and trade tens of thousands of shares, we don't see a good reason to pay $30 or more in trading commissions if you could pay $3-$7 with other firms. The old argument that Merrill Lynch is good for high net worth people who don't want to manage their own money and let ML do it, doesn't stand anymore. If Merrill Lynch can't even manage their own money why would you let them manage yours? If you want a well established and known company with very good service to hold your investments why not go for Scottrade? If you don't want to manage your money, buy some index funds, gold and other commodity ETFs, some bonds and forget about it. No financial advisor will beat index fund performance over the long run. If you want excellent customer service and $9.95 commissions, go for OptionsXpress.

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Merrill Lynch reviewed by BrokerageReview.org users. 3 customer reviews. Rating: 2.

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