UNest: Investing for Kids

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1. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

   Horrible customer service. Horrible customer service, I have contacted them many times to cancel and I’m still getting memberships fees taken out. They said I would get $100 to shop.com but I never got it. DO NOT USE

2. ★★★★★subscription and paid restrictions

   Bad. Been investing for more that a year now and all of a sudden I can’t log in the it say I don’t have an account. But I’m paying for the membership and a monthly deposit for both of my kids. Is this a scam???

3. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

   Gifts. Bring back the birthday gift options!

4. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

   Can’t access my account. There is an update but it won’t let me update it or open the app. I have no access to the account at all and I haven’t gotten any help from their “support.” I have been investing into this account for over a year and cannot get i to it at all.

5. ★★★★★trial charges and refunds

   The WORST. UNest wasted my entire free trial cancelling my deposits, my money is still being held and by the time it deposits how it should, I’m gonna lose a chunk of it paying for a membership when I was trying to TRY the app out. Like a FREE TRIAL should. But UNest doesn’t care about their customers, it’s highway robbery. Invest ANYWHERE else.

6. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

   Withdrawing your money takes 3+ weeks.. If you have an emergency and need your money in a timely manner, this app isn’t for you. Also the monthly fee that you pay exceeds the return on the account. I was better off putting my money in a regular account and adding the extra $5 per month.

7. ★★★★★subscription and paid restrictions

   No access even after paying. Paid yearly subscription and was never given access. Cancelled sub but lost the year subscription fee.

8. ★★★★★subscription and paid restrictions

   Almost scam, useless imcompetent. Poor communication. Subscription started even before the account is not set up. They did not inform me at all that my account wasn’t set up yet . The App just showed that the deposits would start on xxx dae.

9. ★★★★★support does not respond or resolve the issue

   Grossly Incompetent Support Team with ID verification. I had submitted my passport, driver’s license, and SSN card multiple times in this app and have made sure that the photo was clear EACH AND EVERY one of the 7+ times I submitted it. However, on the SINGLE instance that the photos were approved, the support team contacts me later to say they rejected it. This was after I expressed my concerns about the ID verification with them previously and experienced long wait times and they had little to say. If they ever verify my account I will update this review, but until then I have to stand by my recommendation that this app is HORRIBLE due to grossly incompetent customer service. If they won’t even take my money in the app why should I bother doing business with them?????

10. ★★★★★ads disrupt the experience

    High Fees and Nonstop Ads. High fees, so when you are just starting out it will eat your account. Non stop ads even after opting out of everything possible.

11. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    No gift option available. I got it just for gift option and after 2 months I still can’t use it

12. ★★★★★subscription and paid restrictions

    Do not use this app for investment!!. I closed my grandson’s account I open for him in the beginning of 2022. I wrote an email and requested the funds be transferred to his Charles Schwab account that I opened for him. Charles Schwab is a better app because it does not charge monthly fees for accounts. Low and behold 8 months later UNest had not closed out my grandson’s account and they have been taking money from my bank account for fees and direct deposits yet his balance on UNest account showed ZERO BALANCE! I have notified UNest and I keep getting the runaround of excuses why they haven’t sent me back my 175.00 dollars they owe me from my grandson’s account that they were not supposed to be taking out. They sent me the refund for the 8 months of fees but not the money they took. First they say the back office says they have to send me a check because they can’t transfer the money to my grandson’s Charles schwab account. No check was sent so two days later after waiting I emailed the UNest again. They said oh we can’t send you a check you have to send us a bank statement so we can verify your bank information. So I sent my bank account statement from my Varo account when is my fun money account.. so now.. UNest said that the back office people want to send my money back to my Wells Fargo account associated with the UNest account. I refuse to send my main bank account statement to UNest. So UNEST WHY AM I GETTING THE RUN AROUND. I am being to believe that UNEST IS A SCAM!!! Do not give them anything and open an account with a reputable investment company like Charles Schwab or Fidelity Investments!! My next step is filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and my state Attorney General’s Office.

13. ★★★★★account bans or deletion without explanation

    SCAM!. Scam, I initiated a withdrawal 2 months ago and to close the account, sent them bank account info and everything they requested. 2 months later and money is still in securities in account and they are telling me I am getting a paper check. Why would I send my bank account info for a paper check? Why would it take 2 months and counting to sell and send a check? It take 5-7 days to sell stock and receive a check through my Edward jones account. Do yourself a favor and pass on this company, the customer service is horrible and you may never get your money back like I’m dealing with!

14. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Terrible customer service. It has been 3 weeks and I have not been able to cancel my account. I have been back and forth with them since the 11th of June and I still do not have my money. I have reached out to my lawyer who will be reaching out to this questionable company, to return my money. They save your money just fine, but closing the account and trying to get your funds back is a completely different ordeal.

15. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Cancel my account.. App does not work. I’m trying to cancel.

16. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Do not use this app.. Most frustrating thing is you have no access to your account except through app (no browser access from your computer). Also, very limited choices for investment (way under performing even whole market ETFs). Dumbest app ever.

17. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Customer service. My bank does not participate with UNest. I have tried contacting them multiple times and nobody ever gets back to me. I want to cancel if I can’t utilize their service but it’s impossible to cancel if nobody every responds to you. I’m sure I would have liked the app if my bank participated but now they’re just taking my money.

18. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    UNest. The best and the worst thing about 2021 is that we have the world at our fingertips but when things go wrong we can’t get a hold of a real person to talk to. UNest went from a 529 to a UTMA. I was not made aware of this change by UNest. Wishing I could talk to a live person and not email but hey… whatever… it’s just money. It’s not like it’s important or anything. I hope whoever reads this knows what you’re getting into and if you want a 529 or UTMA, GET A FINANCIAL ADVISOR!!! I highly recommend not going through UNEST. It’s garbage!!!!!! F****** garbage!!!!!

19. ★★★★★crashes, freezes and errors

    Poor customer service. I heard about this through my sister who set up this for her daughter. I then did so for my two sons. Unfortunately, the gifting option is not working. I set this up on November 22 and the gifting was supposed to take one to two business days to activate. It is still not working. I sent an email last week with this information to UNest. I have heard nothing. Today, December 6, it is still not active. Not sure what the purpose of this app is if you are looking to have family and friends give towards your child’s education versus purchasing toys or buying items on in app games for the holidays. Maybe you should just ask for Venmo instead! Very disappointing.

20. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Zero Star Scam. It’s been 4 months since I first tried to withdraw my money from this. I’ve been given every excuse as to why I can’t get my money. They won’t answer the phone or emails anymore. Don’t waste your time or money. Their investment choices are garbage anyways

21. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Keep charging. This company keeps charging me $6 a month even though I’ve canceled. Where is my $5.99 a month even going to? Ridiculous!

22. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Terrible. I have closed accounts for 3 of my children about 2 months ago. And I have yet to receive my deposit back. I have emailed and sent messages from app and nobody has reached back to me about my deposit back. The phone number listed just tells you to contact them via email. Parents, be aware and don’t use this app, you may never see your money back as I am still waiting for nearly 2 months now with no words from them.

23. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Don’t do it. Out of the thousands of apps I’ve downloaded over the years, I’ve maybe left two reviews. This being one of them. Stay clear of this app. I wanted to try it out. Seemed like a decent idea. When I only got to a couple hundred dollars in, I decided that it really wasn’t worth the fee to Invest and was essentially losing money for using the app. So I requested a withdrawal and was just going to stick the money in another account I use. I requested this withdrawal over a month ago. There’s no reason, in this age, that it should be taking this long. None. Everything’s Instant now. They are stealing your money. Don’t use this app.

24. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Scam. Be aware that this is a scam. I applied before noticing there is no way to withdraw funds. There is no way to cancel recurring deposits.The only option is cancel account which is ignored. I have sent 4 emails requesting cancellations and only one automated response and account is still open. Read the other one star reviews and beware. Ignore any response to this as I have tried many times to call and email and am ignored. Will pursue other means to deal with them.

25. ★★★★★account bans or deletion without explanation

    Service did nothing and charged fees. This platform connected to my bank and never deposited a cent into the investment account. However, they charged the monthly account maintenance fee every month from the very same bank account I linked to make investments. I feel I have been scammed by this service.

26. ★★★★★crashes, freezes and errors

    App not working. Every time I put my pin in to get into the app it exits out of the app completely. I cannot access my account now at all, and there is no way to do so from a desktop.

27. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Never worked. I opened 2 accounts maybe 3-4 months ago for you daughters. The recurring monthly transactions never go through. Beginning of July, I noticed the app was charging me $6.00 a month, but wouldn’t put my monthly contribution in the accounts. In July, I canceled everything, received my $12 in credit, and the company is still taking money out of my account in August. 🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️

28. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Closed my account but still being charged!. I closed my account over a month ago, but they're still charging me nonetheless.

29. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Be CAREFUL!!. I opened an account for 3 of my kids a few months ago to test it out. Then I wanted to see if I can actually take money out and how quick it would be. Let me tell you, it’s been since MAY!! Then I saw how they won’t release my funds, I tried to close the account altogether and till today, they still won’t close it. I was so angry this morning when they tried to take out money from my account!!! I’ve emailed over and over again and NOTHING!!! Be careful and beware!

30. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Terrible. 5 star review until it’s time to withdraw. I have been trying to withdraw for almost two months now. No email back at all. It’s definitely a scam and I would recommend just saving your kids’ money in a safer, more traditional app. This isn’t safe at all.