Consumer complaint received 2026-05-20 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Savings account
Issue: Managing an account — Deposits and withdrawals
Company: MORGAN STANLEY & CO. LLC
State: OH

Complaint narrative:
I am filing this complaint against Morgan Stanley Private Bank, N.A. regarding monetary harms arising from a pattern of account restrictions on my E * Trade Premium Savings Account. This complaint addresses specific damages that were not included in my prior CFPB complaint # XXXX namely, a {$25.00} wire transfer fee I was forced to pay to extract my own funds, the forfeited account-opening bonus in the amount of {$750.00}, and lost interest on funds at the account 's stated APY of 3.25 % from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/year>. Those harms are separate from, and additional to, the access issue raised in that earlier filing. On XX/XX/year>, I opened an E * Trade Premium Savings Account under a promotional offer ( see attachment ) that required a deposit of {$50000.00} to {$74000.00} within 30 days of account opening and maintaining that balance for an additional 45 days in exchange for a {$750.00} reward. After meeting the bonus requirements on XX/XX/XXXX, Morgan Stanley Private Bank systematically blocked every outbound withdrawal attempt. Each withdrawal triggered an account lockout requiring repeated identity verification, including multiple three-way verification calls with my external banks totalling over 5 hours cumulatively. After each verification cycle, I was told the account was restored. Each time, restrictions were reimposed on the next withdrawal attempt. On XX/XX/year>, Morgan Stanley Private Bank generated a closure letter for my account. On XX/XX/year>, after the closure decision had already been made, a representative told me a final ACH transfer from my verified XXXX XXXX account would succeed and advised me to initiate it. I did. That transfer was returned on XX/XX/year>. I did not learn my account had been closed until XX/XX/year>, XXXX days after the fact, despite calling multiple times. Subsequent representatives told me my funds must be returned to the originating bank account, which had since been closed. I provided written documentation confirming this and repeatedly requested a cashier 's check to my confirmed address of record or a wire to any of nine verified external accounts that were still visible in my transfer portal. Both were refused. My account was additionally restricted in a manner that prevented me from enabling two-factor authentication or other security features, leaving {$12000.00} in a security-vulnerable state while simultaneously blocking my access to it. After the institution refused to release the remaining balance through normal ACH channels including after I completed every verification step requested of me I was forced to wire-transfer the funds out of the account in order to recover them. Morgan Stanley Private Bank charged me an outbound wire fee of {$25.00} on XX/XX/year> to release funds that the institution had wrongfully restricted in the first place. I have attached many documents that detail, in sum, the XX/XX/XXXX closure letter delivered to me, multiple blocked attempts to withdraw funds, alerts detailing account restrictions that have since been deleted by Morgan Stanley Private Bank, and documentation of the wire fee that was charged.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation