TIAAReviews of tiaa.org

I thought retiring would be a relatively simple procedure with TIAA payouts for life. The associate assigned to me was very nice, available and tried to be helpful but I think the fault lies with TIAA itself. Most retirement accounts, you name a beneficiary and if you pass away the beneficiary receives your payouts. With TIAA you are charged for a specific length of time that a beneficiary may receive your benefits if you pass away. I chose 20 years meaning that if I die within 20 years after receiving benefits my spouse will continue to receive my payouts but not after the 20 year period expires. I was charged for this "service". On another note, it was nearly impossible to pin down exactly how much my monthly payouts for life would amount to. I was finally given a ballpark figure but the contract I was sent had a much lower figure. I was told that I would receive the agreed upon amount (even though there is no legal document to back that up) and would only receive the substantially lower amount in the contract under very rare circumstances that have only happened 3 times in the past 90 years. The lack of a formal legal document stating how much I will actually receive monthly is frightening. The lower amount in the actual contract is all they are legally bound to pay and can default to that amount for any reason they choose. I also have to add that the application process to access my own money for retirement was byzantine, confusing and not entirely up front. They have all the hallmarks of a shady business. I hope my monthly payouts remain constant and I regret having to forfeit some of my hard earned money so that my wife will be guaranteed to receive my pension for a period of time. I could have chosen the option for her to receive my payouts for an unlimited period of time but this was too costly for me to consider. Again, my primary contact at TIAA was mostly helpful, available and responsive but it is TIAA's policies that are suspect. Another contact never answered my numerous emails. If I could do it over again I'd choose a different retirement financial management company.

One of the worst bank experiences you can have. If you like a good bank try Primis or Lending Club, you will regret this one

I retired in 2017 and my wife passed away in early 2021. Other than a rollover of her account, Iive not heard from TIAA since meeting with an advisor more than 5 years ago shortly after retirement. I'm considering moving the assets to Fidelity or a another discount broker since I'm not looking for anything more than solid performing (4 star+) mutual funds or ETFs.

Experienced the same frustrating event that was reported by BioProf. After several days on the phone I gave up on trying to increase the federal withhold rate for my RMD in accounts held by TIAA-CREF. I resolved the problem in 30 seconds with a click of a mouse in a parallel IRA account held in Vanguard. More upsetting I have 2 TIAA-CREF traditional accounts which are both in the processes of undergoing 10 year systematic withdrawals. On March 1st the interest on ALL not some TIAA-traditional accounts were supposed to undergo an annual revision. This year due to the enormous increase in the interest rates the payout was significantly increased. This up grade,however, did not show up for these two accounts. When I enquired I was told that the increase would be instituted at the time of the next payouts 7 and 11 months from March 1st. This floored me and I have not been able to find any written statement in the contracts or on the TIAA-CREF web site consistent with this policy. Congratulations to TIAA-CREF they appeared to have developed a new way of screwing their clients and pocketing the millions of dollars in interest owed them. If anyone else has had this experience please post. I am looking into legal action.

Terrible terrible terrible horrible , employees are liars lazy low IQ , they refuse to give me my money , stay far away from these thiefs.

I have been trying to get my funds out of TIAA since mid December of last year. I still have no answer on this. I have asked to speak to a supervisor. They claim their process is to have one call you back in 24-48 hours. I have requested 12+ times and have not yet received that call. They are full of excuses and it is an endless game of "just wait" just be patient. Someone named Marcus told me "you know how the mail is." Sorry Marcus, I don't think it takes 3 months to receive a document, if it was really sent. That suggestion was one of the least customer friendly, among many that were received. I wouldn't invest with them under any circumstances. They are the worst I have ever dealt with or even heard about. I would rate them a -5.

TIAA has been one of the most stressful parts of my father’s death. His accounts with them have been very difficult to get where they needed to go. I called 15 times every time there is a different answer. Spend hours on the phone being transferred. I send in forms then have to call and they say they were not received after I sent them UPS overnight and it proof of time and delivery. Then they would admit they did have the papers but they cannot look them up by my name. I went down to Fidelity, who I use, to help me with TIAA they called with me and were surprised how difficult they were. We asked to talk to a supervisor (no I am not a Karen) because we were transferred 7 times to no avail and the supervisor said I did not need a medallion signature and told us which forms. I could’ve gotten the signature that day and instead the paperwork was sent in and then rejected for not having medallion signature. I had to drive again two hours take the day off work to go get the paperwork done with the medallion signature and that was just a small part of the runaround I got with TIAA.

Absolute nightmare. Would give zero stars if available. Simply trying to get my 403(b) RMD payout with the withholding that I want (above the minimum). Different answers from different reps and the top-level resolution guy expresses his frustration in dealing with the tax department that does not understand their own W4P and W4R versions of the IRS withholding forms. It is a different nightmare each year and every year is worse than the last.