Transamerica Retirement Solutions review: 401k 33

Are you still employed? Are you over 59 1/2 years old? Are you retired or disabled?
Bottom line, if you are still employed you cannot take the money out in most cases. NOT ALL PLANS HAVE THE SAME RULES! Don't listen to call in programs because you most likely don't work for the same employer. A contract between the client (your employer) and the provider (transamerica) outlines everything allowed and disallowed. Being willing to pay taxes and penalties doesn't help if you don't qualify for a withdrawal. Ask for the following...
1) Loan
2) Hardship Withdrawal
Many plans only allow hardships for the following
Buying a primary residence
Avoiding foreclosure or eviction THAT IS DOCUMENTED
Medical expenses not cover by insurance
College Tuition, room and board
Damage to your home due to natural disaster that qualifies as a casualty expense
Funeral expenses

That being said, your plan does not have to offer either option. Let me know if you still need help or have questions. Also, please provide your current employment status.

Jeff
jvswerbo@yahoo.com

what if you send your 401k provider a fake eviction notice? do they check that stuff out?

Transamerica is terrible. They told me 3 times incorrect info about my account and then wouldnt right their wrong after they had done it. They are n absolutely terrible company, they seem clueless to their clients needs.

I agree as well. This company aka Bencor is absolutely horrible. Their customer service has you on hold for 45 minutes to an hour. When they finally come on the line and ask you 6 or 7 levels of security questions, they put you on hold AGAIN while they retrieve your information. Their systems seemed not be aligned or the phone reps aren't well trained. They don't seem to be able to answer simple questions. I have faxed them THE SAME paperwork 3 x and they've still screwed up royally on sending me my distribution. It has been an absolutely ridiculous process. If I ever take another job where they are the security holders I will request to OPT OUT. There are plenty of other companies who handle retirement services SO MUCH BETTER. Cannot say enough about how horrible they have been.

OH, how I wish I had NEVER signed up with these CROOKS! I'm over 65 and no longer employed by the company that was taking my contributions. I've been trying, for over a year, to get my money back from them. 100% invested, and EVERY PENNY was out of MY POCKET! HOOPS, HOOPS and more HOOPS! My money keeps dwindling and all I get are MORE HOOPS!

I can't get my 403B contributions to buy a house. I am 64 yrs old. My company filed bankruptcy. They owner who went bankrupt won't sign the plan administrator section because the company no longer exists. Transamerica won't release my money without a signature. There has to be a policy to deal with this but I'm told no. I can't get a supervisor on the phone either. don't know who to report them to or what to do next!

I say we get people together for class action suit!

I recently sent in a payment to pay off my 401k "withdrawal" early, they applied it to the wrong account. Now I've waited 3 weeks for them to fix the problem and send back my over payment. Still no word, all they ever tell me is a manager is working on this now and it should be fixed in 3-4 business days...I've been told that 4 times now. I've talked to my employer and tried to get them involved and Trans america tells them the same thing. I need my over payment and I need to take another "withdrawal" out. But I have lost so much money in the time I've waited on them to fix THEIR mistake that the market has killed my account and the amount of my "withdrawal" has been severely diminished, and they are still taking my original "withdrawal" payments out of my check.

I was a transamerica account holder, I got a new job and wanted my 401k all in one place so I switched companies, I started my new job in November, that week I contacted transamerica, got the appropriate forms to do a rollover and sail mailed them to transamerica. A couple weeks go by and I call to see if my Check had been sent out, it hadn't, so I had to send the paperwork via fax. I sent it that same day about mid November. Two weeks later I again followed up because the money had not been received by my new company. The check had STILL not been sent. This time I had the transamerica employees fill out the roll over form, I signed it online and the check was to be sent after the form was processed. Long story short the check was not sent until December 28th, just a few days shy of two full months after my initial request to send the check. The December 28th check never made it to its destination despite my verification of the address three times. So on January 21st I had the check cancelled, that took 9 days bringing us to today, I called and asked if the new check had been sent, the employee told me it had not, that the form to cancel the first check was still being processed.
I was told that if I don't see the money by FEBRUARY 16th to call and see what's going on... February? It takes three months to send a darn check in the mail!?
regardless I'm still waiting. If you want to have access to your retirement I highly do not recommend this company. They are difficult to reach, lacking in intercompany communication, and a simple rollover should NOT be this complicated.

I work for a company that uses Transamerica for managing the 401k. It is absolutely horrid! Every fund but one lost money last year and that fund has been removed from the offerings. All their offerings are custom (possibly collusion going on here) solutions and none of them are available in the open market, as you would be able to invest in at almost any brokerage in your 401k or IRA. Also, there is no cash account, so if there is some kind of collusion, they are forcing everyone to take a loss as if it was an accounting fee.

They are indeed horrible! They remind me of companies we hear about on American Greed. I had to call a few times to get withdrawal forms...Having filled out the forms, I called to see if they were received...I was told there was a problem with the letter from my bank for direct deposit and so on and so on...I feel that the employees are trained to be a wedge between you and your money...Maybe if enough people complain...

This company TRS, is by far the most incompetent and shady financial institution I've ever done business with. I would encourage anyone with money invested through work or pension, or anyone who owns any type of securities, to cash out and look else where! After my father died they continued to make pension payments to his account even after informing them of my father's passing. They then, without letting us know about any of this, withdrew $50, 000 from my dad's checking account, after they discovered their accounting error, throwing our books into disarray, and truly putting our finances at great risk. I would have been happy to pay back any unearned payments or money the estate was not entitled to. However, the way they stole back the funds from my Dad's account in the middle of the night, and without notice, is truly disgusting.

It took them 24 hours to reverse a transaction and take money FROM a bank account but them MONTHS to make a deposit into one.

Aside from their first royal #### up, I inherited several retirement accounts at the time of my father's passing. They have proceeded to hold these funds hostage, even after full well knowing I was listed as a beneficiary, and also having court documents proving my ownership of my father's estate. This is truly criminal. It has taken over three months for them to make a simple sale of an IRA, and deposit the $5, 000 to my checking account. Hoops, hoops, and more hoops, forms, and then just moving on to just strait lying to cover up their lack of customer service, and not depositing the money to my account when they said they would. They were VERY efficient when it came to stealing back funds -24 hours at the most! They have every piece of documentation they could possibly need to make the deposit, but are too incompetent to complete a simple transaction, even after them screwing up my dad's retirement accounts and pension. I too got an official letterhead from my bank, providing direct deposit information along with a voided check. I TOO faxed this this to them three times! And even after all that, they couldn't even complete the direct deposit, and now say they have sent a check in the mail - making me wait again for the check to arrive, then deposited, and then more days for it to clear and for the funds to available. I truly despise this company

I will be reporting them to the SEC, BBB, and am contemplating legal action. Run away and invest in an REAL company like Schwab, or Fidelity - they are professionals and not liars.

These crooks need to be made to answer for their lack of ethics and POOR SERVICE! I have being trying to make a withdraw for two months now and getting the run around big time. I too asked to speak to a manger but the rep can back (after the second 10 minute hold) to tell me "the supervisor says". If I get past this process, I will look to rollover my funds elsewhere. Oh by the way, I am 59 1/2. See the pattern

This company sucks. The worst. I just spent 25 minutes on hold waiting for so called all there company representatives who are busy assisting other customers. This at 7:00PM EST time. RIght. What a waste. AVOID THIS COMPANY. IT DOES NOT CARE ABOUT CUSTOMERS...

Terrible company. Will find a reason to void your disbursement check and then if you make them run out of excuses they will void your UPS tracking number because it was not mailed even after you paid for over night shipping. Avoid these clowns at all cost and notify all levels of government who can help close the doors for good.

Been on hold for 25mins, Then when they finally answered they said that I needed paperwork and asked for my email address. He repeated the email address and I nevered received paperwork. So now I have to call again. ugh :(
My 401k was transfer to this company I feel like im going in circles, because when i talk to CS they claim there is no information and sent me back to former employer.
Cannot find good customer service to help us.
They have given us the run around for 3mos.

I have been trying to do a hardship request for about 2 weeks now. I have sent the same forms in so many times, this is truly disgusting me! TRS is such a horrible company. I need a Cpap machine to help my husband breathe. He stops breathing about 84 times each night. Explained this process to them, I still get the run around. I hate this company with a passion. My company who I work for need to open their eyes. BBB gives them a F? This is not a concissadenc. I will truly not put anymore money in anything with their name on it ever! I been on holding for about 1 30 minutes. On top of this company does not know what they are doing, talk to you anyway they want even though on a recorded line.

Yes, this is what I thought. I have a small 403B with Transamerica from a job many moons ago. Just getting around to rolling it over to Fidelity. Sent in the forms and received an email from "Deb" (no last name) saying I needed to update my marital status by calling a different Transamerica branch. My status has always been the same so why this was necessary is beyond me. But the other branch got that done in a couple days and sent me confirmation in the mail. Back to the main Transamerica again, a woman answers the line like it's her home phone or something, no identification offered, she couldn't tell that I needed the status updated, she couldn't tell me when the check would be sent, only that it would be within 10 days of receiving all the documents they needed which she thinks has happened but she couldn't pin a date on that either. By the way, the two people I've talked to at main Transamerica have no idea who Deb is even though that's the # she said to call her back at. Their service is the worst. I can't believe they're a financial company. All my dealings with Charles Schwab and Fidelity...so professional. Transamerica is like going to the drive up window at Burger King. No, come to think of it, I've had much better service at Burger King. I'll be amazed if my rollover happens without any further hitches.

My employer recently switched to Transamerica for 401k management. I went to the website they gave us and requested a 59 & 1/2 withdrawal. The only option was to take it in a check. They said it would be 7-10 business days to get the check. 21 days later, still no check. I called them and they said I could cancel that check and reissue another check. It would take 7-10 business days to process this request. I had them reissue the check and about 4 weeks later I got a check in the mail. Then I asked how I could get my account setup on direct deposit for withdrawals and was told that they only did that as part of a withdrawal and that they would have to send me the paperwork for the direct deposit and that I would have to download the withdrawal forms and fill them all out and send them back in. I get the forms and there are places all over the forms that may or may not require a notary stamp. I logged into their site and chatted with one of their reps. I asked him if the signatures needed to be notarized because it is very ambiguous on the forms as to whether they should be notarized or not. Of course he said they were required to be notarized. I asked why and he said for my protection. So, it's ok to send a check in regular mail with no security, but, it's not ok to do all this online where there are multiple layers of security. My conclusion is that they do everything in their power to keep you from getting at your money so they can earn interest on it. This is the worse experience I have ever had with any supposedly reputable company.

This isn't a response, but I had a new question. I wasn't sure how to post it.

Early 2017, my company changed the 401K provider from Transamerica to another company. Most of the over three hundred employees at my company never had a problem with this rollover. I was one of a few individuals that had trouble with Transamerica and how they handle the rollover.
First of all, the check was mailed to my personal address, but they had the name and address wrong. I never receive the check and it took them another four months to contact me, because the check was never cashed. I had assumed this transaction when smoothly.
My employer, the current contact that handling the 401K and I made numerous contacts with Transamerica to get this resolved with no luck. They either send a previously canceled check, still with the wrong name on it, put it on hold with no explanation or when a check was finally mailed; they had my social security number wrong.
If this sounds unbelievable, I have a copy of all the correspondence between Transamerica and the others involve with trying to resolve this including myself. We try numerous times to give Transamerica the precise information, so they can correct this problem, but they seem to find new ways of screwing this up.
It has been over nine months since this transaction was to take place, with no resolution. All this time, I haven’t had this money working for me in my 401K. The stock markets are at record high while Transamerica has been holding my money, without it increasing a dime.
I’m wondering if anyone else as has this problem with Transamerica or if there are any lawsuits pending for similar issues. I may need to contact a lawyer, but I know if it would be worth the trouble.
Does anyone offer good advice on this?

TRS is running a scam not releasing funds when requested. Wife left her position due to medical reasons. 401K was small amount of money we requested to roll over into Fidelity. We were asked to send the documents in, no notary needed because the sum was small. Weeks later after many, many phone calls we were asked to re-send the paperwork WITH a notary seal. When we followed up on that, we were told since my wife was no longer employed the money was rolled into another TransAmerica non sponsored employee fund, we were asked to submit the same paperwork once again to have it rolled over ... this is 3 times now! After several weeks we called to check again and we were told the account had been frozen due to the amount of inquiries about the money they were suspicious of fraud. Wife then documented who she was and sent in additional documentation.
We were then told 1-5 business days to process a check and then 5-10 days to send to fidelity ... both are astronomical durations with todays technology ... we're now a week past the longest duration given to us and STILL no funds have been sent / rolled over. This situation has been ongoing for almost 4 months now. Transamerica certainly cant be this incompetent. They obviously are doing this on purpose and holding onto the funds as long as they can. After reading all the complaints here I cant imagine this isn't ripe for a class action lawsuit

I have submitted a Non-Hardship Withdrawal request form via mail on 31 March 2018. I checked online to see the status and it was in process status as of 05 April 2018. A week later, it was odd I haven't received my money in my bank account as I requested Direct Deposit. Checked online again and come to see it was 'Canceled'. It prompted me to call them on 11 April 2018 and the customer service person said he is submitting a 'reversal', so I agreed with it. Only to find out after calling them endlessly for the next 5 days, another customer service rep said a note was put on it indicating "On hold due to client calls everyday!" I was fuming. The customer service rep I spoke to last Friday, 20 April 2018 was in disbelief Transamerica had put a hold on this considering it is my money. I was calm and very patient in all my calls to them. The main reason I kept calling everyday is the status has been 'canceled', but each time I called the customer service rep indicated it is 'In Process' and that it can take up to 10 business days. It is now past 10 business days since this transaction was submitted. They are not reliable and to even put it on hold without calling or emailing me is beyond unacceptable. I have bills overdue, my electric and internet is about to be turned off and I need those as I work from home full time. This is really unacceptable.

Does anyone know how we can complain about this company to BBB? I asked for a copy of my loan repayment transaction history and the customer service ended up accidentally sending me a 149 page Wells Fargo report of all sensitive information regarding members and their COMPLETE BANKING ACCOUNT AND ROUTING NUMBERS. I have been getting different answers everytime I call asking if my payments have processed and what my balance due is. This was the last straw. Very incompetent staff

Try taking a loan against your 401k. If you make a mistake on a form. They don't inform you, you have to resubmit. Resubmit, they tell you it's a 3 day turn around time. On day 4 I get a an e-mail (which I was told they are not capable of doing on day 1, so we need to call and fax) that I need to submit the same form via e-mail that was faxed to them on day 1. They put an electronic loan form on their retirement site, but if you submit that it goes in the garbage and they tell you it is not approved by your employer. This company is real efficient at collecting money. But they really have a hard time giving it back!

husband got laid off and we were trying to close account and they are refusing to release funds, basically STEALING his money! not to mention all the fees they charge you non stop this company is the absolute worse for a 401k and we have had 4 others over the years! their customer service sucks! DO NOT TRUST THEM WITH YOUR MONEY!

I would give negative stars if I could. This place is ridiculous. I have been trying for a YEAR to rollover to my new 401K. Due to lack of communication and miscommunication from TRS, I still have yet to receive my rollover, and it's not in an account there, so FOR A YEAR, my money has been in limbo, not earning anything! Sent (a second) rollover form back in December. I get a notice check has been cut. Beginning of April, I get a notice from TRS that my rollover check was never cashed, so they put stop payment on it and cut another. Few months later, still no money! I call, and they tell me the forms from DECEMBER were not signed, so check was never made or sent out! WTF did you tell me the check went missing then? Now they tell me the account is too old; no forms for releasing it, because my account was "closed out" when check was made, and the company I was with doesn't have account there anymore, so basically they couldn't help me. After numerous back and forths, they sent me original forms to sign again, telling me that once they were received, rollover would be processed within two weeks. Over two weeks later, and here I sit on the phone with them again, with them not knowing where the f*ck my money is or how to get it to me. CROOKS

I have been trying for over a year to get my rollover from Transamerica to my new 401k company, Fidelity. Fidelity has been very helpful and quick to return my calls. All of the issues have come from the Transamerica side. I've called literally no less than 30 times and every time I call they tell me they need something else to process. You will remain on hold for no less than 20-30 minutes waiting to speak to a human, and then get the runaround without any help.

A rollover should be a VERY simple & easy transaction but every single time I call I am told something new that is missing. I feel they are holding my rollover money hostage at this point and am considering legal action.

I have had it with this Company - I have two different times - one for cash distribution and the second to take the money out of my retirement to go to some other account - three weeks before I got the first and now we are looking at a week and a half and the check is not here yet - 1-4 business days THAT IS A LIE!
They are not helpful sorry for the inconvenience but will not let you talk to a manager - totally disgusted stay away from this company!

I retired from one job , I tryed to withdraw my money from Transamerica , I've gotten nothing but misinformation misdirection and lies from this company and it's employees are rude and lack training. I'm beginning to think they act this way so people give up . Transamerica is terrible terrible terrible horrible , they lack morals . they are thieves .