Complaint Review: TD Ameritrade

TD Ameritrade is an awful and greedy company that has an overzealous compliance department that doesn't take into consideration that they are dealing with people's livelihoods.

I signed up for an account in July. I was dissatisfied with the international wire fees of my old bank, and I was sold on TD Ameritrade's sales material that explicitly advertises their cash services, I also wanted to try to get involved with trading. Their advertisements read, "No ATM fees" and "Why settle for multiple bank accounts when you can have the flexibility to trade, invest, spend and pay bills from one TD Ameritrade account. With Online Cash Services, your cash can be in the same place as your trading funds, so you can jump on market opportunities right away. Plus, you can move money between accounts and pay bills, quickly and easily."

The first week was great. Their branding, and organization was impressive to me, and their customer service was great, however now I'm pretty sure that during their new account stage you talk to a different department that is ultra helpful and happy.

I set up direct deposit with my company, and upon the deposit of my paycheck, I attempted to wire a percentage of the deposit to an international bank account in my name (I live part time in Mexico). I was told that their compliance department had refused my transfer, they couldn't give me any more information. They knew nothing, but that the decision was final, and the funds could only be moved back to the account of origin (my payroll company).

It took 5 phone calls to find out that new accounts can't mail checks, send wires or initiate ACH's for 60 days to anywhere domestic or international what so ever. My money was essentially held hostage. Let this be a warning to anyone, any money that you put into your account for the first 60 days can only be used for trading. They don't tell you this anywhere! What that meant is that the only solution they had for me was to send my paycheck back to the payroll company (the account of origin). Which means no paycheck for 3 to 4 days to ACH back to my payroll company plus another 3 to 4 days for my payroll company to process it plus another 3 to 4 days for me to receive a paper check. Potentially 12 days, before I receive my paycheck. Frustrating, but I'm able to look past it.

I requested a debit card as they encourage you to do on their website. In response to my debit application I received an email that said, "a business decision has been made to no longer extend checking and/or debit card privileges to you at this time We are unable to provide further details." I thought, okay not a big deal. The only part of their cash services that are important to me are international wires for when I'm in Mexico.

So I waited the 60 days. I was told that after the 60 days the new account restrictions would be lifted.

My second direct deposit, occurred after the 60 days had elapsed, and I had successfully completed a total of 3 direct deposits and 3 partial international wire withdrawals without trouble since then. I did call to babysit these transfers, as I had lost some confidence from my previous experience.

My 4th direct deposit was received, I initiated a partial outbound wire at 8am central time. (these were partial withdrawals because I was trying to save a bit each check to trade with). This time I can see that the wire was just sitting and not actually being sent. So I call them to check on it and they tell me not to worry, it will be sent momentarily. I call back a couple of hours later, because it was getting close to their close of business for wires. The representative tells me it will be sent in literally 3 minuets. I asked the representative, if I could wait on the phone until it was sent, because I've been promised the same thing so many times, and it keeps not being sent. I was nervous because I had 5 minuets to make it in time for a same day wire and it was Friday - any problems would mean Monday. He said, okay it says sent and the time stamp is "exactly 2:59pm and some seconds". Then two hours later I get an email that said, "we were unable to wire your money "because REJECT." This is at 4pm on Friday. I call back for an explanation, and they say their going to have to send the money back to my payroll company on Monday. They could give me no information except for a "business decision has been made".

That same day, I notify my payroll company that TD Ameritrade will now be refusing direct deposits, and I provided them with my new information.

My 5th direct deposit was received. My deposit wasn't able to be adjusted in time, and the change wouldn't go into effect until the next pay period. I call and they tell me that they will call me back in a couple hours to see what they can do. I never received a call back, so I called back. The manager said that nothing could be done until Monday. The manager says that they have emailed compliance, and heard back that they will be able to wire the funds into a like-titled domestic account. So, I say great, I give them all the information for my bank, and they say it should go through shortly.

30 minuets later I got a call from a different manager and he says, "I'm just calling to let you know that in 24 - 48 hours we will sending your funds back to your payroll company, our compliance department has decided that we can't send the funds to a like titled account, because you were alerted of this problem in June, and we've made a business decision in June. You should already know that we wouldn't accept direct deposits" I asked them, "how did you notify me". He said, "through our messenger service." I said, "great then you have a copy of the email, can you read me the message that was sent?". He reads me the email from above that I received in response to my debit application that read "business decision has been made to no longer extend checking and/or debit card privileges to you at this time We are unable to provide further details." I try to explain that the email says nothing about direct deposits, or wires, not to mention the previous 3 wires were successful. Why wouldn't you give me any warning so I can avoid the deposits in the first place?

If it is not a compliance issue, but rather a business decision. Why couldn't they make an exception due to the fact that they didn't communicate the problem, nor did they give me enough time to fix the problem. They truley displayed a lack of humanity and absolutely poor customer service

In conclusion I would advise anyone considering doing business with TD Ameritrade to reconsider due to the following considerations.

- Will you need access to your money in the first 60 days?
- After the first 60 days, are you comfortable that they still may hold your money hostage without any explanation beyond "it's a business decision".
- Is it okay if a simple straight forward same day wire may end up taking 3-4 days?
- Will any of your investment money be used to purchase a house, or other purchase where the swift retrieval of liquid assets is imperative?

- Do you want to have to babysit your brokerage to call you back before the close of business.

If your answer to the above questions are NO, heed this warning to look elsewhere as this company does not take financial transactions seriously and they don't understand the concept of time being of the essence. Do you want to have to worry that your money is actually being sent, or that you'll actually have access to your funds when you need them?