TIAAReviews of tiaa.org

TIAA customer service is the worst in the industry by far. People in customer service are either incompetent, just plain stupid, or are directed by the company not to answer questions. I’ve tried a couple of times to move my IRA to another institution and what you have to go through in order to do that is ridiculous. I’ve consolidated two other IRAs into one of my institutions, and there was no problem. They seem to want to hold onto the money. As I said, the people are outright pathetic.

This company is unreal in its incompetence. My deposit account was closed and I went online to change it, because that’s what their AI tool says to do. They still sent the payment to the closed account after I deleted it. I have called them at least 4 times after that and received a different answer every time from their agents, they confirmed my account change almost a month after I did it and cannot seem to figure out how to send me my money that I need to pay bills. I get that many employers force you to use this company for retirement, but my advice to anyone with this company is to move your money out of it as soon as you can. Looking at the complaints about them online, I can can see why.

If I could rate them 0 or less stars I would. I was constantly given conflicting information by representatives. If you have any option to put your money elsewhere, you most definitely should.

If you have any choice, avoid TIAA. For anyone planning to retire outside the US, make that advice emphatic. I have been with them quite a few years, retired 16 years ago. The fund performs alright, but they never fail each year to put me through some aggravation. The first episode concerned my address in Australia. Four years passed before any mail reached me correctly addressed. They sent one letter to Austria. Really! Some intelligent person there rerouted it. Lump-sum withdrawals were always difficult. They used to have persons online to deal with problems, but now it's telephone only. I switched to annuities, but they sent this year's to the wrong bank. Last year I went through the process of designating a bank in Australia, they assured me it was done, but they sent the funds this year to the US bank I had previously designated.

Dreadful "customer service," if you call 'service' spending hours on the phone with untrained morons who have no idea how to guide you through very simple online operations (first time user) or, if they do, they screw up royally but you won't find out until later. The level of competence is abysmal. I was given wrong information about loan rates and conditions, something that borders on criminal, way beyond malpractice.

When calling TIAA each representative says something different. It is very difficult to get a correct answer to a question. When there has been issues, they have not been helpful. They have rules in processing that makes no sense and they are not knowledgable about different kinds of kinds of annuities. They ask for paperwork that does not exist.

I have had an account here for decades. The web site just gets worse and worse. The best way to put it is that it rivals the early Obamacare website. It is slow and cumbersome. If something could be done in 1 step they make you take 5. Moving my accounts also took an act of god. bye bye bye.

I have been a customer of Tiaa for 35 years and am in their Portfolio Advisor Program. Last year I started RMD's and they have mismanaged two of my three accounts, overdistributing some $11,000 in one year. They were on track to overdistribute this year as well, until I caught it. Then, with no warning or permission, they took nearly $10,000 dollars out of my checking account, wiping it out, again with no warning, to account for THEIR error. I have written complaint letters asking for the issue to be escalated with nothing happening. Don't voluntarily put your money with this company. I had no choice at the time. I am working to get this resolved, but have little confidence in their administration.