Employer contributions after rollover

[Guest Aubie]

Hello

I worked for a company for a few years (~2000 through 2002) where I had a 401k plan with matching employer contributions. I contributed a total of about 850 dollars and my employer matched that amount. A few weeks ago I decided to start rolling old IRAs into a single fidelity managed IRA. I told the director of the IRA what I wanted to do (a direct transfer to fidelity) and she directed me to paperwork to accomplish this. Instead of seeing the money deposited into my fidelity account I received a check yesterday for half the amount that was in my IRA. I have been scouring the internet for information about this but can find no instance where the employer was allowed to retain his contributions.

Is there some sort of rule that companies have that if you don't work for them for a certain number of years they'll pull back their contributions?

And if so why didn't they do that when I quit?

How do I know that they pulled what they contributed. They literally divided the account in half and withheld that amount. What if that was money that had grown as a result of their contributions.. Are they allowed to keep that too? The check stub just says "Amount Forfeited: 857" which is half of the account balance. (Maybe it's not due to employer contributions but I can't think of anything else)

I plan on calling this woman tomorrow but want to be prepared before I talk to her.

Thanks for any help!

[BG5150]

What was the vesting schedule that was in your old plan? Chances are, you were not with the employer long enough to earn the right to the entire matching account (or ANY of the matching account!). It looks like you were 0% vested in the match, so you received only the money you put away.

As to why you got a check instead of the direct rollover, you'd have to talk to the IRA custodian for that.

[masteff]

As to why you got a check instead of the direct rollover, you'd have to talk to the IRA custodian for that.

Rollovers from employer plans are often mailed to the participant instead of the new trustee so that the participant remains in control of the transaction. The question is how the check is made payable... if it was done correctly, it should be payable to "Name of new trustee FBO your name" (FBO=for benefit of). If that's so, then you simply use a form from your new IRA to mail the check in for deposit.

[david rigby]

What was the vesting schedule that was in your old plan? Chances are, you were not with the employer long enough to earn the right to the entire matching account (or ANY of the matching account!). It looks like you were 0% vested in the match, so you received only the money you put away.

Sounds like the right answer, but another possibility is that your account simply lost money in the general market decline.

[BG5150]

Sounds like the right answer, but another possibility is that your account simply lost money in the general market decline.

But this was in the post:

The check stub just says "Amount Forfeited: 857" which is half of the account balance.

(emphasis mine)