ComplaintsforTIAA-CREF

• Initial Complaint

  04/02/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I receive an annual annuity payment every year on April 1st. Although I have updated my address in the past, they were still sending my check to my brother's home address. This year because I am unable to walk, I called on February 17, 2024 to change my payment from check to direct deposit. My account was verified. I did the verification on line. When I called them today because my payment wasn't in my account, they said I should have called them to do the verification. So they did a stop payment on the check and said it could be up to 12 business days. This is unacceptable. I have payments due before April 5th or I will be charged late fees.

  Business response

  04/09/2024

  Please see attached response.

• Initial Complaint

  03/15/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My parents had a retirement account thru TIAA/CREF. At their passing the funds remained in a trust account. For nearly 1 year I have tried to close this account and moved the funds to an inherited *** in order to settle their estate. I have made several phone calls with TIAA staff (each of which was at least 50 minutes in duration and involved repeated verifications of my identity). Each time I have been transferred between departments and have to repeatedly verify my identity and the nature of the problem over and over again (as though no notes regarding the case are being filed on their end). They have required me to provide trust documents and death certificates several times as well (not sure where the initial copies I sent went to). The staff are pleasant and polite, but the inefficiency of the process is very aggravating. I have worked to settle matters regarding their estate with several other entities, and none of them have the bureaucratic snarls that I repeatedly run into with ****. I hoped to settle matters in ********************************************************* 2024 (which has typically cost $550 annually), but the delays have eliminated that option. Most recently (today), I just completed another such call (50 min again), which culminated in them being unable to answer any of my specific questions regarding their paperwork. The reason I was given was that, although I have provided all required documents (3 months ago!), they have not yet authenticated/verified me internally and therefore cannot answer any specifics. I get to call back again in a week to see if we can then proceed. It should not take a year to access funds from your deceased loved ones accounts due to such a cumbersome process which seems to be so complicated that even TIAA staff are unsure how to get it done. HELP.

  Business response

  03/22/2024

  Please see attached resolution for case # 21438187

• Initial Complaint

  03/13/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I am the beneficiary of my mother's TIAA CREF 401k. I also have an retirement account at **********************. I asked TIAA Cref to give me a $100k disbursement from my mother's 401k (which becomes my inherited **** and transfer the balance to another financial institution taking taxes for **************, my residence. Instead, TIAA Cref took $20,000 for ******** (where my mother lived) taxes from my account. Taxes were taken from my account at the end of February 2024.

  Business response

  03/20/2024

  Please refer the attached response. 

• Initial Complaint

  03/13/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I seek to have full immediate payment of all of my remaining retirement funds held at **** in the **** Traditional Annuity accounts. (Approx. 65K) Over a period of many years, I was misinformed repeatedly by numerous agents of **** (by phone) that money within the traditional account would receive interest crediting rates that would never decline. The information was completely incorrect, as interest crediting rates have declined repeatedly, as recently as 3-1-24. In essence, I was lied to repeatedly. I want to remove all of my money at once, though **** insists that I can only remove 10% per year over a nine year period. The growth of the funds has been VERY meager over a long period of time, starting in the year 2000. I do not recall physically signing any agreement limiting my ability to withdraw all funds immediately.

  Business response

  03/25/2024

  Please refer to attached ****'s response to this complaint.

  Customer response

  03/29/2024

   
  I am rejecting this response because:

  My original 2021 complaint against **** was NEVER properly resolved to my satisfaction, though they now assert that it was. The many phone calls I had with them were supposedly all recorded, so I asked for all of the recordings and received only one. Over a period of years, I had multiple calls during which I was repeatedly given false information by their misinformed or deceptive representatives, about the crediting rate of my **** Traditional funds. I have completely lost trust in this company, which now holds all of the funds contributed by my employer over 18 years. I also have major issues with how they pay interest on my funds.  Also of great concern to me is how they have no physically signed documentation from me showing my agreement to the terms of the **** Traditional "contract". The prospect of allowing **** to hold any of my retirement funds for another 9 years is extremely disconcerting to me and my wife.

  
  

  Business response

  04/11/2024

  Please see the attached.

• Initial Complaint

  03/12/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  In fall 2023, I contacted TIAA to confirm my contact and disbursement information for December 15, 2023. The customer service rep indicated everything was in order.On or about December 20, 2023, I contacted TIAA to inform them Id not received the disbursement. I was told that while there had been an issue with it being processed theyd escalate the paperwork. I asked for a disbursement timeline and was told it should go out by December 22. I followed up on December 28, 2023 and informed that it was still being processed. I indicated I needed assurances a disbursement would be issued before the end of 2023.The year ended. I reached a customer service agent, ****, who forwarded me to *******************************. He couldnt explain why the disbursement hadnt gone out nor why the escalated paperwork was still being processed. He did ensure that the disbursement would be issued within a week. He then informed me that there would actually be two disbursements as one was not issued in 2022. Note: I chalked up not receiving my 2022 disbursement to there being an issue with the account transfer to me after my husband passed away in October 2022 and the paperwork not going through in time for that year. This is why I reached out in fall 2023 to ensure everything was in order for the December disbursement.I did receive two disbursements for 2022 and 2023. They arrived in January 2024 and will be reported to the *** as income for this year. ********* then informed me there would also be a final disbursement in December 2024a compounded error that will adversely impact my 2024 taxes and put me in a higher tax bracket. I will face costly consequences because of ****'s negligence.I requested a written response from ********* on how TIAA is going to compensate me for the tax repercussions set in motion by their mishandling of my disbursements and exactly what transpired at TIAA that forced these disbursements to all come in one year. I never received a response from *********.

  Business response

  03/20/2024

  Please refer the attached response. 

  Customer response

  03/20/2024

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to my complaint, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Thank you. 
  

• Initial Complaint

  02/06/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Accounts for children regarding college tuition were set up. Children are now attending college and the company has been negligent in allowing access to funds in accounts. Numerous attempts have been made to address these issues and the company has refused to provide any assistance or information.

  Business response

  02/08/2024

  Please see attached resolution for Complaint ID ********

• Initial Complaint

  01/30/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On or around Dec 11, 2023 I filled up paperwork (per TIAA instructions) to transfer retirement money form TIAA to Fidelity under the same employer plan. In a day or so, the status said the paper work is being processed, and shortly after, it said "waiting employer approval. Just before the Christmas holidays, I called to check status, and I was told that they are still waiting on approval and can only expedite after 30 days have passed, plus its the holidays. I waited until mid-January to call again and requested that it now be expedited. In addition, the status on TIAA portal regarding paperwork has disappeared. The customer service rep called a couple of days later and told me that I need to refile paperwork. At this point, I expressed that this does not make sense to me. Resubmitting paperwork is NOT expediting. I wanted to know what happened to original paperwork before refiling or I might end up waiting another 60 days without getting my money transferred. I then asked to speak to a manager (on or around January 22). I was told it will take a couple of days. I have now waited for about a week with no follow up and paperwork just disappearing with no follow through. I need TIAA to identify problem with the paperwork process and ensure that it is handled properly and through completion.

  Business response

  02/08/2024

  Please see the attached letter in response to customer complaint.

  Customer response

  02/08/2024

   
  I am rejecting this response because:

  The reason for the rejection is simply because the letter is in direct contradiction and is 100% inconsistent with the steps they advised me over the phone to take.  They have the recordings of my phone calls with their customer representatives.  The following are the facts: 1) I was on the phone with with Fidelity and **** while the form was completed on 12/11/2023.  There was no instruction provided by **** that the **** and Fidelity forms should be submitted together or to **** so that it may be processed properly by the employer.  In fact, **** was asked several times on the phone as to what is needed to accomplish the process without a hitch and all **** said was to fill in the form.  The form itself does not indicate the requirement that the receiving institution's form should be filed with it; 2) As mentioned, when I called 12/27/23, I was told to wait 30 days after which, they (****) can do something to expedite it.  They cannot do anything until after the 30 days.  These instructions are completely inconsistent with what is formally stated in the letter.  If they truly reviewed the case, they would know that what I stated is correct and a simple apology and a promise to fix their process (where it has broken down) and do better would have sufficed.  I believe the letter is stated as such for legal purposes.  

  In any case, at this point, I at least have a contact person on their end that commits to helping get this to a resolution. It was not stated in the letter, therefore, am not sure if that action was in response as well to this BBB complaint.  I would like to think so.

  I also filed with ********** of ***** so that they may assist if nothing happens after 90 days from 12/11/2023.  BBB has also helped in the resolution, in a sense. Therefore I would like to thank BBB for their efforts to help resolve this matter. I'm ok with closing the case without further reply from **** through BBB. 

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  01/22/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My brother had several accounts at TIAA when he died in 2019. All but one were settled and his children received the money. I get quarterly statements (attached) on the other one but **** says they cannot pay them because the primary beneficiary is the ***********************. That is because ** required primary retirement beneficiary status in order for him to go on ********* I have asked ** to either reject or accept the funds but they have done neither. Common sense in a case like this would have TIAA, after 4 years, to distribute the money to the secondary beneficiaries but TIAA will not do so.

  Business response

  01/30/2024

  Please see the attached letter. 

• Initial Complaint

  01/12/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I have worked for 3 universities in the past, and with each funds were contributed pre- and after-tax to TIAA retirement accounts. As I am no longer working for a university, and as the value of the retirement accounts seems stagnant / decreasing, with no further contributions, I have begun rolling over and consolidating these funds into a single ****As part of this process, the after-tax contributions are being returned to me. This process worked well for 2 accounts, but for the other 2 with after-tax contributions, the funds were sent instead to the new **** I have tried to work with **** to rectify this problem over the past month, but the Senior Associate has not been able to solve the problem with the 2 accounts. I am frustrated that my calls and emails are not answered in a timely fashion (the same or next day), that the process has now lasted over one month, and that the Associate is proposing solutions that appear to be completely incorrect, according to records I have from TIAA.It would be helpful to apply competent people to work on these issues, and to give them some priority, as it shouid be something to clarify within a short period of time (1-2 days).

  Business response

  02/05/2024

  Please see the attached letter. 

  Customer response

  02/05/2024

   
  I am rejecting this response because: This is only a partial resolution. I have been waiting 3 months for TIAA to identify after-tax contributions made to another account that were mistakenly sent to the other bank. I would be grateful for their prompt action to identify the amount and return it to me.

  Also, the funds refered to in the letter have not been sent to me yet, so this case is not resolved at all!

  Thanks for your ongoing help

  ***********************

  
  

  Business response

  02/09/2024

  Please see attached letter.

• Initial Complaint

  01/02/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  **** sent me an offer of 5.2% rate of return on my TIAA **** When I called TIAA I was *********** only applied to new customers. I have been contributing since **** and rollover my retirement in 2015. The email stated YOUR TIAA Traditional has a high return of 5.2%. My current *** with TIAA is 2%I should also receive 5.2%. Customer Loyalty is no longer an asset.

  Business response

  01/09/2024

  Please see attached response for this complaint.

  Customer response

  01/11/2024

   
  I am rejecting this response because:
  When I rolled over my  money  in 2015 when I retired I was guaranteed be TIAA rate of return of  4%.   I would never have agreed to such a low rate it should do better in an online savings account 
  

  They take advantage of senior citizens with lies and false promises. 

  Business response

  01/25/2024

   Please see attachment, which was originally sent to email address ******************************************************** on January 23, ****.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩