I would give them a zero if possible. After 25 years at a company which was managed by Merrill Lynch and I asked to have my life saving rolled over to and IRA. They insisted that is HAD to be mailed even though Merrill was managing the IRA. Their customer service was horrific...! I live in the city of Chicago and the mail system is unreliable at best. I was uneasy about having my life savings get thrown over the side of a bridge, which is know to happen. After much pressing they offered to us UPS. I requested to have a signature upon delivery, which I figured would be common given the amount of money. My customer service person said she could not request that service but had no problem charging me for the UPS delivery. She told me it was my responsibility to contact UPS when I get the email confirming delivery. When I contacted UPS they said the person who set up the delivery was responsible for setting up the type of service. So, UPS could not change it to a signature. In the end UPS made it happen after talking to a great customer service person at UPS. No thanks to Ascensus. AVOID ASCENSUS LIKE THE PLAGUE. WORST EVER....! read more

If you ever read a good review about Provident Trust Group Ascensus then you know the person or people that wrote that review had been paid off. read more

Oh, a $75 fee to access my own money... what a brilliant innovation! Nothing says "trustworthy financial institution" like charging customers for the privilege of leaving. It's almost impressive how aggressively short-sighted that is. Instead of building loyalty, they've somehow turned a basic function into a reason to walk away. At this point, it feels less like a business decision and more like a masterclass in how to drive customers out the door. read more

I spent an entire afternoon on the phone with ASCENSUS! I was trying to just get help with logging onto a deferred compensation plan. The best answer I received was that somebody gave me the wrong number to call! Vanguard gave me the number and I asked is this not ASCENSUS? Please get me someone that knows something!,,!, Making a call to get this account transferred!!!!! read more

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY for your employees retirement benefits. Their employees are poorly trained and take no accountability for their mistakes. Endless loops of unresolved issues that will cause major stress in your life, not worth it! Please beware and avoid them at all costs! If I could give less than one star I would - no joke. read more

Customer service is very lacking, I got charged twice when trying to rollover IRA. Forced by Vanguard simple IRA to switch to Asensus and then get double whammy when I try to switch back to Vanguard when I left that employer. read more

Stay AWAY from this people, my CA C corp with 2 employees got charged $8 this year for the 401K and the people working ther are absolute morons, they could not check W2 x employee census, and and on on on ....trying to close our 401 k since september 2025 and today is March 20, 2026 and still not done....the worse....and I see that Vanguard partners with them....better get out of all that too....just a mess....never seen in any of my 45 years in business....wow read more

This is THE ABSOLUTE WORST FINANCIAL SERVICES company (if you can even call them that) in the entire world. Extremely unhelpful customer service. Ridiculous fee structures. Called multiple times to request an IRA withdrawal and got no where and forced to use the website. The online portal is just as bad. Horrible company. read more

Absolute worst financial company in every way. It's like a failed school project. Horrible customer service. I asked to speak to a manager after they tried to charge me $60 twice for a rollover which is actually a check sent to me. The rep hung up on me. Website is a non-intuitive bare bones train wreck. You can't even break down transactions by date. Statements are every 3 months. So if the last statement was in September, you literally have to wait until December to see your detailed activity. How this company is still in businesses is incomprehensible. read more

At the risk of piling on, as a financial advisor I have a few clients I referred to Ascensus along with my own 401k. They never file 5500s in time creating letters and issues with the IRS. In 35+ years in business, I've never seen a worse financial services organization. Bad communication and incompetent. I have since moved client accounts and my 401k elsewhere. read more

It took months to get our plan set up for simple compliance reporting. They then asked for an extension on a two person plan. When they finally sent the filing for my review it was erroneous. They refused to change it, saying instead they would need more time and that they wanted to file an erroneous report and amend it later. I decided to figure out the filing myself. Took half an hour to do it properly and file online myself. These guys have terrible customer service and it's not even clear they know what they are doing. Oh, and I've been trying to cancel the service for a year now. Email; phone, etc. No response. read more

I would also give them less than one star. Horrible company; we moved to them in 2021 and it started out great. Over the course of the last few years so much turnover, zero communication. If you need anything is takes weeks. Supervisors are horrible to deal with- Zero customer service and fees change yearly without any explanation. Run from this company! To top if off it looks like they are overcharging us and trying to get double the money. This company needs to be investigated and should not be in business. read more

Horrible customer service, poorly trained staff, disorganized processes. It's hard to understand why vanguard would have chosen them to administer their simple IRA plans. read more

Trying to set up a Solo 401k. The site wouldn't log me in, and there was no way to recover any info. I called them for help, and the person on the phone didn't know how to help. She opened a ticket with customer support. That was over a month ago and I haven't heard a peep from the company. Really disappointing and confusing. read more

Bunch of crooks ! For years my Simple Plan with Vanguard averaged 8.5 to 9%. The second Ascensus took control it dropped to .65% from the excessive fees. Then it dropped to -1% ! Do not do business with these crooks. They will bleed you dry of all your hard earned retirement savings ! read more

Bunch of morons, my ex employer set up 401k with them. When time came for rollover they charged me 75 just for withdrawal, then I decided not to rollover my funds into my 401k but send them to IRA instead which needed another org name on check. They made me go through hell, bunch of forms, confirmations, they wanted me to send checks back to them. And after that they charged another 35 bucks per check for reissuing checks. When I asked WTH representative said "it's part of your plan" and talk to your employer. Cause I needed another organization as a payee? All CS representative didn't know how to do stuff and gave me contradictive information. Spent may be 2-3 hours on phone with them. Unfortunately they seem like having business with business owners and if it would be my will I'd never done business with them. read more

Awful website. Phone number does not have an option to speak to a person. Transferring my funds to a rollover.

Terrible customer service. They don't know anything to any question you have. They do not answer emails either.

Extremely poor customer service. No accountability. Website is bare bones and unintuitive. Avoid at all costs. read more

MAY BE THE WORST CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE I'VE EVER HAD. A complete, clown show. I reached out to initiate my roll over request over a month ago. Not only do I not have that check yet, I have zero direction on both when or if that check will ever arrive. I read, verbatim, exactly how the check needed to made out to. The csr was so inept and out of touch with their job responsibility on how to fulfill that request that they couldn't understand to follow my direction, became argumentative, and requested the company's name it was being issued to. It was done incorrectly, which held up the check getting printed a week. It was only resolved after multiple call-ins (and battles with rude supervisor/csr's). They pulled the call recording to confirm I was right, and the mistake was made on their end after nearly a week went by. Only then, they reached out to a separate department to update how the check needed to read. Instead of following their client's request to fix, they needed to validate they were wrong which cost me an additional week of processing time. That check STILL hasn't arrived, one month later! Not only has it not arrived, nobody has a clue where it is. They don't track the checks they send, which is really poor, considering they extort you for $60 to process the request (on top of their outrageous plan fees). If I ask them to do a stop cancel/reissue, I'll be waiting another mandatory 7-10 bus days, in hopes they figure it out this time which I have zero confidence in. All, while the stock market continues to skyrocket costing me thousands of dollars, if not more, on my requested rollover. None of their representatives ever sound competent when you speak with them and all of them have an attitude problem that exacerbates your frustration. They seem committed to not fixing anything when you speak with them. On top, they won't accept any responsibility for their errors or make any efforts to do right by their clients by expediting shipment of the new check. Honestly, this place should be reviewed by regulatory agencies. IT IS THAT BAD. read more

With Vanguard transferring my money to these clown has now made it so I am closing my vanguard account. I cannot seem to get my money out of my solo 401k from these idiots. No Matter how many forms I fill out or whatever. Reporting them now. Be aware read more

Report this company to the SEC! My account was transferred to Ascensus from Vanguard. I've been trying to get access to the employer side of my solo 401K for ages now. It doesn't matter how many times I call or email. I'm trying to get my funds out of this institution and so far it has been impossible. This is nuts! For anyone also experiencing this, here is the SEC's link to report this: https://www.sec.gov/submit-tip-or-complaint/report-problem-investment-account-or-financial-professional If consumers don't report, this company will not change. read more

Pathetic excuse for an account administrator. Hardcopy paperwork through snail mail is their only way of doing business. And that's on top of their minimum 15 business day turn around time. They also have the nerve to still charge over $300 to shut down an account even when I'm the one doing all the work. Because if I don't pay them to shut down then they will continue to charge me a monthly fee to manage records of an empty account. LIterally every statement I made was followed by the employee apologizing for the way everthing doesn't work. read more

This company, along with their TPA Future Plan (owned by Ascensus), needs to be investigated by a regulatory body like EBSA. They unnecessarily delay and prevent the processing of paperwork making it impossible for people to access their retirement funds. The customer service reps give conflicting information, don't seem to know anything, and are often rude and disrespectful. The way this business operates seems criminal. read more

If I can give negative I would. Bunch of crooks!! Do not sign or give them authorization for auto pay. Even when terminated they will process payment and refuse to issue a refund!! read more

Vanguard switched my account to these garbage thief's. Took me 2 months plus to get my 650k back from them anyway they could stall and hold it they did. Get your money away from them as fast as you can. State federal and local authorities should shut these scammers down !!! Just the worst financial service company I have ever had to deal with. Stay away !!! Get your money out !!!! read more

The company wrote me a check for 369. 31 but then they took $175 out for distribution fee. What a big joke for a company. Really $175 fee for a $369.31 . Just to make a check out. I wish I got paid $175 for every time I made a check out read more

Had a plan with them through my business. After the business dissolved, they mailed everyone's check vua regular mail to their homes, ratger than to accounts as requested. It has been a nightmare to correct and their customer service is the absolute worst. A bunch of jerks on a power trip who care zero for helping anyone. They also give zero access to your personal online account when you leave, so you have no idea how to even get ahold of them. Do not use this company! read more

The worst online portal I have ever seen and their customer service fulfillment is terrible. The wait on the phone is too long. I will be switiching from them as soon as I can. read more

DO NOT use Ascensus!!! I was forced into using them when Vaguard sold their record keeping over. I have been trying to roll over my 401k for OVER A MONTH and my funds are being held hostage by their stupid business practices and ignorance on financial products. I am rolling over to a self directed, solo 401k and NOBODY in this company has any idea what that means. They tried to tell me that doing this would be a taxable event and refused to issue the check to the correct payee. They sent this out and I was unable to cash the check. So my new provider sent it to me to correct and deposit but it was still not able to be cashed. So my new bank asked me to mail it to them, which I did, at which point it got lost in the mail. The people at Ascensus are brain dead. They asked me to return the check to them in order to issue a new one. WTF??? Sure, let me just pluck it out of the "lost mail" bin I have on my desk. If I could access the check I wouldn't be asking for a new one. So I had to jump through some more hoops to get it reissued, they waited over a week to respond, (despite my multiple follow ups) and then asked me to hand write a letter. I did that, and two days later they have now cut and mailed the check VIA REGULAR MAIL so now I'm waiting another 7-10 business days. WHO SENDS A CHECK WORTH OVER $100k VIA REGULAR MAIL???? Because I am a small business, I literally did not have an option for any other method in the mail and they will not wire funds as a policy. I've said goodbye to over $15,000 in lost opportunity which is extremely significant for someone in my financial position. If my chosen investments take off in the next week like all indicators are showing, my lost opportunity will be significantly higher. On top of this, they have tried to get me to agree in writing to pay processing fees to reissue the check DESPITE THEM IGNORING MY SPECIFIC WRITTEN INSTRUCTIONS for who the payee should be. It really feels like they are crooks holding my funds hostage and punishing me for getting off their platform. RUN FAR AWAY FROM ASCENSUS. read more

Manages IN529 Direct programs for the Indiana Education Savings Authority. IESA should dump them and find a better program manager. They acted quite incompetently during the 529 account ownership transfer during estate settlement process. Do not communicate back with account holders when they think there is an issue. They are likely to be wrong when they tell you there is an issue. You will have to call in multiple times for the same issue. Only use fax for inbound document communication, not email. No portal online. If less than one star was available, I would have selected that. read more

Everyone, it is best to file a EBSA complaint. The people that are working over the phones have no regards for any of us. The customer service is UTTERLY DISGUSTING, why employers are using them is beyond me, they have to have a super cheap contract binary because there is no way, the distribution team are misplacing people 401k checks within the facility, everyone seem so disconnected it is sad and beyond horrible, and whom ever the ceo is, they should be FIRED because there is no way a business should be allowed to be rampant as such. I bet a group of 5th graders can do better, than this place by making sure things are done the right way. To file a complaint about a 401k company, contact the U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) by calling 1-866-444-EBSA (3272) or reaching out online; this is the agency responsible for overseeing 401(k) plans and investigating complaints related to mismanagement or violations of rules regarding your retirement funds. read more

Fraudulent practices including claiming they mailed you a check for your life savings in your 401k in the regular mail, not offering any expedited shipping, then the check never arrives. They told me I had to have my own UPS or FedEx account to cancel the original never-mailed check and send overnite. Well, once complaints were filed with the SEC and other Financial Institution Regulatory agencies, guess what, the check was overnighted. If enough people complain that they are cashing out your account, keeping the money and earning on it, and lying about mailing it, they will get fined, and the will have to think again about this method of making money off the little guy. read more

This company operates illegally. Our 401k was transferred from Vanguard without our say. The service was so extremely terrible that we decided to transfer it to another provider. This was four months ago. We've been calling and emailing daily with zero response. Fire your customer service team. read more

Former Vanguard 401k holder that was improperly transferred to Ascensus. I called Ascensus with rep from new 401k custodian to transfer funds. After waiting on hold, first rep transferred us back to same call queue and second rep just hung up on us as soon as we stated it was for transfer. They have told people they will not transfer out assets and reject transfer requests from brokerage firms. AVOID ASCENSUS LIKE THE PLAGUE! read more

Vanguard sold their small biz k plans to Ascensus in July. Beneficiary data didn't transfer. Figured out what happened and that they didn't set me up to make contributions. From mid August 2024 until late September, I tried without success to get everything fixed - from beneficiaries (which NEVER updated on their system after a month) to getting access to make contributions and more. Gave up and moved the money to Fidelity. Experienced an archaic distribution process. Had to terminate my employment on their system (with the company I own) to initiate a transfer of assets. Then they mailed me a check and wouldn't do an electronic transfer to Fidelity. THAT process took another month because no one was able to provide guidance - albeit to maneuver through their horrid systems. read more

OMG the customer service is absolutely ridiculous! I seriously do not think these people have an education level past 5th grade. I HATE that they took over Vanguard!! Never had a problem with Vanguard for over 15 years. Ascensus takes over and immediate problems. This is so bad I have decided to close my account. Having people this stupid manage your money is SCARY! read more

Who are these people? If I could give a rating of -1 I would! This company reeks INCOMPETENCE! We have been trying to get rid of them for 3 years. Through negligence on their part funds were withheld from us last year but we are still waiting for them to send the proper paperwork to go forward. Terrible, horrible, and painful dealing with them. Run as fast as you can away from this company!! read more

I requested to close my account and was told that I would receive the information via email (forms to sign) TWO TIMES over a months period. This company did NOT send me the forms, and had no excuses why when I called. Must have been a mistake, and they would take care of it. Never did honor my requests. I had to get another company (Capitalize) to FORCE them to ROLLOVER to an IRA to comply with my directions, and the law. Terrible service with constant errors that I had to call about. Too many withdrawals of funds and incorrect amounts! A financial institution that can't get money matters correct. The fact that they refused to comply with Federal law should say everything you need to know, but they received an F rating at the Better Business website! Need there really be any other reasons to NOT do business with them! Crooked and Incompetent! read more

If I could do zero stars I would. This is the worst service I have received from any financial institution ever. I requested a distribution and to date have still not received it. They want to charge me $30 for a stop payment, which is absurd, I have a locked mailbox, it was not stolen from my mailbox. I have called 4 times received the run around requested a manager to call me and no one ever did. Do yourself a favor and steer clear..... read more