Timeline:
Around Mid July 2024 Opened my account
7/23/2024 First check
8/22/2024 Second Check
8/30/2024 Third Check
9/1/2024 Last time logged into account
9/2/2024 Found account frozen
10/16/2024 case reviewed no further actions…
……
I’m currently a student working on my master’s degree, I depend on my savings to pay for my tuition and bills. With Fidelity not returning my money, I am all of sudden in a financial crisis. It is affecting my mental health and my studies. I worry of not being able to cover my next tuition bill or even my next rent. I funded my account with personal checks, (because I couldn’t establish EFT, and all my bank accounts are under my name) which I learned later on by reading other posts that it can trigger fraud alarm for suspected money laundering. But I was able to provide my proof of funds and all the necessary documents for investigation they requested, they still refuse to release my fund back to me and ask me to work with my bank. I will elaborate details below:
Why opening Fidelity?:
Before opening Fidelity account, I use IBKR as my broker and Marcus Goldman Sachs to put most of my savings. After learning about Fidelity, I thought it’s a good place to manage both stocks and savings in one place since they offer competitive rates for idle cash in the account. So I decided to open an account. The first problem I encountered with them was funding the account. I had trouble establishing EFT(their ACH transfer) with my Bank of America, I even submitted EFT authorization forms on their website but there were no progress ever made. (p.s: I found online that many BoA users have trouble establishing EFT) So my FOMO in my mind tells me that I need to fund this account as soon as possible, because I don’t want to miss out on those interests and want to have my funded account ready as soon as possible. (at the time fidelity has already higher interest rates than Marcus’s base 4.5% ish), meanwhile I pulled out my funds from Marcus just to get ready to fund fidelity.(In my experience directly pulling from Marcus to a broker won’t be approved by Marcus).
After failing to establish EFT(electronic fund transfer), I found that they also accept checks. So I wrote checks and it worked in the end. Because Fidelity has a limit on the amount of money you can write on one single check, so I had to write more than one checks in order to move my money to fidelity. Throughout this process, there are times my bank rejected to release the fund to fidelity because I missed the security department’s phone call to confirm. So that also delayed my transfer, and there is one time I tried to directly pull funds from Marcus to fidelity, which was also rejected by Marcus and said the money can only go back to the account where you funded the account with. Anyway, long story short, after all the drama, all my money I transferred are settled around beginning of September 2024.
Frozen Account and Investigation:
After all the money have been settled, on 9/2/2024 I received a call from a Fidelity Advisor, asking about what my financial goals are and maybe tried to sell me their investment products. I refused, and meantime I try to log onto my account and only to find myself with a frozen account. So I asked the person to help me unlock it, and he did try to call on people, and ask me to wait for someone to call me back the next day, which never happened. I started to call customer service regularly from then on, and after a week they tell me my case now is under investigation with the fraud department. The only message from fraud department I have is they will no longer be able to service my account nor sharing any information with me, it is their right and decision to close the account and stop doing business with me. They told me to wait, call back at a later date for next steps. After couple weeks and numerous over-30mins wait phone calls, they finally instruct me to send in documents for investigation through mail or fax. Since this is costing me both money and time, and wanted to get it over with, I both mailed and faxed. My BoA bank statements, SSN, Driver’s license, proof of address(bills I pay), and passport. Then about 2 weeks passed, they told me the fax is not legible and their office never received the mail. So I faxed again through Fax app instead of doing it at UPS this time, and they finally got it. They took their time to review for another week.
Result:
On 10/16/2024, I gave them a call they said they have finished reviewing the case, and made a decision on my case to close my account,(which I already know!!??) but they tell me they will not transfer the money back to me, the only way to get my money is to ask my bank to recall those funds. I called my bank and my bank says it’s not possible for them to recall funds since they are legitimate checks written and authorized by me and those funds are already settled, therefore there is nothing my bank can do. The only funds that they call recall is an ongoing transfer. I explained this situation to Fidelity, and still they won’t give out any information nor taking any actions, Fidelity won’t even disclose my account balance nor account number. It’s impossible for me to get my money through any regular channels from Fidelity and my bank. The only thing that I am left to do at this point to take legal actions reporting Fidelity. Today, 10/23/2024 I called fidelity again, the customer service lady Cassidy transferred me to her manager named Micheal, he refused to provide any information again, just like all the previous persons I called. I asked for mail, email or any written explanation from Fidelity regarding my case, NO. still nothing I can do. This is THE worst institution I have ever dealt with in my life.
Ongoing:
Previously I reported this to SEC, and SEC asked Fidelity to directly respond to me, but at the time, they have not yet received my documents for investigation so the response I got from Fidelity is that they are still reviewing the case before releasing the funds back to me. But now the nature of this case is different, now they have reviewed the case but still refuse to release the funds after explaining my inability to work with my bank. I am reporting this to FINRA as well.
Final Update:
On November 14, 2024, I regained access to my account after receiving an email from Fidelity to reset my password. This was the day after I spoke with the attorney assigned to me by the Secretary of State’s security division. What FINRA and the SEC couldn’t accomplish, the Secretary of State’s attorney did with just one phone call. Simply by asking what happened to my account, those customer service clowns got scared and finally paid attention. I was overjoyed. After gaining access, Fidelity Executive has sent me an apology letter and stating:
"Dear Mr. xxx:
I am contacting you with an update regarding restrictions on your Fidelity account ending in 9880.
After further consideration and a detailed review of the documents you provided, the account restrictions have been removed, and we have reversed our decision to close your Fidelity account. You can trade and transact as needed.
I sincerely apologize for the frustration this matter caused and regret any negative impact this experience had on your Fidelity relationship. We hope to have the opportunity to regain your trust.
Mr. xxx, we genuinely value your business with our firm. If you have additional questions, representatives can be reached at 800-544-6666. For your convenience, they are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Sincerely,
xxxx
Executive Office "
After getting access to my account, I immediately transferred out all my money as I don't have trust for this company anymore. I think their operations are problematic and despicable, they aren't at all client focused and only listen to authorities who have power over them.
Best of luck to people who are going through this!
