Vanguard
Reviews and Complaints

I'm disturbed that my very modest nest egg is invested with a company which invests heavily in companies that degrade the Amazon rain forest. The survival of this asset is said to be of significant importance to the health of the planet.

I think many of your customers would be more comfortable if you diverted these investments to companies actively working to avoid further damage to the environment.

Jeremiah Q. Schreyer

Hebron, CT

[protected]@yahoo.com

I have been separated from my employer in August 2020 and I was told that I could make payments on the loan taken from the 401k directly to Vanguard. I have been doing so since the separation and apparently missed a few payments. The website doesn't tell you any of this information, about payments being missed, and it doesn't allow you to set up automatic payments towards the loan among other pertinent options lacking. Last payment made was sometime in March 2022.

In April 2022, i logged on to make a payment and could not find the link for the loan, which caused me to call Vanguard to find out how to make the payment. During this call, I was told the loan was closed. I was confused as to why, and days later I was told that it went into default. I asked if they don't send out notices of this. The lady, Vivian, said they did. I told her I didn't get any noticies. It is my day of, as of the date of this writing, I went through all my mail. No notice received. I checked my email, my texts, the message center, no notices. In speaking with Vanguard again today, I am not able to speak with the resolution person, Vivian, nor can I open another case, or speak with a manager. How do you not put the client first in making sure they have been notified or try to assist in a resolution to the problems that exist.

I have so many concerns regarding what has transpired. Vanguard is unable to tell me what distribution code I can expect to receive on the 1099-R loan default, can I do a roll over to avoid the 10% penalty? Why doesn't Vanguard allow you to set up an automatic payment? Why can't I make a payment today and then tomorrow? It blocks you from processing another payment? Why can't I speak with someone about these concerns, rather I'm told that it already went to resolutions and I can't open another case?

Opposing Free Speech.

How very American of you.

America knows why you oppose him.

I will be looking for an alternative.

As will others.

3/7/2022, 1:40 pm PST. I keep trying to close my retirement account by going through Vanguard's retirement website. I enter my ID, password, and PIN, and I am routed to the next page, where I enter it all again. But this time, the system does not recognize the same information and I cannot proceed. So I call the General Vanguard number, go through the whole process again and am granted access but put on hold (we will be with you shortly) for 55 minutes. I want to close my account and sever all ties with my prior employer, CH2M HILL, and its successor Jacobs Engineering.

on 2/1/2022 I called and rolled over my 401k to my current company. I called and let the rep know that I only wanted 1% contribution. It was confirmed with email. However, on 2/17/2022 3% was taken out. I called Vanguard to correct the issue, I wanted the money that was deducted refunded and the rep John Loquierro was extremely rude and said there was nothing I can do before I could explain. When I asked to speak to his manager he flat out refused. John Loquierro was also supposed make sure my contributions were at 1% and email me a confirmation but he never did. When ever you call Vanguard you have 1 to 3 wait times.

Dec 4--Attempted to take RMD (Required Minimum Distribution) Message came up that account was blocked.

Dec 6--Called - Was told by Elizabeth Keady that I didn't have a POA (Power of Attorney). That wasn't true because I gave them my POA the previous year and I took the RMD with no problem.

Dec 6--Thinking they lost my POA I mailed them my POA along with my Doctor's Certification of Incapacitation via overnight mail.

Dec17-- I called and was told my POA was out of date even though POA's do not expire. Acquired another POA and had emergency Notary come to our home to Notarize POA for $170. Sent via overnight mail.

Dec 21--Called to check. Still not processed.

Dec 23-- Talked to Matt McTowan. I asked who put the hold on the account and for what reason. I had asked that same question on several of my calls. No one could find out even though I was on hold numerous times and transferred to several people. During a hold with Matt I lost contact. No one at Vangard ever called me back when I lost contact. I had to start all over with another person and be transferred several times.

Jan 5--Received 2 letters dated Dec 30 stating I was granted Agent for my wife's account that were sent regular mail. If Vanguard cared at all about me avoiding the 50% excise tax for RMD's taken after Dec 31, they would have emailed me, or called. I tried taking the RMD, but her account was still blocked.

Jan 7--Called and was told Vanguard needed another form and Doctor's Declaration of In Incapacitation.

Jan 18--Sent requested form and Doctor's "Dec".

Jan 31--Called-- Mack Hancock stated Doctor's "Dec---" not correct

Feb 1--Mailed corrected Doctor's "Dec".

Feb 10--Received that her account is available. Withdrew $2200 RMD.

Feb 15--Sending in this complaint. Vanguard at the very least owes me an apology. At best they should pay me the $1100 excise tax I owe the IRS.

I may have to close her account, if I'm going to be treated this way next year, and I don't receive assurances that that taking her RMD is guaranteed to not have any blockages. Until the very end Vanguard never sent me emails. They relied on me picking up their messages which were out of date most of the time, if not just flat wrong.

Charles Hammer

Careen Hammer (Wife)

Every time I call i'm put on hold from 1 hr 10 mins to up to 4 hours. Horrible customer service. This company does not understand customer service or has cut so must support personal, they can't field all calls. Pulling all funds out and transferring to a company that will provide reasonable service

Everyone who has been taken advantage of by vanguard we all need to get together and do a class action lawsuit against them because separately they can stomp all over us it is our money keeping them in business and they treat their investors like garbage... If I can get through to the social security administration a state owned entity in 13 minutes on the telephone and I have to waste hours of my life on hold trying to get something fixed that happened on their watch and how long can they blame covid for their extremely poor response times they are a trillion dollar company hire some more help and please train them you would get better results banging your head against a wall. And from what I am reading I am not the only client who is being treated like a red headed stepchild. They are wrong with how they treat their clients we all have to stand together in numbers we will matter are there any lawyers they go against vanguard im done I need a therapist after the mind damage vanguard has caused me... I have reported them to NINRA... SEC... BBB.. which so far gotten me nowhere lets all connect get together and stick it to this company. My name is Billy E, [protected]@aol.com. I am writing this complaint because the phone is useless with trying to get through to anyone for any real help heres the problem my exmother inlaw Betty m. My son who is now deceased since 2012 myself and her daughter were divided beneficiaries for her ira. Mom wanted to correct the beneficiaries on it which had been set up in the 90s she had recieved a letter from vanguard asking if she needed to update it. She wanted to remove my son and her daughter who we have been divorced for 16 years and hasnt been in touch with her that whole time. So betty wanted to correct the beneficiaries for the ira she had. She made me 100% beneficiary while on the phone with one of vanguards representative who walked us through the process when he finished had asked her what she wanted to do with her other retirement investment she has with vanguard she said give it to my son inlaw the individual on the phone said that wasnt possible over the phone it required paperwork being filled out and returned to vanguard she didnt like that and said its my money why... he then said thats the only way it could be done so we asked to have the paperwork mailed to us and when the paperwork came it was so confusing I called one of the customer service reps to help us fill the mass of papers out and we thanked her and we mailed the enclosed self addressed envelope to the address that was on it and now after I notified vanguard of moms passing im being told that the papers were never recieved by vanguard but everything else ive ever mailed like two incapacitated persons forms power of attorney paperwork death certificate and the most important out of all the paperwork was never recieved and it seems that im not the only person that has happened to and im being told I have to prove that mom wanted me to be the benefactor of the second investment but they claim every phone call is recorded I know the date why dont they pull up the recorded phone call from 05/02/19 and review the call and the call made to help fill out the death benefits transfer paperwork that should be proof enough but they dont even want to be bothered they just keep promising a rep who handles these issues will call but the call never comes and they are saying that her saying to the rep that she wanted me to have the second account when she dies isnt good enough over the phone but the first ira was okay to update a beneficiary by phone too many rules for other peoples money.
Now I have some woman michelle saying I allegedly sent the paperwork no I mailed it from a us post office 2021 during covid but I never recieved the envelope back it had my return address on it so they are full of it and im asking them to do a internal investigation if they run their phone response to its clients and web site so poorly why am I to think that their mail room is ran properly that paperwork is at vanguard they just refuse to look. My final warning keep your money as far away from vanguard as possible because once they get it good luck getting it back

I have called Vanguard 7 times to get a resolution to the fact that I never received December's pension payment. Each time, I was on hold for anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours. I was constantly being transferred to different departments.
It is now January, and I received this month's payment, but as of yet, no resolution for not receiving my December payment. I am on a fixed income and cont on that noney. How do I get any cooperation?

I have made numerous (approximately 10+ calls) to Vanguard starting in November 2021. I am trying to get them to process a reclaim whereby funds that were erroneously transferred to an incorrect account at Interactive Brokers are transferred back to Vanguard.

My Vanguard IRA was erroneously transferred to an individual taxable account at Interactive Brokers. When I noticed the error I IMMEDIATELY contacted Vanguard before the funds even left my account. They told me the would process a reclaim however they never did so. Once the money was at IBKR Vanguard told me I needed to transfer it back myself however this was impossible because of the account mismatches. Then Vanguard tried to complete an ACAT transfer which also failed (again because of the mismatch - aren't they supposed to know these sorts of things?). Then they revisited the reclaim idea but that failed because I was told that "the wrong box" was ticked off and they tried to transfer it to my SEP. Then they promised to send me proof they had actually made the reclaim but did not follow through. Nothing they promise they are going to do *ever* happens and they seem to have no knowledge as to how these things work. I am *beyond* frustrated and fear losing tax advantaged retirement account forever. I hope you can help. People I have spoken with: Current main contact: Stephen Fund. Other main contacts: Matthew Desch. Recent contacts: Shawn Keating, Kyle Cruise, others...

Regarding Mary S. Sloneker Trust UA 12/27/2004 account # [protected] with Vanguard main phone [protected]

I have been trying to have the trustees changed on this account . After the initial filing of Vanguard's paperwork in early November, they requested original notarized form of the resigning trustee.
I sent that form by Federal Express on 11/18/21. Fed Ex tracking showed that it was received by Vanguard 11/19/21.
Each time I call them, I get a different status to the processing of the change of trustee.
I cannot talk directly to the people that actually approve and process the forms changing the trustee.
I have called them seven times since The Fed Ex was received by them. On several of these calls the status was that the paperwork was being processed.
However, i have never received communication from them of completion. Each time I call they say it is still in process.
My past call to them, today, 12/29, the person I spoke to said he could not contact or speak to the person processing the change and had no notes on file of my call yesterday, 12/28 . He said he was reading notes from 12/8 that read that the notarized resignation form was needed.
On that call the person said the processor stated that the notarized form was with a Vanguard employee who was on vacation, but that they would get the form that day, review it and call me back.
I cannot access the account and cannot make trades in the account.
I would like the change of trustees to be completed.

The Vanguard Health Care Fund ( VGHCX) has not made a December 2021 distribution. It was scheduled to be made on December 17, 2021. After calling Vanguard and being on hold for 2 hours, they could not give an answer on the distribution problem. After calling again with another hour hold, the investment advisor did not have an answer to the missing distribution for December 2021 fund VGHCX.

On 12/14/21 I called you because you sent me an alert saying that, because I was using the money in my account to supplement my income, I should add international stocks to my funds. I called for help, Kevin---the first assistant--- was helpful. Said that there were funds that covered both USA and international stocks. He sent me to---I think---Jim who reminded me that only I could make that decision. I said that I knew that; and reminded him that I needed help. He suggested that I become more stock heavy. Basically--- I came away with the impression that "Jim" was not in the least interested in helping me and that I was wasting his time. My name is Joseph Lacey. I have a rollover acct from Trader Joes American Funds acct. I will adjust my distribution toward more stocks. still need advice from someone who cares. Thanks.

Hello my name is Billy Evans i am writting this complaint because the phone is useless with trying to get through to anyone for any real help with anything to do with vanguard hours on hold listening to mind numbing apologies for the wait .Heres the problem my ex mother inlaw Betty Moeller had 2 accounts with vanguard for almost 40 years her last 4 of her address 244 floral blvd floral park 11001 date of birth was 3/29/1933 she was a awesome person and loved me alot . My son who is now deceased myself and her daughter who we are now divorced for 16 years now and her niece who had just inherited about 3 mill from her deceased parents so mom wanted to correct the beneficiaries for the ira she had making me 100% while on the phone with one of vanguards rep who walked us through the process had asked her what she wanted to do with her other retirement investment she has with them she said give it to my son inlaw the individual on the phone said that wasnt possible over the phone it required paperwork being filled out and returned to vanguard she didnt like that and said its my money why he said thats the only way it could be done so we asked to have the paperwork mailed to us and when the paperwork finally came it was so confusing we called one of the customer service reps to help us fill the mass of papers out and we thanked her she was awsome and we mailed the enclosed envelope to the address that was on it and now after i notified vanguard of moms passing they are saying the death benefits transfer papers were never recieved by vanguard but everything ive ever mailed like two incapacitated persons forms power of attorney paperwork death certificate and the most important out of all the paperwork was never recieved and it seems that im not the only person thats happen too reading reviews on vanguard on google and the better business bureau . They make you jump through hoops as if it was their money ive been on hold for up to 4 hours once no one knows whats going on i get different answers of what to do from different reps most wrong . im lost and over whelmed with too much to deal with any more head aches so please any help if you can thank you Billy Evans 810 Roosevelt street . franklin Square . new york . [protected] telephone [protected]

For the past two days I have been trying to get through regarding the transfer of money from one account to another that doesn't seem to have occurred. On the first day I waited for a half hour on the phone for 35 minutes without getting through and then tried again later with the same result. Then today I left my name and number to receive a return phone call and never got one.
It is unacceptable not to be able to contact someone for help
If this continues I will have to look for another company to handle my accounts.
Joshua Markel

On 11/23/2021 purchased $7000.00 (limit for my age) in mutual funds online, Vanguard showed a purchase of $14, 000.00 for my Roth IRA Brokerage Account, so I call Vanguard immediately to clarify my purchase was for just $7000.00, after being put on hold for 36 min. the representative confirmed my buy was for $7000.00.
On 11/24/2021 I received an email stating I don't have enough money to pay for a recent trade. I looked up my account and Vanguard shows I tried to purchase $14, 000.00. I called Vanguard immediately to cancel the $7000.00 overbuy and the representative stated I did make the buy at $14000.00 and would not cancel the additional amount.

November 3, 2021 - Contacted Vanguard on November 2, 2021 by phone to make a Roth distribution from my 401(k) and to consolidate my IRA Roth accounts.

Ridiculous round about way to talk to a human. The new CEO comes on the phone and always says there is a long wait time. Once in a while, you can choose to have them call you back and then you have to wait around. I started calling on Monday, November 1 and could reach no one.

Now keep in mind, I have close to $3, 000, 000 in assets in this company but they cannot provide me with a human to talk to.

Finally, reached a somewhat knowledgeable person after calling numerous numbers who agreed to do a distribution from my I 401(k) and then a number of transfers from one IRA Roth to Another Roth IRA to consolidate.

BUT, he got one of the transfers wrong so without explanation, Vanguard just did not do it.

So I spent more than 5 hours on November 3 trying to correct their mistake. I was on hold for more than one hour after being "moved up". When I did talk to someone, they had to forward me to another so I was on hold for more time. Finally got it resolved but this is unacceptable.

Either Vanguard has to provide more phone service to individuals or I am going to Fidelity.

We are not all computer savvy plus they offer no real on-line help that could walk you through what you can and cannot do online. They used to insist that most of my transactions were accomplished through paper snail mail procedures. Now they are all about online but provide no real guidance on what you can and cannot do online.

I am very close to leaving them after 30 years (3 decades) of believing they cared about me and my investments.

Very disappointed customer.

Vanguard is stealing money from me.
During the difficult time of losing my husband, they misguided me on filling out forms to transfer my deceased husband's assets into my own IRA. I have been trying since June 2021, to get this account set up properly, they've made incorrect changes and I can't get a human being on the phone that is able to help. Every phone call involves a minimum of a 1 hour wait (the option that states you can receive a call back - is not true, I've tried it many times and did not receive any call backs). When I finally get a person, they don't know how to help, and transfer me, where I wait almost an hour again, and then I've been disconnected.
They sent me a letter that I can set up an online account and it won't work as "I'm not found in their system"
I need these funds to survive, and no one calls back and no one knows how to help.

I wanted to take my RMD. I did not want to do it on-line. It took 40 minutes to reach a representative.
I then asked to speak to a rep about a possible investment. That call was connected in less than 1 minute.

I have tried for more than 3 hours on Friday afternoon (Oct 15th) and for nearly 4 hours on Monday a(Oct 18th) fternoon EST, till 5:00pm. The music keeps on. No indication of how much time to wait and no possibility of getting call back. This was not the case in earlier time prior to Oct 15th. There is no message of their phone contact system being down