Vanguard Too Tightly Guarded?
I’ve been trying for a couple of years to get one of my 401(k) accounts rolled over to one of my other retirement accounts. Granted, I haven’t been trying all that hard, because it’s not a terribly difficult process. I just hate dealing with paperwork and bureaucracies.
Most of my efforts have been concentrated on the Vanguard website, the current holder of the 401(k) I want to move. Every infrequent time I remember that I have this task to perform, I go to the website to log in and begin the automatic rollover process. Supposedly, it CAN be done. My problem is that they are so security-”conscious” that I have to use a really funky password that doesn’t match any of my typical passwords, and I keep forgetting it. Since they don’t send an email confirmation of password changes, I can’t look it up in my email records. You get two chances to log in before the account is locked out. Forever.
My typical login process at Vanguard: Clickety-click. D’oh. Clickety-click. D’oh. Shìt.
So, I have to sign up again for on-line access. Sure, I could write the password down somewhere, but I make it a habit not to write ANY of my passwords down to keep up a sense of security. As usual, I successfully go through the entire sign-up procedure, only to be presented with a message when I click on the “start rollover process” link that says, “You are not eligible to perform this transaction on-line. You must wait 7 calendar days after registering with Vanguard.com before performing this transaction on the Web.” *sigh*
Today, the message also included a phone number to call. Woohoo! So, I called it. Of course, the first thing it does is ask me for my account number and PIN. Of course, I don’t have a PIN. Eventually, I get to the point that I can speak to a representative and she says that she can help me with the entire process right over the phone. Woohoo, again!
All I need is a PIN. A PIN that I was supposedly given way back in 1998.
*sigh*
They could, of course, send me a new one, but they have accidentally flagged my mailing address as undeliverable. My PO box. The same PO box that I have had for almost 15 years. The same PO box to which almost all of my mail is delivered, including letters sent from honest domain registrars who actually inform me of imminent domain name expirations.
*double sigh*
[NOTE: I eventually persuaded Vanguard to close the account and send a check to Schwab. We'll see if they do it anywhere close to properly.]
