https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/some-schwab-customers-say-they-want-their-td-ameritrade-app-back-efc78bc1
Millions of investors who had accounts at TD Ameritrade became Charles Schwab customers this month. Some say they wish they could go back.
Many individuals and registered investment advisers who were switched over following Schwab’s acquisition of TD Ameritrade say they miss their old accounts. Some complain Schwab’s platform isn’t as user friendly and that the app makes it harder to sort through their portfolio holdings.
Schwab says the conversion of TD Ameritrade customers is going well, but user opinion isn’t unanimous.
“It’s just amazing how bad it is, the new app,” said Scott Hendison, 62, a Portland, Ore., resident who owns an internet marketing firm and had a retirement account with TD Ameritrade.
The complaints are the latest challenge in what has been a trying year for Schwab, the largest publicly traded U.S. brokerage. The firm this month undertook what it called the largest brokerage conversion in history after completing its acquisition of TD Ameritrade in 2020. That entailed the transition of $1.3 trillion in assets over the Labor Day weekend, which affected 3.6 million individual-investor accounts and more than 7,000 registered investment adviser firms.
Customer complaints aren’t surprising following such a large transition, and Schwab called the conversion “a tremendous success.” The company said it got just over 500 calls from customers reaching out with concerns.
Schwab has been converting customers in waves, and plans to transition remaining TD Ameritrade accounts in November and the first half of 2024. Spokeswoman Mayura Hooper said Schwab is listening to clients and plans to roll out new enhancements to its adviser platform and mobile app in coming weeks and months.
It won’t be a moment too soon for some former TD Ameritrade customers. Lee Thomas, a 28-year-old in Katy, Texas, who works in the insurance industry, said TD Ameritrade had been his favorite investing app, and that he misses its features.
“It’s an adjustment process for sure,” said Thomas, who also uses E*Trade and doesn’t plan to move his investments out of Schwab. “I just prefer TD Ameritrade. I didn’t like the fact that they forced us to go over there.”
Clients from TD Ameritrade pulled a net $23.2 billion of assets in August, the company reported. All other Schwab customers added a net $28.1 billion, bringing net new assets overall to $4.9 billion for the month, compared with $43.3 billion a year ago.
The majority of TD outflows have come from registered investment advisers, or RIAs, including some that the company stopped servicing because they didn’t “meet our criteria,” Schwab said.
Morgan Ranstrom, co-founder of Trailhead Planners in Minneapolis, also plans to stick with Schwab, but said TD Ameritrade was beloved by investment advisers for its great technology and customer service.
“The conversion to Schwab—no one was excited about it,” said Ranstrom, whose firm had about $100 million in assets converted from TD Ameritrade. “The interface feels like a step down from TD’s system.”