E*TRADE Checking: 1 Star, Would Not Recommend

[Varsity_Lu]

The recent thread about sucking welcome bonuses out of checking accounts led me to open an E*TRADE checking account for the $350 welcome bonus.  2 direct deposits and no fees.  Sound easy enough.  I was able to open the account no problem, and I decided to add the account as a payment option for a few of my credit cards just to show some real life activity.  I linked my Fidelity CMA account up and send a direct deposit over which worked fine.  But this morning I woke up to a restricted account which required me to call in.  I call, talk to a US based rep who is very nice, but I spent almost 20 minutes between 2 reps who basically told me that I needed to verify that I was the owner of the Fidelity account.  My options were to have a 3 way call with Fidelity (no thank you...I have things to do) or to upload a bank statement.  Ok, I'll do that.  Then the rep say I have to wait 3 day for them to review it and then call back on Friday.  What!?!  Until then, my account is locked: nothing goes in, nothing goes out.  Needless to say I was not happy and let the rep know. She submitted a formal customer complaint for me, so we'll see what happens there.  Both reps were very nice and I felt like they understood my frustration, but they were unable to do anything about it. 

Bottom line: I won't be keeping this account long term.  It also confirms that I made the correct decision going with Fidelity a year or so ago.  I have been super pleased with Fidelity and probably won't be leaving anytime soon.

[Varsity_Lu]

Update to my original post: in addition to spending 20 minutes on the phone with E*TRADE this morning, I get home this afternoon and try to log in to my account only to find I am completely locked out and have to call in yet again.  They suspect fraudulent access...from a mobile device I've been logging in on for 5 days.  So I call and talk to a nice rep for another 20 minutes just to get access to logging back in.  Oh, and he checked on my bank verification document and said it would be about 5 business days before it would even be reviewed.  Five.  Yes, five.  Before they even look at it.  And then I will have to call back in again to verify it (again) before I get full access to my account.  Sigh.

Definitely not a Morgan Stanley fan at this point.  This is probably the worst banking experience I've ever had.

[Patient957]

I've had an Etrade brokerage account for about 28 years, and I've never had any issues.  Their customer service in the pre-MS days was always very good.  I honestly don't know how it is now, because I haven't needed anything, no reason to call.  Several years ago, after the transition, I got a MS checking account and premium savings.  No complaints whatsoever.  No monthly fees, they refund all my ATM fees, and the savings always has a competitive rate.

All that said, your experience sounds terrible, and I'd feel exactly the same way you do if it happened to me.

[Patient957]

Just got this by email today.  They're upgrading the account.  Starting July, it will come with ATM reimbursements worldwide, which is nice and puts it in the same league with Schwab and Fidelity CMA (both of which I also have).

[Outbackexplorer]

Oh wow that's pretty interesting, that actually makes them better than Schwab in terms of feature set, as Etrade has free wires with no asset requirement unlike Schwab, and they have a high yield savings you can link unlike Schwab, with instant transfers (though they still have the stupid 6 monthly limit last I checked). Same as Fidelity, but Fidelity has some weirdisms with not being a bank like difficulty being linked to with anything using plaid, no Zelle, long hold periods on ach pulls and deposited checks, in some cases extremely low max check deposit amounts (mine is $1000...)

Only thing holding me back is seeing a lot of reports that they seem overly sensitive to fraud and like to lock accounts for long periods with no explanation. The ratio of complaints is a lot higher than Schwab or even Fidelity if you look at their subreddits. My checking account is pretty active and I get deposits from a wide variety of places, so I think I'd have trouble.

And Etrade has a seemingly ongoing bonus for $300 that's churnable, so you're effectively paying an annual fee to hold the account (which reminds me I should probably get around to closing mine...)