Yes I know generally annuities are not recommended but this one is already bought and paid for and actually makes some pretty awesome returns.
Anyways a few years ago a relative left me some annuities after they passed. They were from multiple companies but long story short the only way to keep them (not tax advantageous to close anytime soon for me) was to have them all serviced by Vanguard. They turned into non-qualified stretch annuities? Basically I can take the money out whenever I want but they have RMDs every year that increase with my age.
Everything was going fine, their interface was a little clunky but they were super helpful and worked with me whenever I needed anything it was solved within 5 minutes. Also it helped that I had other accounts with them.
Fast forward to this year when Vanguard transferred all their annuities to Transamerica. Holy shit this is the worst financial company I have ever dealt with in my life. I've been trying for two days to take my RMDs for the year out and they literally can’t do it.
No option online.
Called in – waited on hold for 2 hours, “I’m sorry the vanguard accounts are serviced by someone else I’ll transfer you, BTW that number is not listed on our website and you have to call in to get it”
4 F***ING HOURS ON HOLD!
- While I’m waiting I try to use their email form – sorry email form is broken and errors out, no direct contact email listed.
- Found their social media pages and got an email to use so I sent a request for help through that. Looking around it appears I'm not the only one they are screwing over.
- Finally get to talk to someone, “I’m sorry the only option to do that is for you to submit a paper form and we will process it within a few business days, I’ll email you the forms” - What is this 1995?
- Never got an email… (and yes I made the rep spell out my email to verify she had it right)
- Social media email responds saying someone will reach out today to help – no call.
I don’t know what to do at this point. I would really love to not take the tax penalty but this is just unbearable. I don't think I can deal with the stress of this company being such pieces of shit every year when I want to take my RMDs. I cannot believe a company this large can be this bad.
TLDR – Can I transfer my stretch annuity to another company or am I screwed?
Submitted January 07, 2021 at 07:58PM by TransamericaSHIT https://ift.tt/3q5Phol
