Close
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Applications
    • Applications
    • Networking

    Pensioners Complain of More TIAA-CREF Glitches

    By
    Renee Boucher Ferguson
    -
    December 9, 2005
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      While some TIAA-CREF customers reported IT issues that resulted in them not being able to access their retirement funds, others have come forward to say that they are receiving far too much money.

      Its not clear exactly what the system issues are.

      eWEEK initially reported late last month that TIAA-CREF (Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association – College Retirement Equities Fund) pensioners were not receiving funds dispursements, with some checks nearly a month overdue.

      While those same customers said last week that their issues have been resolved—and the huge retirement investment company has said its IT issues causing the problems are behind them—others have confirmed continuing problems as of Dec. 8.

      “The first sign of the problem was when IRA payments from TIAA to my wife and me were not made on schedule in mid-November,” said a TIAA-CREF user who sent an e-mail to eWEEK.

      “I called and was told that they would be made shortly. They were, but the payments that were made were 100 times too large!”

      The TIAA-CREF customer said that he and his wife both received payments in excess of 100 times what they were owed.

      Instead of scheduled $600 payments, both recipients received automatic electronic deposits into their accounts for $60,000 each.

      “It was approaching the end of November by now,” said the customer in his e-mail.

      “I called TIAA again and explained. They apologized and said it would be taken care of. But instead of taking care of it, they did the same thing again with our end-of-November payments.”

      Both the customer and his wife received deposits from TIAA-CREF totaling more than $100,000.

      /zimages/1/28571.gifClick here to read more about the TIAA-CREF IT issues.

      The customer requested TIAA-CREF stop all payments to both IRA accounts.

      Meanwhile, the erroneous payments from one account were reversed—though the reversal has not been reflected with TIAA-CREF statements—while the other account remains intact (with all that extra cash).

      “It has not been corrected,” said the customer. “If TIAA is saying that everything has been fixed, it is not true.”

      The IT issue with TIAA-CREF became public just prior to the Thanksgiving holiday, on Nov. 22, when frustrated pensioners contacted eWEEK via e-mail, saying that their funds disbursement checks were not being processed.

      TIAA-CREF spokesperson Glen Weiner said at the time that there had been minor delays in a small number of transactions—and that corrective actions were near completion.

      The following week Weiner said in a second statement that the matter had been settled.

      “The issue has been resolved and the checks have gone out,” said Weiner, in an e-mail. “Technological and human resources were brought to bear to resolve it. We dont foresee this being a problem in the future.”

      However, eWEEK has continued to receive messages that issues are persistent.

      One caller said, anonymously, that TIAA-CREF has “questionable practices” and has vowed to forward documents confirming the statement. Those documents have not yet been received by eWEEK.

      New York City–based TIAA-CREF is one of the largest private retirement systems in the United States, with more than 3 million members from the academic community, and about 15,000 institutional investors.

      Officials last week declined to provide any additional details regarding the issues, or to comment on their customers continuing frustrations.

      Industry analysts are not surprised by TIAA-CREFs reticence to discuss internal issues with the media.

      The financial services industry in general—which deals with other peoples money—is secretive.

      “I havent heard of anything this botched, ever,” said Maggie Scarborough, an analyst with Financial Insights, an IDC Company, in Framingham, Mass. “You just dont hear of these kinds of outages anymore, and when you do, heads roll.”

      The system issues at TIAA-CREF have caused consternation not only with some customers, but with technology partners as well.

      NaviSys Inc., a company that provides annuity and application processing software to TIAA-CREF, said last week that the issues with the financial firm are “in no way related to the solutions and projects that NaviSys is providing to TIAA-CREF,” said Gail Nelson, vice president of marketing at NaviSys, in Edison, N.J.

      “Were doing annuities and not pensions or IRAs or other repetitive systems,” said Nelson. “And we have assurances from TIAA-CREF that its not our system.”

      TIAA-CREFs Weiner said Friday in a statement that the company is “confident that we have addressed the technical glitch that led to these delays. We are now doing our best to resolve any remaining delays to the satisfaction of affected participants and are reaching out to each one of them individually. We encourage anyone who is still experiencing a delay to let us know. Like all companies, we are updating our systems to improve service.”

      Editors Note: This story was updated to include comments from TIAA-CREF spokesperson Glen Weiner.

      /zimages/1/28571.gifCheck out eWEEK.coms for the latest news, views and analysis on servers, switches and networking protocols for the enterprise and small businesses.

      Renee Boucher Ferguson
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Latest News

      Zeus Kerravala on Networking: Multicloud, 5G, and...

      James Maguire - December 16, 2022 0
      I spoke with Zeus Kerravala, industry analyst at ZK Research, about the rapid changes in enterprise networking, as tech advances and digital transformation prompt...
      Read more
      Applications

      Datadog President Amit Agarwal on Trends in...

      James Maguire - November 11, 2022 0
      I spoke with Amit Agarwal, President of Datadog, about infrastructure observability, from current trends to key challenges to the future of this rapidly growing...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Applications

      Kyndryl’s Nicolas Sekkaki on Handling AI and...

      James Maguire - November 9, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nicolas Sekkaki, Group Practice Leader for Applications, Data and AI at Kyndryl, about how companies can boost both their AI and...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×