Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association [TIAA]
Reviews and Complaints

TIAA-CREF is a poor company to work with, as a retirement plan holder, I have been working since Nov 2023 to initial my pension payments for Mar 2024. 3 Times I have submitted the request paperwork that was provided by their agent and acknowledged as complete. Each time I later received a notification that processing could not complete contact their service desk. That process is an annoying factor, but not the worst. The next agent then proceeds to explain that the previous agent was incorrect, and that something needs to change. I then have to resubmit all of the 28 pages of the request again. This last time, they said that since their are Mutual Funds part of the account cannot be annuitized. Those funds have been there the whole time and this was not mentioned before.

Traumatized, upset, and worried that I wont receive my payments. I would recommend people avoid TIAA-CREF.

TIAA has held retirement funds for me since 1965. I have 3 accounts, one is an after-tax account, the other two are subject to RMD. Because of TIAA's inept service record in dealing with my RMDs and the tax withholding for those accounts, as well as TIAA's confusing and incomplete account statements (about which I have previously complained to TIAA officers and to the SEC), in March I decided to roll the two RMD accounts over to Fidelity, and after several phone calls to ascertain how to do this, on March 29, 2023, I mailed the executed full liquidation instructions to the Charlotte, NC address. After two weeks, one of the accounts, a traditional IRA account (TIAA N9596494/NE 734727, CREF T956499) has finally been fully liquidated IF I am to believe TIAA's online report. (A balance of over $80,000 for which a check was to have been written, has not yet reached Fidelity, the rollover recipient).

I have tried to fully liquidate and transfer all funds in my other RMD subject account called the University of Kentucky Retirement Plan 101305 (TIAA *7JX3, CREF *7JX1). That executed liquidation instruction was mailed to TIAA on March 29, 2023 in the same envelope as the executed instruction for the IRA's liquidation. Although the remaining RMD for the year has been deducted from that account and sent to my checking account, the remainder of over $430,000 in account value has not been liquidated and sent to Fidelity. Several phone conversations with TIAA agents have resulted in polite assurances that they will look into the problem and get back to me, but I have heard nothing further.

It is clear to me that TIAA has been especially slow in liquidating TIAA funds, a particular abuse of its fiduciary responsibility to me and conduct that I believe violates SEC rules.

They are allowing annuitants to enter their own bank info. now for the payments -- they confirmed it two and a half weeks after I entered it (online confirmation)-- and incorrectly. They've taken advantage of computer issues in really crummy ways for many years but it looks like it's either another unfinished payment system or combo of mischief and the former. A lot more we could say, of course. They started requiring the phone "counselors" to become licensed a while back (and probably try to avoid an in depth convo now -- very strange exchange with one a year or so ago)...but I'm wondering if individual supervisor licenses (where they have them) are another angle -- if they are letting employees delay processing, etc. They've been milking -- even creating backlogs for "survivor benefits" for at least 30 years. Saw first hand.

TIAA is a predatory and dishonest company. I warn all to stay very far away. They trap people using "gotcha" tricks. They consider a checkmark on a computer screen to validate 10 year contracts in a shady investment option called TIAA Traditional. They will not let customers control their own money. They have been sued numerous times for their excessive fees. They do not respond in a timely fashion. They harm the retirement possibilities for seniors. They are the worst company in the United States.

This is a private retirement fund company. I sent in rollover forms to have all funds directly rolled over to an account at Fidelity. This was a 401 account from a former employer. There were two forms I needed to fill out. I am sure that I filled out both forms exactly the same. One account is now being rolled over directly into my new Fidelity fund. The other has been cashed. TIAA CREF sent me a check and because of this a large chunk of money had to be paid to the IRS in taxes.

I wanted all my funds to be directly rolled over. But now I have paid taxes for money I dont need right now. A TIAA CREF rep said it cannot be reversed. My lesson: to make sure I fill out the forms correctly- even if I have to call several times.