Institutional Retirement Fraud Protection Guarantee
We value you as our client, and we always want you to feel safe doing business with Merrill. As a commitment to our clients' account security, we are offering this guarantee:
We will reimburse you for quantifiable monetary losses that occur in any of your Merrill qualified defined contribution plan and other employer sponsored benefit plan accounts due to unauthorized third-party activity.
At Merrill, it is important for us to have a working relationship with you that enhances your account security.
Visit our Security Center to find out more about how Merrill protects you, and how you can protect yourself against fraud and scams.
To qualify for reimbursement under this fraud protection guarantee program, you must take reasonable measures to protect against unauthorized account access and comply with the following requirements:
- If you detect any errors or discrepancies or suspect unauthorized activity in any account, you must contact us as soon as possible, but not later than 120 days from the suspected unauthorized activity at 1.866.265.5430.
- You must safeguard your account access information, including Login ID, passwords and all other access codes.1
- You must also cooperate with us in any investigation. We may ask you to sign an affidavit, assign certain rights to Merrill and/or sign a release form as a condition of reimbursement.
Reporting suspicious account activity
Call us at 1.866.265.5430 as soon as possible to report suspected unauthorized activity in your account. Monitoring your account for accuracy and timely reporting of suspicious account activity are part of your responsibilities to qualify for the fraud protection guarantee program.
Merrill reserves the right to deny reimbursement under this guarantee if you fail to notify us within 120 days after the suspicious activity occurs.
Here is how our guarantee and reimbursement work:
If you submit a reimbursement claim, you will be required to cooperate in our fraud investigation. If we conclude that there was unauthorized activity that resulted in a loss to your Merrill account through no fault of your own, and that you took reasonable measures to protect your account against unauthorized activity as described above, we will reimburse you for quantifiable losses in the account.
Merrill will determine the type and amount of reimbursement you will receive under this guarantee.
- This guarantee covers a maximum of your account balance on the date the suspicious activity occurred.
- It does not cover any tax consequences, legal fees and expenses, or lost opportunity, special, consequential, punitive, or non-monetary damages.
- You may not assign your rights to any third party other than Merrill Lynch under this guarantee.
If you suspect you’re a victim of fraud, contact us immediately at 1.866.265.5430 or speak to your financial advisor for further assistance.
1 If you share your login ID, password and other access codes with anyone, we will consider their activities to have been authorized by you. Our guarantee will not apply if we determine that you shared this information, or if any unauthorized activity was caused by your fraudulent conduct or negligence.
