Friday, June 06, 2008

410K Finally Resolved!

We finally got it taken care of! For those of you that don't know the story here is the short version... Lee had a 401K when he worked at Wells Cargo. For about 6 months he put 3% of his income into it and trusted that everything was great, (since neither of us have ever had a 401K before, we never knew to think it strange that we were not receiving quarterly statements or that a disbursement was not made at his termination). We just went along, happily thinking that he had a couple hundred dollars, sitting in a 401K, bouncing up and down with the stock market.

Well, when he got on with his current employer and was eligible for a 401K with them, we decided it would be best to consolidate and move the money from the Wells Cargo 401K to his new one. And the drama began. I started by calling the company that held the 401K. They had never heard of Lee. I checked his paycheck stubs and the money had in fact been taken out, so I called Wells Cargo. After no less than 30 phone calls from Utah to Indiana, 6 years in tracking and calling, 3 different 401K companies and excuses like, "Well, the stock market is really hard right now, it's probably all gone" to "Well, the snow is really high here in Indiana and it would be really hard to find the hard copies of his pay stubs until springtime" from Wells Cargo HR people, I was finally able to find the answer. A gentleman by the name of Gary Green had worked with the company but was fired just before Lee started. His SS# was one number different from Lee's and they transposed the numbers and my husbands money had been going into an account for Gary Green. Every quarter, Gary got my husbands quarterly statements and one day decided he needed money so he sent in his request and easy as that, my husbands 401K was sent by check to Mr. Green. Now, in his defense, everything was in his name, under his SS# and looked, by all accounts, to belong to Mr. Green. It was Wells Cargo that screwed up. Royally! Then came the tedious process of getting them to return the money to us. Which was only $180 and some change, but after all this, it was principal! So, I started the calls again and months went by with no return calls. Finally it happened! We got a quarterly statement! Our very first one ever! one little problem, it said a disbursement had been made in March. We had no money and no check. And the calls began again.

Finally, today the check came by UPS Overnight, Urgent delivery. Now we will get a new savings accounts and put this into a high yield CD and start a good savings. Can you believe what I had to go through to get this taken care of? It was insane!?! I feel that we are entitled to the interest for the last 8 years at least, but considering what I had to go through to get the $165 check they just sent, I don't think it would be worth the fight. Wow!

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