Medallion signature for old 401k transfer?

[deek]

Transferring funds to Vanguard. I'm confused about the Medallion signature. Is this needed? Do I need to contact the current holding company to address this?

[Greenstache]

I had to do this a few years ago for a Vanguard transaction.  It's a bit of a pain - I found a local Capital One branch that did it for free (after three trips since the person with the sole power to do this was difficult to actually see, despite scheduling meetings with her).

[Kapiira]

I transferred funds from Scottrade to Vanguard and got the medallion signature from my local bank. 

[Cezil]

My local bank branch had someone that could do this for me, I just had to call, set up a time, and he'd be ready when I showed up.  Also, when we moved my parents stuff to Vanguard, we had to go to their local branch for the medallion stamp.  Of course, since you're moving funds, you clearly have money, and what better place to consider moving them to than the local bank instead of Vanguard?!?!  No thank you.

Just be aware if there any 'odd' conditions.  My dads got rejected because the signer didn't put their title in the right place or something (Old brokerage was reluctant to lose my dads money and made it super difficult for us - lots of hoops and requirements that kept changing every. single. time. we called to figure out what the problem was this time).

[terran]

As you can see, it's pretty common. Read the fine print on the vanguard form as it might not be necessary under a certain account value. For example, I recently did something with a Fidelity brokerage account that only required it if the account held over $100k

[Metta]

We just dealt with moving money for my mother to Vanguard and it wasn't Vanguard that required the medallion. It was the brokerage firm we were moving away from that had the requirement. Some of her money had to be done with a medallion and some did not. Vanguard was a great help throughout.

[deek]

This is from Millennium Trust who is holding it for my old employer until I do something with it. Since my local bank isn't involved at all, I don't think I can go there for it...

I just don't want to send it to Vanguard without one and have to jump through a bunch of hoops to make it happen after that. Hmmm

[ChickenStash]

This is from Millennium Trust who is holding it for my old employer until I do something with it. Since my local bank isn't involved at all, I don't think I can go there for it...

I just don't want to send it to Vanguard without one and have to jump through a bunch of hoops to make it happen after that. Hmmm

The local bank doesn't need to be involved in the accounts to provide a Medallion signature. I used a local branch of my normal bank to do the signature when moving my 401k to Vanguard and the bank had no objections and the manager said this was a common service they provided. They will ask for documentation on the account value and proper ID so it's usually good to discuss it with them before going in to make sure everything goes quickly and smoothly, though.

[Lady SA]

I'm pretty sure you can get a medallion signature from your bank, even if the transaction doesn't include them at all. DH had to transfer an old IRA from another investment company to vanguard, and we got the medallion signature from our local Wells Fargo bank. You don't need to get the signature from a company that is involved in the transaction.

edit: for some reason, Wells Fargo would only do the signature if you were a customer of theirs--I don't remember what the reason was. Luckily, DH still had a savings account with them that had like $50 in it, so they did it. Anyway, to be safe, go to a financial institution that you have an existing relationship with to get the signature.

[deek]

I'm pretty sure you can get a medallion signature from your bank, even if the transaction doesn't include them at all. DH had to transfer an old IRA from another investment company to vanguard, and we got the medallion signature from our local Wells Fargo bank. You don't need to get the signature from a company that is involved in the transaction.

Interesting. Thanks.

[ChickenStash]

I'm pretty sure you can get a medallion signature from your bank, even if the transaction doesn't include them at all. DH had to transfer an old IRA from another investment company to vanguard, and we got the medallion signature from our local Wells Fargo bank. You don't need to get the signature from a company that is involved in the transaction.

edit: for some reason, Wells Fargo would only do the signature if you were a customer of theirs--I don't remember what the reason was. Luckily, DH still had a savings account with them that had like $50 in it, so they did it. Anyway, to be safe, go to a financial institution that you have an existing relationship with to get the signature.

The most likely reason is that when they issue a Medallion signature, they are taking responsibility for making sure you are who you say you are and if they are wrong or didn't do their due diligence they can be held liable for damages/lost funds. That's also why they usually want to see proof of the account values being transferred so they can make sure they are authorized to sign for the amount.

[Car Jack]

Vanguard seems to be the only one requiring this and it's fairly recent.  When I transferred $260k from Fidelity to Vanguard 5 years ago, I didn't even have to have anything notarized.

I've done about 8 rollovers into Fidelity and with most of them, the most I had to do was print out the signature page from their form, sign it and scan it back in.

With one of the rollovers, the "from" house had this ginormous form to fill out (for all of $3k).  I brought it to a local Fidelity branch and they filled it in and "just in case" notarized our signatures.

By the way, DCU can provide notary and medallion signatures and have a Pope on call to bless the entire transaction for all Vanguard transactions.

[deek]

Ughh.. just got word from a local bank that they only do signatures for customers. And my credit union does not do signatures. Good lord.

[deek]

It's official! Just called Vanguard and they were able to find out that I don't need a signature for anything under $200,000 transferred. Glad that's over with. T-minus 3 ish weeks until I start growing my egg!

Disclaimer: I wish I needed a signature....