Reviews

This profile includes reviews for TIAA-CREF's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  TIAA-CREF

  8500 Andrew Carnegie Blvd Charlotte, NC 28262-8500

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  TIAA-CREF

  PO Box 1265 Charlotte, NC 28201-1265

Review Details

• Review fromKate B

  Date: 07/05/2023

  1 star

  Kate B

  Date: 07/05/2023

  I withdrew my retirement after I resigned for my job. Then they took out a previous loan that shouldn't even exist anymore. Also when I asked for a supervisor I was told "someone would contact me in 48hrs" why should I have to wait 48hrs to talk about my own money. Also my husband signed 2 waivers for my withdrawal. Now they want him to sign 2 more for less that $400. Absolutely ridiculous. I suggest that u don't invest in TIAA-CREF!!!!!!!!!

  TIAA-CREF

  Date: 07/20/2023

  July 20, 2023 Better Business Bureau of Southern Piedmont/********* and Western ********************************************************************************** RE: Customer Review *: ****** Reviewer: ******************* TIAA SR * 1-25452890325 Dear Sir/Madam:I am writing in response to the customer review you received from ******************* regarding her TIAA retirement accounts **** received the review on July 6.Retirement Plan ************** is the owner of three Retirement Annuity (************* and a Group Supplemental Retirement Annuity (GSRA) contract issued to her as a participant in the ******************************* 403(b) Retirement Plan (TDA). ************** is also the owner of a RA contract in the ******************************* 403(b) Retirement Plan.******************************* is a private institution and is subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of **** (ERISA). ERISA is a federal law that sets minimum standards for pension and health plans in private industry. For retirement plans subject to ERISA, an unmarried determination or spousal waiver signature is required on each new request for withdrawal.On June 12, TIAA issued three payments to **************. For each of these payments TIAA withheld 20% for the mandatory federal tax withholding. The net payments were sent to **************** checking account at St. ******** ********************* **** did not withhold any money from the withdrawal requests to pay her outstanding loans.Loans The ******************************* 403(b) Retirement Plan (TDA) allows for the issuance of retirement plan loans. Currently, ************** has two outstanding loans. By signing the loan agreement, ************** acknowledged that she read and understood the provisions and terms of the loans. ************** elected to repay the loans on a monthly basis and authorized TIAA to deduct the monthly loan repayments from her checking account. On July 1, TIAA deducted the amount due for that month from **************** checking account. I understand that ************** no longer works for *******************************, however this separation does not absolve ************** from repaying the outstanding loans, nor does it mean that payments are no longer required.We regret the frustrations that ************** has experienced in trying to speak with a supervisor at TIAA. You may contact me directly if you have any questions or concerns regarding this matter. I can be reached weekdays at ************************* or via email at [email protected],************************************ Customer Resolution Manager

• Review fromLenora A

  Date: 06/23/2023

  1 star

  Lenora A

  Date: 06/23/2023

  When you ask for information about rates on one of their web pages, like why are the historical rates of return quite a bit lower than the current rate, no one could answer the question, and no one knew where any managers were, so they shined me on with "A manager will call you within 48 hours." After 48 hours, no call. I called and they said, "Well, managers don't call people on the phone." So they're dishonest and ignorant. Then they put me on hold for a long time. Are these the traits of people where you want to keep your money? It also takes really long for them to say "I don't know" or to realize they don't know -- they just hem and haw and dance around your questions. They seemed to be understaffed and poorly trained.

  TIAA-CREF

  Date: 07/11/2023

  Dear ***/*****:I am writing in response to the customer review you received from ***************************** regarding her investment questions about the **** Traditional Account. **** received the review on June 24.******************** did speak with a **** representative on June 23 about the **** Traditional investment. They talked about the historic performance information presented on the website. Specifically, that current interest rate changes have only recently begun to increase in response to market forces. Thus the 1-year, 3-year, 5-year, 10-year performance information still includes periods of lower interest rates. The representative is still researching how the various interest rate time periods are weighted to produce the historic performance information that is referenced on the website. **** has informed ******************** that an update will be provided to her at the conclusion of the research.We regret the frustrations that ******************** has experienced in trying to obtain performance information about her accounts. You may contact me directly if you have any questions or concerns regarding this matter. I can be reached weekdays at ************************* or via email at ****************

• Review fromRobert B

  Date: 06/08/2023

  1 star
  Terrible customer service! My wife and I were on the phone with **** and spoke to multiple represenatives from approxiamtely 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM to get the correct forms that we needed for our task and the correct information to fill them out. We were given misleading information, confusing or incorrect information by several people. The web site did not work appropriately and we had to contact their web support. Finally we got to a person who provided the forms and information we needed. He essentially admitted that their website does not work well and advised ** to print out the forms and send them in by mail, the old fashion way. Next we will fill them out and send them in and hope that TIAA processes the forms correctly. Our terrible experience was one of the factors that made ** decide to transfer my wife's account to another institution

• Review fromDaniel B

  Date: 05/17/2023

  1 star
  The worst bank I have ever dealt with in my 65 years of international banking. /Without warning or notice they took my money out of my accounts. When we called them yesterday all we could think it was identity theft. They would not pass ** on to a supervisor. Finally after hours I discovered the money was taken due to "inactivity" and I was told it went to the state. The state denies all knowledge of TIAA taking any money and putting it ib my name under Unclaimed Funds! They have the worst reviews of any bank I have ever seen and are not accredited by the BBB. I never signed up with them but they took over Everbank. They lie routinely to customers. Money is completely missing and they will not pass this up.

• Review fromSam G

  Date: 05/03/2023

  1 star
  I thought retiring would be a relatively simple procedure with TIAA payouts for life.The associate assigned to me was very nice, available & tried to be helpful but I think the fault lies with **** 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".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) & would only receive the substantially lower amount in the contract under very rare circumstances.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 & 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 & not entirely up front. They have all the hallmarks of a shady business.I hope my monthly payouts remain constant & 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 ****'s policies that are suspect.If I could do it over again I'd choose a different retirement financial management company.

• Review fromMartisa V

  Date: 04/17/2023

  5 stars
  Great service, especially ***** in mutual funds who explains well everything needed about Medallion signature verification if you want to go by that ******.

• Review fromLia S

  Date: 04/05/2023

  1 star
  For 30 years I contributed to my TIAA account, it was one of the retirement plan options our university offered. The problems started when I was getting close to retirement and needed advice. The advice on retirement I was given was different from different TIAA people, contradictory at times, confusing, I had to start over with a new person each time, poor service in general. I ended up withdrawing all my money except from an account from a previous school I had worked at. I had to hire a financial advisor who assisted in taking my money out of ****. I have been pleased that I took the big chunk of my money out of ****, moved it to another organization, and I have one financial advisor who manages my money and I get consistently good advice. When I contacted **** recently to withdraw the last money left in an account I had from a previous school it was the same poor service. I was given contradictory information, I had to talk to a different person everyday who was asking for a different way for the form to be filled out, contradictory instructions, rigidity around the order the forms were received by **** and how they wanted them instead, in general lack of assistance which caused delays, waste of time, and frustration. I finally got the money after about 25 phone calls and persistence of daily calls for almost a month. If TIAA wants to keep its customers it needs to offer better service, consistency in information given when clients call, and to be more time efficient for the clients.

• Review fromAnna H

  Date: 03/30/2023

  1 star
  Horrific.Incompetent representatives on phone and no other way to reach them Rude Will disconnect Refuse to give out a number in case you are discounted and tell you they can't call you back if you are disconnected Give out wrong information Say they will do something, then don't

• Review fromHelen R

  Date: 03/28/2023

  1 star

  Helen R

  Date: 03/28/2023

  TIAA CREF needs to update their systems for the modern era. It has been a nightmare trying to withdraw funds for my mom just as she needs them for help with her care near the end of her life. Here is one example of our situation, but its typical for getting money from any of her accounts. My mom needed funds from 2 of her after tax annuities as she is starting hospice care and will have expenses for private caregivers as well as her ongoing expenses at the assisted living community. So the forms were mailed on March 6 from *******. After a few weeks, she hadnt heard anything so I called on her behalf on Match 22 and was told they had the documents and they were just sitting there. They said they would send them to processing and be able to release the funds by that Friday. So we looked for the funds last Friday and up until today and still hadnt heard anything. So I called again today and apparently nothing has happened. The man I spoke to said that he would resend the request to process the forms and request to expedite the transfer and also cc a manager. I asked if there was a problem with the forms and he said there were no notes and so he couldnt provide any information as to what was happening with the forms. I understand from talking to other people there that TIAA CREF is in crisis mode and nothing is getting done. And both times I called, I was first routed to an insurance person who then had to transfer me back to after tax annuities. They both said that this happens to people trying to reach after tax annuities when it is busy. They also said it does no good to request a manager because there are so many requests, that those are delayed too. So I have been on hold many times just trying to get to the right group and to a person who could help and then after waiting ***** minutes being told that they dont have a status or any I for for us on the funds. I am reporting this as there seems no other way to get help.

  TIAA-CREF

  Date: 04/10/2023

  April 10, 2023 BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU ************************ *********************************************************************** RE: Review ID: ****** Annuitant: **************************** Dear Better Business Bureau:This letter is in response to the complaint you received by *********************** on behalf of her mother *************************** with Review ID ******. **** received this complaint on March 29, 2023. Please see details below regarding the summary you received from the complainant.**** received withdrawal requests for both of the clients contracts on March 9, 2023. Due to a processing error, the requests were marked as complete without being processed. One of our call center representatives took a call from the client on March 22, 2023, and stated the requests would be processed immediately. A miscommunication between that representative and our processing team occurred and the message was never received; we are using this as a training opportunity and are speaking with all individuals involved. As soon as this was brought to our attention on March 29, 2023, we escalated the withdrawal requests and processed the withdrawals on March 29, 2023 and March 30, 2023. We can confirm that the funds were sent to the clients bank account, and that she is now in possession of these funds.Should you have any questions, please dont hesitate to call toll-free, ************, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (ET), to speak to a customer service representative.We look forward to hearing from you, and thank you for choosing TIAA for your life insurance needs.Sincerely,********************* ********************* Manager TIAA ************************

• Review fromMario L

  Date: 02/28/2023

  1 star

  Mario L

  Date: 02/28/2023

  Most representatives you call are at a loss on how to proceed to resolve almost any simple issues. They give you wrong instructions and later you are blame for the error. They are really insulting. They will not recognized when they have made blatant errors and dismissed any shortcomings on their part. I asked for an appointment to discuss the performance of my retirement account. The only thing they could offer is to have an appointment to discuss reinvesting the retirement account, no discussion of why the current account was not performing well. I decided to move all my retirement money out of TIAA-CREF because I realized that their products had quite a bad performance. How can you trust such a company when you cannot discuss the performance of the current retirement investment. Clearly absurd. I think all the people working there have no clue how to invest money to get good returns. Their website is also pretty confusing. Only with great difficulty can you get an idea of the true performance of your investment as you have to do many of the calculations by hand. I think they are hiding the bad performance of their investments. Compare to such investment company as ******, TIAA_CREF looks miserable. ****** offers a much more diversified ways to invest your retirement money, and with much less headaches. They have a terrific web site with complete graphical interface to analyze the performance of every stocks, mutual funds, and so on. They have many branches where you can meet a person face to face. If you need some advice, they will promptly answer you on the phone and analyse your current financial situation and possible actions with prompt and clear instructions. The agents at ****** have been properly trained. Do yourself a favor, use a different company than TIAA-CREF to keep your retirement money, you will likely have much less frustration, not have to go through endless phone calls to resolve any issue, and have much better investment performance.

  TIAA-CREF

  Date: 03/07/2023

  Dear **************************:I am writing in response to the February 28 customer review you posted to the ********************************************* website and received by **** on March 1, concerning interactions with TIAA to resolve issues and to discuss investment performance.Regarding correction of an issue, my review of your account found you recently requested a rollover from one of your TIAA accounts to another firm. The address you provided for the alternate carrier mistakenly referenced both Fidelity and ******. As requested, TIAA stopped this payment and issued a replacement check to the corrected address on February 28.Concerning investment performance, you are participating in employer-sponsored retirement plans offered through your employment with SRI International and **********************************************************. While the employer-sponsored plans are self-directed accounts, TIAA provides asset class guidance and fund-level recommendations either by speaking with a representative or by using our Retirement Advisor tool available when you log in to your secure online account at TIAA.org. To provide advice, TIAA partners with ********************************** LLC, an independent third-party. Morningstar is a recognized expert in asset allocation methodology, and develops our asset allocation models and specific fund recommendations based on the available investment menu offered by your employers plan.Through your employers plan, SRI International makes available a variety of TIAA and CREF annuities, TIAA-CREF mutual funds and third-party mutual funds in which you may invest. Performance information for your employers retirement plan investments is readily found by logging into your secure online account at TIAA.org or by accessing your employers microsite at **************************************************************** through either link, you will find standard industry performance information such as: closing share prices; cumulative Year-to-Date returns, 1, 3, 5 and 10 year or since inception average annualized rates of return; Net and Gross expense ratios; and Morningstar Overall Ratings. The sites also allow you to easily drill into each investment for greater detail, such as sector weightings, market capitalization and holdings. Through the microsite you also can access and print a ******************** Update (QIU) with rates of return and comparisons to the funds benchmark through the last calendar quarter. I have enclosed as an example a copy of the ************************************ Plan QIU dated 12/31/2022.TIAA also provides you with a portfolio level Personal Rate of Return (PRR) in your TIAA.org secure online account and with each quarterly statement. Viewed through your TIAA.org online account, your personal rate of return is reported for the year, and broken down by quarter, going back as far as 2009. A link from this page titled How we calculate personal rate of return provides a detailed list of frequently asked questions and answers about the PRR.As is explained in the quarterly statement disclosure, the Personalized Rate of Return is an estimate of the performance of the assets in your retirement portfolio maintained by **** during the period specified. The figure: (1) includes expenses, interest, and dividend payments; (2) includes contributions and withdrawals, weighted by the number of days between the date of contribution or withdrawal and the end of the quarter; (3) may be different from the return of the individual funds or other investment option included in the portfolio. If your portfolio included cash outflows or inflows the figure may differ from your actual rate of return depending on market volatility following these cash flows. The Personalized Rate of Return is based on the Modified ***** Method of evaluating performance. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.If you have any additional questions in concerning this matter, you may contact me directly at ************** or by calling xxx-xxx-xxxx. If you have additional questions or need assistance completing the rollover forms, please contact us at ************. Consultants are available weekdays from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. (ET). Additional TIAA information can also be found on our website at TIAA.org.