Charles Schwab Reviews 

Good experience they alerted me to a fraud attempt by a third party and I was very surprised how professionally they handled it even giving advice how to safeguard my info

When Schwab took over TD Ameritrade, they inherited thinkorswim — and thankfully it still works great. Unfortunately, that’s where the good news ends.

The Schwab app itself is genuinely the worst trading app I have ever used. It blacks out and freezes constantly. Account values and position values routinely don’t match between screens. Orders don’t reliably show up after execution, and repeated freezing has caused me to miss entry and exit points on real trades — an inexcusable flaw for any platform handling people’s money in real time. This isn’t just my experience — outage-tracking sites have logged over a thousand user-reported issues with the app and site in a single 24-hour period, and the company has confirmed a major platform-wide outage during volatile market hours on June 1, 2026, when many users couldn’t log in, trade, or view real-time data.

Escalating these issues to customer service was its own nightmare.

I dealt with Mr. AG an escalation manager, whose identity I’m withholding out of discretion — my aim isn’t to disparage anyone personally, but to share what happened. That said, his behavior struck me as nefarious, unethical, evasive, and skirting the edge of legal boundaries.

Every response felt dishonest, non-transparent, and unaccountable — as though he were protecting his own interests rather than genuinely trying to help resolve mine. I recorded the calls because the answers were so inconsistent I wanted a record of what was actually said. This matter has been formally escalated to the appropriate regulatory authorities, with a request for further investigation

Charles Schwab has separately faced regulatory scrutiny and litigation in recent years, including SEC and FNRA enforcement matters and class-action lawsuits — details are publicly available on the FINRA BrokerCheck and SEC. gov websites - I have personally added my own complaint to the regulatory record as well. For a firm this size, entrusted with managing people's investments, this combination of a broken app and indifferent support is flatly unacceptable.

If you're trading actively, be very cautious relying on the Schwab app - thinkorswim is the only reason I haven't left.

Used to have a reputation for good customer service, but it has markedly declined.
I found myself unable to log in to my retirement accounts — error message "For your protection, we need to verify your identity before proceeding. Please call 888-999-4512 for assistance."
It took 5 phone calls over 2 days and over an hour of my time to regain access to my account. The first- and second-line agents at the phone number above and at the Schwab Retirement Center (800-724-7526) were unable to help; after multiple calls, delays and waits on hold I managed to speak with a third-line manager who finally restored my access.
I can understand that access may be temporarily restricted if there are concerns about account hacking (I had accessed my account from a foreign location), but regaining access shouldn't be this difficult and time-consuming.
Also, first-line agents, both on the phone and on the chat, are essentially useless. They seem to know very little, repeatedly put the client on hold and often answer incorrectly.

I've had Schwab accounts for more than 20 years (also multiple other brokerage/bank accounts including Fidelity and Vanguard). Schwab website is complex but best by a wide margin. Schwab service is amazing - I'm able to get a live representative at all hours with minimum robot friction. It's easy to link brokerage accounts to Schwab Bank checking/debit card accounts and to set up multiple such accounts (business/personal/charity, etc). There are no ATM cash withdrawal charges using a Schwab debit card at any ATM, even overseas, and foreign exchange rates for cash withdrawals are good. Schwab always pays the ATM fee. My Schwab balance is higher so maybe my experience doesn't apply to $100 accounts, but everyone has to start somewhere and Schwab will let anyone open a full service brokerage account for a small initial deposit. I am not a Schwab rep.

Mobile App unavailable every a few days and each time lasting a long time. I was a TD Ameritrade customer before. The website was awesome. Never had once not available in many years until it was bought by Schwab. Now every now and then when stock market in turmoil and I need to assess my accounts, the App is unresponsible.

So I’ll actually say this from the other side. I hate that this company bought out TD Ameritrade. Used to love using thinkorswim but now? This company destroyed it

I would give them a zero. If you want your money managed by crooks create an account with Charles Schwab. If not crooks, they are incompetent. They are holding my kid's college fund account's hostage, they don't understand Federal or State law, they ignore court orders, they keep coming up with excuses on why they can't process anything. Almost a year later, and I now have to take them to court. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY!

Charles schwab is the worst for every single thing. I’m trying to zelle and i’m told after have to call CS for help is 5500 max per month standand. Where does SC give me this information? I have to call you and wait a very very long time. It’s rude to make people wait so long and then do not help you because most departments needed by customers are closed!!!!
Oh and i can’t request an increase because as i’ve your office is closed right now
This is my experience after my other recent experience which just absolutely criminal. Shutting access to all my money for a total 5 full week. Not one person in 5 weeks after Charles Schwab accused me of depositing 10,000 which i did not. CS made an error while making a 401k transfer.
Schwab account to Schwab account. How a ‘fraud’ lol department is permited to do this!
100% employees who are not smart and cannot think
I spend a lot of money providing your bank with with continuously changing identification
Typed ……faxes all kinds of nonsense
I spent hours at leSt a total of 6 to 7 full hours on the phone with you
All your offices are not open when i call like zelle one.
I’m now going to move every single dime out of what i’m calling a very corrupt bank that literaly specialized in making sure you can’t get access your own money (what) ridiculous
I would never recommend this bank ever. I has morgan stanley for years. They have a perfect record. I love them.
Your bank is a big problem. A lot of shit to fix.
Good luck

Extremely disappointed with Schwab. Despite having significant investments with the company, they continue to hold my funds and restrict access even after my transactions have settled. The lack of timely communication and the delays in resolving the issue have been incredibly frustrating with this happening several times over the past few weeks.

You would expect a company that values long-term clients to provide better service and faster resolution, especially when it comes to accessing your own money. This has been one of the most frustrating customer service experiences I've had, and it's made me seriously question whether Schwab deserves my business going forward.

On June 22, 2026 I submitted a application to open a brokerage account at Schwab (Wayne, PA office). They told me the app was perfect. On Wednesday the 24th they told me the account was open. When I went to set up my online access they wanted to send me a verification code to a phone number never associated with me nor was it on the application. After almost 3 weeks that unknown phone number still appears when I try to log in. I called them almost every day for two weeks to get it resolved to no avail.

My daughter has had ongoing account service problems that numerous phone calls did not solve for two years. We walked into the West Plano office and Jane Or identified and fixed the issue in ten minutes. Thank you Jane!

I don't understand the 1.6 rating other than of their 39+ million clients only the 700 who have had an issue decided to complain. That's around 0.0018% or 18 ten-thousandths of a percent. The fact you can reach Schwab 24/7 and you talk to a knowledgeable live person in the US gets them 5-Stars. Then add to that they've always solved any issues immediately, offer a debit card with worldwide fee-free ATM access (no min balance), best website I've seen for trading automation, etc., I would give them 10-Stars if it was available!

They are very dishonest over here, and not a true company as they claim to be. They do not care about the customer, they are greedy. This robbery would never happen at # SUCCESSFULHABIT LLC.......

For help in removing a deceased spouse don’t expect any type of customer service. You have to open up your own account without their help online. I feel sorry for those who are not computer savvy.
Even though I was already on the account with him it’s not a simple removal. You have to open your own account. Who ever heard of this. With all of my other retirement accounts I never had to do this.

im at my desk vibrating with rage because schwab cost me exactly 1400 dollars on two call options due to a system glitch. my trading authorization was fully executed days ago but their broken app blocked my access when i needed to sell. if i used Market Integrity their open server architecture handles permission handshakes instantly instead of throwing a fatal error. instead i get a clueless rep casually admitting their code broke while my premium melted to zero over 48 hours. cant sleep because of this broker nightmare.

In two years, my retirement account gained 0.21%. If this is not a scam, please tell me what is!

I'm confused by these reviews! Charles Schwab has been awesome! They reimburse ATM fees from other banks and their live chat people are super helpful! I love CS!

Charles Schwab won't let me have an account with them. And let me trade my brother's account because of something "suspicious". I wouldn't recommend them if you struggle with ADHD and maladaptive behaviors

I usually have pretty good luck with Charles Schwab and their customer support teams. However they charged me a fee and did not notify me that the account they charged it to did not have the money in it. So they locked out some of my Trading and I didn't know why for quite some time. You think they would have sent me a message or contacted me if they were going to do something like that. It prevented me from doing a lot of the trading that would have been very beneficial to me. I'm very disappointed on how they handled charging me and not notifying me that I had a $17.60 fee charged.

Charles Schwab that I am providing an opportunity to resolve this matter before I file formal complaints with the SEC and FINRA.
Timeline:
* June 23: Schwab issued an $87,586 margin call.
* June 25: I sold $117,250 of SNDK and transferred $30,000 from my bank. My bank debited the funds that evening, and the Schwab app showed that I was no longer in a Schwab Call, confirming the requirement had been satisfied.
* June 26 (2:00 PM): Schwab liquidated my LITE position, causing a $17,000 loss without notice or authorization.
The key fact is simple: the $30,000 ACH had already been initiated on June 25 and was scheduled to settle on June 29. Schwab’s own app reflected that I was out of the Schwab Call, yet Schwab liquidated my account on June 26, knowing the funds were already in transit.
I called and asked: “Why didn’t you follow FINRA procedures?”
Schwab rep said: “You were straight at fed call.”
THIS IS GARBAGE. There is NO FINRA procedure called “straight at fed call.” This is MADE UP. This is a LIE.
Even IF my account deteriorated to Fed Call level, Schwab STILL had to:

1. NOTIFY me in writing of Fed Call
2. Give me 24-48 hours to respond
3. NOTIFY me before liquidating

Schwab did NONE of this.

Schwab also failed to provide the required notices before liquidation. Instead, the account was liquidated only three days after the initial margin call.

I possess screenshots showing the Schwab Call was satisfied, account statements, trade confirmations, bank records confirming the $30,000 debit on June 25, the ACH settlement date of June 29, and audio recordings of Schwab representatives regarding these events.

This follows another incident in May/June, when a Schwab cost-basis error falsely showed a -$100,000 loss, locked my account on margin for several days, charged unnecessary interest, and resulted in an offer of only $250 in compensation.
I am demanding:
* Reimbursement of the $17,000 liquidation loss.
* Compensation for the earlier cost-basis error and margin interest.
* Written acknowledgment of the violations.
* Corrected tax records.
* Written assurance of no retaliation.

Deadline: July 11, 2026.
If this matter is not resolved by that date, I will file complaints with the SEC, FINRA, and the State Attorney General on July 12, 2026, supported by screenshots, account records, and audio recordings.

Charles Schwab has until July 11, 2026 to resolve this matter before it proceeds to regulators.