I was part of an employer sponsored 403b program and invested the max amount per year and at the over 50yr old category. The choices for "good" investments were limited. The company even had onsite folks to encourage participation. I always encouraged folks to participate due to the match of funds. However, at the end of my employment, I had a loan with the program. I attempted on multiple occasions to inquire of how to convert this to a private pay after separation. I made multiple calls to the east coast company trying to figure how to get on board and was being forced to have auto payments. That was ok, however the agents that I talked to did not know the website set up and were ill advised to give recommendations. Not one representative could assist and each time I signed on they were not available to walk me through there required online processes only. Literally I spent at least 40hours of my time and multiple frustrating moments to convert this auto deduction from my paycheck to a private payment program. I finally did as the agent stated I must and am required to do on line only to discover they made a one time payment from my account and was overdrawn. The loan was quite hefty and one really need to set this up. The final side was that I ended up paying out of pocket expenses of around $100 and yet another call to the head of the customer I don't care I don't take responsibility to "assisting" clients incorrectly, they refused to reimburse me for their mistakes. I had to pay and pay for an overdrawn check that I wrote to someone. Their lame excuse was they do not have a mechanism in place and was given lip service for all that their service reps managed. I late found out if I had just let the program run the course it would have been automatically set up to deduct from the account I had listed. Not one representative knew this information nor could clearly tell me the conditions. I took their advice and listed to essentially ignorant folks that did not even know their own programs and I had to pay the cost. I finally was able to quickly pay off the loan and then transferred the funds to Fidelity without the crap that ING caused. And even when I was watching the market for best self interest timing, the agents refused to tell me when a transfer could be processed. I was beholden to when the "got around to it" to process the release. Such a large institution that has no concept of client services and knowledge of process to help you the consumer. Beware, they are an institution based upon theft of your money. Not even a letter of apology from these guys, no sorry no nothing. BEWARE they are thieves with your money and you give it to them. It has been almost a year since this occurred and the total shuffle off to buffalo, I am still angry.... read more
