ronincerritos

The Lincoln adviser told me that existing account holders in one of the fixed rate accounts are able to add new monies at the historical rate of 3.5%...

Thanks for the insightful comments… If I’m still looking to challenge my former employer’s 403(b) vendor transfer denial is there an attorney in the Southern California area that may be willing to represent me? I would think this could be a potential class action situation as I’m probably not the only affected employee, past or present that has a similar case. And an attorney to review the plan document to determine if Lincoln could be interpreted as an Approved Vendor. From a lay persons (me for instance) point of view prohibiting the transfer makes no sense. It’s not clear to me what the many aspects of the Lincoln contract that would support the plan sponsor's decision to not allow transfers or contributions to those old contracts. And what excessive termination penalties means. I think I should have the ‘right" to do this.

Thanks for the comments… The Lincoln Financial representative tells me that other employers allow transfers into Lincoln Financial when Lincoln Financial is the former 403b administrator plan (payroll slot provider). Making a former contract unavailable seems to be an arbitrary decision. Is there legal precedent for making an ‘unavailable’ contract ‘available’? Or does that violate ERISA rules somehow? Will I be able to find an ERISA lawyer to represent me?

The former employer is a not for profit hospital located in Southern California…

The contention of the human resources director is that Lincoln Financial (a former 403b administrator plan) is ‘inactive’ and is therefore closed to transfers into it. My argument is that I was allowed to make a transfer in 2018 (which the human resources director said was a mistake and shouldn’t have been allowed) and the employer plans don’t specifically prohibit the transfer. Do you think I’ll be able to find a lawyer to represent me or do you have other recommendations to allow me to improve my financial position by transferring into Lincoln to take advantage of improved fixed interest account rates (3.5%).

Correct...Lincoln doesn't offer an IRA investment that approaches the 3.5% yield that the 403b Lincoln fixed interest option (the Lincoln product) has for 'old' account holders...

The Lincoln 403b plan has a fixed interest option that is paying 3.5% with no disbursement fees should I want to make routine withdrawals...I have some monies in that fixed interest option and since I’m now retired I’m looking to consolidate my accounts and it makes sense to me to transfer monies I want in a fixed interest situation to the one with the best rate (Lincoln @ 3.5%)… By the way, the Lincoln 403b people had me transfer my Empower 403b (the current administrator) to my personal Schwab IRA account thinking I could then transfer the Schwab monies into the Lincoln 403b account but the former employer denied that also. So now the Empower monies are in a Schwab IRA. The Schwab IRA fixed interest option is paying 0.03%.

I'm a retired employee and have a 403b issue ... I have/had monies in differing employer sponsored 403b plans (same employer) and I would like to transfer from one 403b plan (Empower - the current administrator) to another existing 403b plan (Lincoln Financial - a former administrator) to take advantage of improved fixed interest account rates (3.5%) but my former employer is prohibiting the transfer. Do I have a legal right to challenge my former employer’s rights to prohibit the transfer?