Simple 401K rollover runaround

[tfudtuckerpucker]

Maybe someone has advice for me. For nearly 2 months I have been trying to do a simple 401K rollover to an IRA at Fidelity. It's fairly large (~$1M). They have been giving me the runaround- it's still not done, after 2 months. Is this a thing? Has anyone else experienced this? Do I have any recourse? Thanks!

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Who has given you the runaround? Fidelity or the holder of the 401K? And specifically how have they given you the "runaround"...need more info to try and help.

 

[tfudtuckerpucker]

Who has given you the runaround? Fidelity or the holder of the 401K? And specifically how have they given you the "runaround"...need more info to try and help.

Here are more details. I have two 401k funds, that I want to do a simple rollover of both funds to an IRA. Fidelity rolled over the first fund (about $400K) quickly. For the second fund (about $1M), they required that the account names match exactly. Fine, so I changed that and submitted a second notarized form. Strange that didn't matter for the first fund. After a few weeks I called Fidelity and they said I need to resubmit the notarized request. They did not give me a reason. So I submitted a THIRD notarized request. It's been another week and there has been no action or communication from them. It's now been nearly 2 months since the first request. When I talk to them I get comments about the amount involved, as if that is a problem. I'll call them again this morning, but if they continue to not take action I want to know what I can do. This process should take no more than a week- right?

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Honestly, not sure if the amount would matter. If I were in your position, I would call back and ask for a supervisor and press them on what's taking so long. I rolled over a pretty small 401K to them (was also managed by them) not very long ago and they did it in about 3 days with no issues at all.

 

[tfudtuckerpucker]

Honestly, not sure if the amount would matter. If I were in your position, I would call back and ask for a supervisor and press them on what's taking so long. I rolled over a pretty small 401K to them (was also managed by them) not very long ago and they did it in about 3 days with no issues at all.

Thanks, will do.

 

[chassis]

Unusual for Fidelity.

Yes, call and speak with a human or schedule a face to face meeting at a Fidelity office near you.

 

[MRG]

Honestly, not sure if the amount would matter. If I were in your position, I would call back and ask for a supervisor and press them on what's taking so long. I rolled over a pretty small 401K to them (was also managed by them) not very long ago and they did it in about 3 days with no issues at all.

This.... asking for the supervisor is how you escalate internally. The amount isn't the problem, sometimes the associate lacks training and this is how their management identities their needs. Escalate away.

 

[travelover]

Do you have a brick and mortar Fidelity office nearby? Sometimes a face to face with an accountable person makes a difference.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

This.... asking for the supervisor is how you escalate internally. The amount isn't the problem, sometimes the associate lacks training and this is how their management identities their needs. Escalate away.

Very true. I would guess that many of the "first line" CSRs are new or not very experienced. I have a friend who works as a CSR for a large insurance (health) company and she has complained that she got very little training and was thrown to the wolves very early and didn't feel very comfortable in the job for almost a year. Turn over in these jobs are pretty high, too.

 

[tfudtuckerpucker]

Thanks everyone for your comments. After talking to 3 representatives this morning, I finally got an answer. I resubmitted the paperwork, here's crossing my fingers. All the csr's seem so nice- maybe it's a training issue...

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Thanks everyone for your comments. After talking to 3 representatives this morning, I finally got an answer. I resubmitted the paperwork, here's crossing my fingers. All the csr's seem so nice- maybe it's a training issue...

I would almost guarantee it.

Glad you finally got an answer. Hopefully it'll be taken care of soon!

 

[rk911]

Maybe someone has advice for me. For nearly 2 months I have been trying to do a simple 401K rollover to an IRA at Fidelity. It's fairly large (~$1M). They have been giving me the runaround- it's still not done, after 2 months. Is this a thing? Has anyone else experienced this? Do I have any recourse? Thanks!

my wife recently inherited a Fidelity 401k with a slightly smaller balance from her brother. we submitted the required paperwork and had the balance rolled into a Fidelity tIRA. that process was fairly quick..maybe a couple of days.

however, that same brother had four other accounts with Fidelity...a tIRA (into the IRAs named my wife as POD and were transferred to her pretty quickly. the post-tax accounts were a much, much different story. one was titled to her brother's trust (of which my wife was the successor trustee and sole beneficiary) and the other was in his name with his trust as the sole beneficiary. Fidelity ghosted us for 6-weeks after we had submitted all requested paperwork. No e-mail, no return phone calls. Fidelity ultimately transferred both to her control, first as successor trustee of her brother's trust and then to our family trust. we will be moving all four accounts...7-figures...out of Fidelity later this year.

 

[tfudtuckerpucker]

... Fidelity ghosted us for 6-weeks after we had submitted all requested paperwork. No e-mail, no return phone calls. Fidelity ultimately transferred both to her control, first as successor trustee of her brother's trust and then to our family trust. we will be moving all four accounts...7-figures...out of Fidelity later this year.

Exactly. Their communication is appalling. I was surprised their website was broken, in several places. I tried their "chat" option, so I didn't have to hold on Musak, but the chat was dropped while I waited for them to "investigate", several times, even if I refreshed the home page, so I had to start the process again with a different CSR (who put me on hold so they could "investigate" again...)

Either they are TARFU, or they were trying to delay the rollover. As soon as the rollover is done, I'm moving my money elsewhere.

 

[tfudtuckerpucker]

I found the answer. If I don't include the last page, which is completely blank, except for "this page intentionally left blank" and "page 4 of 4", then they just ignore the rollover request. See attached blank page. I guess it was too much effort for them to tell me they must have that page or they would reject the application and say nothing.

 

[MRG]

I found the answer. If I don't include the last page, which is completely blank, except for "this page intentionally left blank" and "page 4 of 4", then they just ignore the rollover request. See attached blank page. I guess it was too much effort for them to tell me they must have that page or they would reject the application and say nothing.

That document doesn't open. Is it what Vanguard has, or it's been modified?

 

[tfudtuckerpucker]

That document doesn't open. Is it what Vanguard has, or it's been modified?

It's just a pdf- you'll need to set your default programs to open it. I attached a jpeg version.