IRA transfer to Vanguard

[utrecht]

Im in the process of transferring my IRA from TD Ameritrade to Vanguard. According to Vanguards website, I initiated the transfer on 5/22 and the estimated completion date is 7/10.

Does this sound right that it should take that long? A month and a half?

Obviously I plan on calling them, but I was wondering if anyone else has had experinince transferring an IRA like this.

PS...all investments have been liquidated so its all cash.

 

[FinanceDude]

Im in the process of transferring my IRA from TD Ameritrade to Vanguard. According to Vanguards website, I initiated the transfer on 5/22 and the estimated completion date is 7/10.

Does this sound right that it should take that long? A month and a half?

Obviously I plan on calling them, but I was wondering if anyone else has had experinince transferring an IRA like this.

PS...all investments have been liquidated so its all cash.

That's WAY TOO LONG.............try calling them to see what's up..........I WOULD not put up with that on an IRA transfer.............

 

[FIREd]

I went through the same process about 2 months ago. When you fill out the IRA rollover form they do say that it could take up to 45 days for the money to transfer to your new VG IRA (if there are no complications). So if you initiated the transfer on 5/22, it could take up to 7/10 for the rollover to complete. It does not mean that it will take that long however. Mine took only about 1 month to complete.

 

[grumpy]

My experience has been that any delays are not on the Vanguard side of the transaction. Usually it is the institution that is losing the funds that has little incentive to make it happen quickly.

Grumpy

 

[donheff]

Mine took about three weeks. VG estimates high to protect themselves from the vagueries of the sending institutions.

 

[mickeyd]

With some investment companies you have to factor in the "sitting on the desk of_________waiting for approval" factor. Of course this all a phony ploy to hold onto your cash a bit longer and grab a final monthly fee.

I do not know of Ameritrade's record in this area, but I would advise that you call them today, tomorrow, Thursday, Friday, Monday etc. Make yourself the guy that they do not want to speak to. Ramp up your anger on each succeeding call. Keep a record, share the results with us and we'll all have a good laugh after it's all done.

 

[Spanky]

It took about 1 month for me also. The other company took about 3 weeks to transfer the money to Vanguard. Once Vanguard received the check, it took another week to clear it. Before it was cleared, it posted a similar message that it might take another month to complete the transaction. I had to call them to clarify the confusion. I suppose Vanguard wants to be conservative in their estimates, but inadvertently alienates its potential or current customers.

 

[travelover]

IRA Transfer to VG

Ironically, I initiated a rollover to Vanguard from Fido on May 22 also. My estimated completion date is 8/24! I called and was assured that it would "only" take 4 to 6 weeks. The money is sitting in a cash account and it seems like a waste - unless of course the market falls dramatically before the transfer. It would be nice to know what really is causing the slow motion.

 

[FinanceDude]

It takes two to party.......... For VG to put long estimates on is just CYA, nothing else. There are numerous federal regs on response times between trustee-to-trustee transfers.

Neither VG, Fido, T Rowe, or anyone else is completely innocent............

 

[LOL!]

With some investment companies you have to factor in the "sitting on the desk of_________waiting for approval" factor. Of course this all a phony ploy to hold onto your cash a bit longer and grab a final monthly fee.

I do not know of Ameritrade's record in this area, but I would advise that you call them today, tomorrow, Thursday, Friday, Monday etc. Make yourself the guy that they do not want to speak to. Ramp up your anger on each succeeding call. Keep a record, share the results with us and we'll all have a good laugh after it's all done.

I transfered an IRA "in kind" from TDAmeritrade to WellsFargo. It took 2 weeks from the time I put my paperwork to WellsFargo in the mail box. In another mailing, I also transfered some mutual funds "in kind" from TDAmeritrade after-tax account to WF. It also took about 2 weeks.

From my experience, I would say the delay is not on the TDAmeritrade side. We may all be laughing at Vanguard if you do what mickeyd wrote.

 

[SamHouston]

I've had two experiences in rolling money over to Vanguard. Once was from a Fidelity account and the other was from an Ameriprise account. It was like the difference between night and day. The Fidelity transfer was done in just over two weeks and went as smoothly as anything I've ever experienced. The Ameriprise transfer took more than two months and involved at least 10 phone calls and attempts to "find" the original request. I had to do 3 conference calls between myself, a Vanguard rep and the Ameriprise people to finally get something to happen.

No apologies ever came from Ameriprise and my money was frozen the whole time leaving me with no options to react to market changes or emergencies. Needless to say, I will never do new business with Ameriprise again...never. I do have one account stuck with them at the moment that I will be moving at some point but right now the expense of closing the account is too great for me to justify the move.

In neither experience did I ever feel that Vanguard was holding anything up...nor Fidelity for that matter. Ameriprise is the big prize winner when it comes to screwing with my money.

 

[utrecht]

I assume that I can still make deposits to this account even before the transfer funds arrive?

 

[BUM]

I assume that I can still make deposits to this account even before the transfer funds arrive?

Once an account number has been assigned you can make contributions.

 

[FinanceDude]

I've had two experiences in rolling money over to Vanguard. Once was from a Fidelity account and the other was from an Ameriprise account. It was like the difference between night and day. The Fidelity transfer was done in just over two weeks and went as smoothly as anything I've ever experienced. The Ameriprise transfer took more than two months and involved at least 10 phone calls and attempts to "find" the original request. I had to do 3 conference calls between myself, a Vanguard rep and the Ameriprise people to finally get something to happen.

No apologies ever came from Ameriprise and my money was frozen the whole time leaving me with no options to react to market changes or emergencies. Needless to say, I will never do new business with Ameriprise again...never. I do have one account stuck with them at the moment that I will be moving at some point but right now the expense of closing the account is too great for me to justify the move.

In neither experience did I ever feel that Vanguard was holding anything up...nor Fidelity for that matter. Ameriprise is the big prize winner when it comes to screwing with my money.

I think there is a misnomer about what is "frozen"...... The only thing "frozen would be a rollover from a 401K that converted to cash and you have to sit in cash for awhile before the transfer is complete, thus losing potential opportunity cost.

If you mean that you can't buy or sell in the account BEING TRANSFERRED, well I guess that could be construed as "frozen", although you are probably not going to do stuff in that account anymore anyway............

 

[Achiever51]

Mine took about three weeks. VG estimates high to protect themselves from the vagueries of the sending institutions.

Similar experience here. I consolidated two 401(k)s and one IRA account at VG. The largest transfer took three weeks total. The second, from a smaller group, took just over one month. The third, a small IRA at a local bank, took about a month and a half. VG was very helpful in keeping me informed about the status.

 

[SamHouston]

I think there is a misnomer about what is "frozen"...... The only thing "frozen would be a rollover from a 401K that converted to cash and you have to sit in cash for awhile before the transfer is complete, thus losing potential opportunity cost.

If you mean that you can't buy or sell in the account BEING TRANSFERRED, well I guess that could be construed as "frozen", although you are probably not going to do stuff in that account anymore anyway............

That's what I meant by "frozen," Dude. Not having access to the funds in any way for a time period that was extended by Ameriprise incompetence is just not acceptable to me. There was definitely an "opportunity cost" that I paid in a rising market while I sat in cash for all those extra days. It's a long story, but the Ameriprise experience was such a bad one that I lost all confidence in their ability to run their business competently. Their customer service "bedside manner" is the worst I've ever experienced in any financial dealings ever.

And, just to complete the rant while I'm at it again, their website is the worst I've ever seen. It is slow, seldom pulls up the requested data on less than half a dozen attempts, and they don't care. I've called them, emailed them and filled out surveys for them and nothing changes.

Whew...I feel a little better now.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

also in the middle of tranferring here. not as bad as it seemed it would be (though, of course, now i'm supposed to jump back in when i'm afraid it's a market bubble and i already got hit by the real estate bubble so i'm a little scared as apparently i've retired on the bubble plan).

anyway, as vanguard explained to me "what incentive does your bank have to do it any faster."

 

[FinanceDude]

The entire "back office" process is not any different from a technology standpoint between VG, Fido, Morgan Stanley, etc.

It is EASY for the receiving firm to blame the delivering firm, they can always say "it's their fault"........

It is naive to think that VG is WITHOUT any problems............

 

[SamHouston]

The entire "back office" process is not any different from a technology standpoint between VG, Fido, Morgan Stanley, etc.

It is EASY for the receiving firm to blame the delivering firm, they can always say "it's their fault"........

It is naive to think that VG is WITHOUT any problems............

Very true, but in my particular case, the only help I could get from anyone was at Vanguard. I got almost nowhere trying to solve my Ameriprise problem until I did a conference call that included a Vanguard rep and an Ameriprise rep. The Vanguard rep knew when he was being told things that made no sense and he stopped all the baloney that I was being fed.

I agree that the back office process software is pretty much the same everywhere. Unfortunately, the back office workers are not.

 

[garrynky]

Im in the process of transferring my IRA from TD Ameritrade to Vanguard. According to Vanguards website, I initiated the transfer on 5/22 and the estimated completion date is 7/10.

Does this sound right that it should take that long? A month and a half?

Obviously I plan on calling them, but I was wondering if anyone else has had experinince transferring an IRA like this.

PS...all investments have been liquidated so its all cash.

I went through this with Vanguard recently. I got the same boiler plate statements. The transfer actually took three weeks. I think it all depends on where the money is transfering from. Good luck in your effort.

 

[kjrn]

I just completed a transfer from Fidelity (403B) to Vanguard (TIRA). Not an apples-to-apples comparison as a direct trustee-to-trustee rollover was not possible (per Fidelity). I had to have Fidelity send me a check (made out to VG FBO me), then mail check to VG. I did call VG to find out exactly what they needed me to do per the deposit -- no forms, letter written specifying existing account to receive deposit etc.

I wasn't particularly surprised by time required. USPS no doubt accounts for a substantial piece of this.

Call to Fidelity to forms rec'd: 9 days
Mailed forms to F to receipt of checks: 12 days
Certified mail to VG: 4 days (Fri. pm to Tues a.m. - holiday weekend)

VG rec'd late Tues. a.m., shown pending Wed. a.m. (online), available for 'in-kind' purchases Thur. a.m. (today).

Just one example of process times...

Also no surprise that it would be much faster getting a check deposited than it would getting one cut!

 

[FinanceDude]

TIAA-Cref response time? A glacier would kick it's a$$..............

 

[Miss_Lala]

I just requested a transfer from Ameriprise to Vanguard. The estimated completion date......6 months from a week ago.

I assume I'll be making those phone calls, too.

 

[REWahoo]

I just requested a transfer from Ameriprise to Vanguard. The estimated completion date......6 months from a week ago.

If there was any doubt about leaving Aperiprise, this absolutely ridiculous foot dragging make-the-client-suffer attitude should confirm the wisdom of your decision. Good luck in extricating yourself from them.

 

[PBAT]

I initiated an IRA rollover from another company to Vanguard on Oct 4. Estimated completion date was Feb 2008. It was completed Oct 19.

And actually, Vanguard posted it twice. Now maybe that will be corrected by February!