Ameriprise Fees Complaints and Customer Concerns

Ameriprise Financial, a leading financial services company, has faced numerous complaints and customer concerns regarding its fees. According to a review of the company's fee structure, Ameriprise charges a range of fees for its services, including management fees, administrative fees, and other expenses.

Some customers have expressed frustration with the complexity of Ameriprise's fee schedule, which can be difficult to navigate. For example, a review of the company's fee disclosure statement reveals that some customers may be charged multiple fees for a single service.

Ameriprise's fee structure has also been criticized for being opaque, making it difficult for customers to understand what they're paying for. According to a complaint filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), some customers have reported being charged fees without clear explanations of what those fees cover.

The SEC complaint also highlights concerns about Ameriprise's use of "wrap fees", which can be particularly problematic for customers with smaller accounts.

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Ameriprise Financial Services has faced numerous complaints regarding its fees. In one case, a customer alleged that Ameriprise failed to provide mutual fund Class A share breakpoint discounts, resulting in a fine of millions of dollars.

Ameriprise has also been censured and fined for failing to prevent the conversion of customers' funds. This was the second time the firm was sanctioned by FINRA for this failure, highlighting a lack of adequate supervisory systems.

The firm's failure to detect and prevent the conversion of customer funds led to a $6.3 million disgorgement, $700,000 in prejudgment interest, and a $1.75 million civil penalty.

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Ameriprise Financial Services, the company behind Ameriprise advisors, has been the subject of numerous customer complaints over the years.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has released publicly available records showing that Jeffrey McHale, a Financial Advisor at Ameriprise in Hingham, Massachusetts, has been the subject of three customer complaints during his career.

Jeffrey McHale has been in the securities industry since 1998 and previously worked at Coburn & Meredith and Merrill Lynch.

Customer complaints against McHale allege unsuitable investments, overconcentration of accounts, and unauthorized transactions, with alleged damages totaling $830,000.

Ameriprise Financial Services has also been the subject of multiple customer complaints filed against its stockbrokers and investment advisors.

Guy Colella, a broker and investment advisor with Ameriprise Financial Services, has been the subject of multiple investor complaints, including one alleging excessive trading and unsuitable investments in annuities and mutual funds, with alleged damages of $420,000.

Jonathan Mirer, a financial advisor with Ameriprise, has been the subject of seven customer complaints, including allegations of unsuitable investments and unauthorized trading.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also taken action against Ameriprise, requiring the company to pay $8.05 million in disgorgement, interest, and penalties for misstatements made to clients about the performance of a particular investment.

Ameriprise has a legal and regulatory obligation to supervise the sales practices and dealings with clients of its Financial Advisors, and to recommend only suitable investments that are appropriate for their clients' needs and objectives.

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Ameriprise was accused of making unsuitable recommendations to customers, including many senior citizens, regarding non-traded real estate investment trusts (REITs).

The Securities Division alleged that Ameriprise failed to disclose complete information about the fees, commissions, and illiquidity of these products.

Ameriprise was also accused of not adequately supervising one of its employees, Cousineau Weaver.

As a result of these allegations, Ameriprise was fined $40,000 and ordered to cease and desist from similar activities in the future.

Ameriprise has been involved in numerous regulatory issues and disclosures, which may be concerning for customers. Ameriprise has been ordered to pay over $6.3 million in disgorgement, $700,000 in prejudgment interest, and a $1.75 million civil penalty to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The firm has also been censured, warned, and fined millions for its own misconduct and failure to supervise its financial advisors. Ameriprise has been involved in over 137 Federal, state, and self-regulatory body disclosure events in the last decade.

Ameriprise has been fined $40,000 and issued a cease and desist order for unsuitable recommendations and failure to disclose complete information regarding fees, commissions, and illiquidity of non-traded real estate investment trusts.

The firm has been repeatedly disciplined by FINRA for supervisory lapses and other misconduct. Ameriprise has been censured and fined for its proprietary product sales incentive programs, which favored the sale of the firm's own mutual funds.

Ameriprise has also been fined and censured for municipal bond trading violations, including failing to disclose required information to customers. The firm has been found to have an insufficient supervisory system to achieve compliance with MSRB rules.

Additionally, Ameriprise has been fined and censured for short-term trading of closed-end funds, which are generally intended for long-term investments. The firm failed to establish a supervisory system to detect and prevent unsuitable short-term trading.

Ameriprise has also been found to have failed to timely deliver mutual fund prospectuses to customers, resulting in a violation of NASD Conduct Rules and FINRA Rule 2010.

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Ameriprise has faced numerous lawsuits and sanctions over the years. FINRA has sanctioned Ameriprise for violating NASD Rules and Conduct Rules, resulting in millions of dollars in fines and other penalties.

Ameriprise has been found guilty of awarding non-cash compensation to employees based on the sale of proprietary mutual funds, which is a clear conflict of interest. This practice has been deemed a violation of NASD Rules 2830(l)(5)(D)(i) and (ii) and 2110.

FINRA has also found that Ameriprise has engaged in preferential treatment of certain mutual fund sales, favoring those that paid brokerage commissions to the firm. This is a clear breach of NASD Rule 2830(k), which prohibits such practices.

Ameriprise has been censured and fined by FINRA for failing to provide mutual fund Class A share breakpoint discounts to customers, as described in relevant fund prospectuses. This is a clear violation of NASD Conduct Rule 2110.

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You can sue your Ameriprise financial advisor if they fail to abide by FINRA's rules and regulations, resulting in investment losses. You can file an arbitration claim to seek financial compensation.

Yes, you can sue Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC, but you may have signed away your right to sue in court and agreed to resolve your dispute in a FINRA arbitration proceeding.

You can not only sue Ameriprise in FINRA arbitration proceedings but also potentially win that arbitration.

Ameriprise was fined and censured for municipal bond trading violations.

The firm was found to have violated MSRB Rules G-15(f) and G-19, related to disclosure requirements under MSRB Rules G-17 and G-47, and supervisory requirements under MSRB Rule G-27.

Ameriprise effected municipal bond transactions in amounts below the minimum denomination set for the bonds.

The firm recommended transactions that limited the sale or resale of such securities to Qualified Institutional Buyers, but sold them to customers who were not QIBs.

Ameriprise failed to disclose to customers at or prior to the time of the trade that the transaction was being effected in an amount below the minimum denomination.

The firm also failed to disclose the sales restriction to customers.

Ameriprise had an insufficient supervisory system to achieve compliance with the MSRB's rules regarding minimum denomination and suitability of recommendations to customers.

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Ameriprise was fined and censured for participating in the sale of initial public offerings of Closed End Funds, which are generally intended for long-term investments.

The sales charges to customers who purchased at the time of the initial public offering are built into the offering price of the fund, and the market price of the funds typically declines after the initial offering.

Ameriprise was aware that the funds purchased at the IPO were most suitable for long-term investments, but failed to establish a supervisory system to prevent short-term trading of these funds.

The firm's registered representatives were engaging in unsuitable short-term trading of Closed End Funds purchased at the IPO, which is not suitable for most investors.

Ameriprise should have had a system in place to detect and prevent this type of trading, but they failed to do so.

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Ameriprise has been censured and fined for failing to prevent the conversion of customers' funds. This isn't the first time the company has faced such sanctions.

In 2017, FINRA found that Ameriprise failed to detect and prevent the conversion of customers' funds via wire transfers by its registered representatives. This went undetected for two years due to the company's lack of effective supervisory systems.

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The company's failure to establish and maintain procedures for monitoring wire transfers led to the conversion of customer funds. Ameriprise had previously been sanctioned by FINRA for a similar failure in the past.

Ameriprise was fined for violating NASD Rules 3010 and 3012 and FINRA Rule 2010. The company's failure to detect conversion of customer funds has resulted in significant financial losses for its customers.

The lack of effective supervisory systems at Ameriprise has allowed registered representatives to convert customer funds with impunity. This raises concerns about the company's ability to protect its customers' assets.

Ameriprise has been censured and fined for its failure to prevent customer fund conversion. The company must take steps to improve its supervisory systems to prevent similar incidents in the future.

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Ameriprise was fined and censured for failing to deliver prospectuses to customers in a timely manner. This failure occurred in approximately 580,000 transactions, which is about 4% of the mutual fund purchase transactions that required a prospectus to be delivered within three business days.

FINRA found that Ameriprise did not have adequate supervisory systems in place to monitor and ensure the timely delivery of prospectuses. This failure led to a violation of NASD Conduct Rules 3010(a)(1) and (b)(1), and FINRA Rule 2010.

The Securities Act requires that mutual fund prospectuses be delivered to customers within three business days of their purchases. Ameriprise failed to meet this requirement, resulting in the fines and censure.

Ameriprise has been sanctioned for variable annuity sales abuse. One of its subsidiaries, H&R Block Financial Advisors, employed representatives who executed unsuitable variable annuity switches involving multiple customers.

The variable annuity switching involved using the proceeds from the liquidation of one variable annuity to purchase a new variable annuity issued by a different annuity company, resulting in the imposition of contingent deferred sales charges or surrender charges and new and extended surrender periods.

The customers received no significant benefit from these transactions, since the variable annuities purchased were not substantially different from those they replaced. FINRA found that Ameriprise through its subsidiary, H&R Block Financial Advisors, violated NASD Rules 2310 and 2110.

As a result of this sanction, it's essential to be cautious when dealing with variable annuity sales. You should carefully review any recommendations and ensure that they align with your investment goals and risk tolerance.

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Jeffrey McHale, a Financial Advisor at Ameriprise Financial Services in Hingham, Massachusetts, has been the subject of three customer complaints during his career. Two of these complaints were filed since 2018.

The complaints allege that McHale recommended unsuitable investments, including pharmaceutical and biotech stocks, which resulted in alleged damages of $650,000. Another complaint alleges that McHale recommended a high concentration of equity securities without recommending bonds, resulting in alleged damages of at least $180,000 plus interest and costs.

Ameriprise Financial Services itself has a history of regulatory issues, with 175 disclosures on its record as of February 2018, including 71 regulatory events and 103 FINRA arbitration cases.

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Jeffrey McHale, a Financial Advisor at Ameriprise Financial Services in Hingham, Massachusetts, has been the subject of three customer complaints during his career.

These complaints, filed since 2018, allege that McHale recommended unsuitable investments, including pharmaceutical and biotech stocks, and overconcentrated clients' accounts.

One complaint from 2018 alleges damages of at least $180,000, plus interest and costs, due to McHale's alleged failure to recommend bonds and instead recommending low-priced, low-market-cap securities.

Another complaint, filed in 2019, alleges damages of $650,000 and claims that McHale's clients' accounts were overconcentrated and certain transactions were marked unsolicited despite being recommended by McHale.

Ameriprise Financial Services, McHale's employer, has a legal and regulatory obligation to supervise McHale's sales practices and dealings with clients.

As of February 2018, Ameriprise Financial Services had 175 disclosures on its record, including 71 regulatory events and 103 FINRA arbitration cases.

Guy Colella, a financial advisor with Ameriprise Financial Services, is facing a $420,000 trading complaint.

He has been in the securities industry for 36 years and has been a broker and investment advisor with Ameriprise since 2011.

The complaint alleges that Colella breached his fiduciary duty and recommended unsuitable investments in annuities and mutual funds.

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He is also accused of engaging in excessive trading and inappropriately coding accounts with a risk tolerance and investment objective that was not suitable for the customer's age.

Colella has a long registration history with various firms, including Raymond James & Associates and Janney Montgomery Scott.

He has passed five securities industry qualifying exams, including the Series 7 and Series 65 exams.

The complaint was filed in March 2023, and Colella is licensed in 17 states, including Florida, where he is based in Boca Raton.