trying to get an answer regarding missing funds in my retirement

[clarkfan1979]

I teach at a community college and my employer contribution to my 401a used to be 10.4% and 10.15% would make it into my retirement account. This is an administrative fee of 0.25% and to me seems very normal.

However, starting July 1, my employer contribution increased to 10.9%, but only 10.24% made it into my retirement account. The only thing that I can think of is that the administrative fee increased from 0.25% to 0.66%. However, there is no documentation of this anywhere, so I would like it verified by someone. At this point, it's just missing money (to me).

I inquired about the potential administrative fee to my local HR on August 19th. They didn't know the answer and they instructed me to contact Colorado PERA. Colorado PERA told me to contact VOYA, who handles my account. I spent two weeks on the phone with VOYA and got nowhere. I contact Colorado PERA on September 3rd and they said they would open an investigation and conduct a full audit of my account. Two weeks passed and no one contacted me. I called again on September 21st and found out that no audit was ordered. I spoke with someone on the phone that said they would personally handle it and will start working on it on Friday, September 25th. I emailed a few times and have received no response.

I am considering contacting my HR manager to try to get an answer. It's been 9 weeks and I can't get an answer from anyone. Any suggestions?

[tawyer]

Frustrating experience. It should be HR doing all these calls. You are effectively not getting paid what you should be, so I would escalate this pretty quickly. I would also try to find out if anyone else has this extra 0.25% going missing.

[ObviouslyNotAGolfer]

Also, if you are a member of a union (e.g., CFA), talk to your union representative right away!

[Tester]

I will say something I say everytime.
You do not call anyone.
You communicate through e-mail/mail and state clearly that you are choosing this way of communication because you want to have proof of your questions and their answers.

I hope this helps.

[clarkfan1979]

Frustrating experience. It should be HR doing all these calls. You are effectively not getting paid what you should be, so I would escalate this pretty quickly. I would also try to find out if anyone else has this extra 0.25% going missing.

It's actually 0.41% that is missing, not 0.25%

Yes, I do email when possible. I will be emailing my HR manager, not calling them.

Thank you for the encouragement. I will let you know what they say and what happens.

[ObviouslyNotAGolfer]

No union? Time to form one!!

[cool7hand]

I know only enough about this to get you into trouble. So, please use this response to start your own research. A 401k is governed by the federal law with the moniker ERISA. ERISA controls, among other things, what information your employer or plan administrator must supply, and there are statutory penalties for providing certain information late. You should ask for a copy of the Summary Plan Description. Make the request in writing. The SPD should either contain information about fees or narrow down your search. As I recall, successful ERISA claims include a fee-shifting provision that requires the losing party to pay the attorney's fees. So you might also consider speaking with an ERISA attorney because such attorneys usually provide a free consult. But get the SPD first. Any good attorney would ask for it during a consult.

[bacchi]

I will say something I say everytime.
You do not call anyone.
You communicate through e-mail/mail and state clearly that you are choosing this way of communication because you want to have proof of your questions and their answers.

I hope this helps.

It's far easier, as OP has found, to ignore emails.

However, to your point, OP should start writing down detailed notes about the phone calls. When, with whom, and what they said.

If the OP is in a one-party state, he could start recording the phone calls.

[nedwin]

There are documents available on CO PERA's website that may be helpful in answering your questions.  I was able to find a couple publications on PERAChoice and PERA defined contributions plans with a little searching on its website.  Also, the change might be related to changes in PERA's governing law.  There was a bill in 2018 (SB 18-200) that changed employee and employer contributions to PERA and benefits for PERA beneficiaries an an attempt to better balance PERA's books.

[Paul der Krake]

Learn how to present yourself like a Dangerous Professional™ and get answers from any institution.

[Samuel]

Learn how to present yourself like a Dangerous Professional™ and get answers from any institution.

That is great. Bookmarked (but hopefully never needed).

[clarkfan1979]

I went to the HR manager and he blew me off, so I went to the Dean. The Dean was very positive and encouraged me to keep digging. The Dean phoned the HR manager and encouraged him to help me find an answer. This was Monday. Still no answers.

The suspected increase in fee is an agreement between Colorado Pera and VOYA. My employer contributes 10.9%, but only 10.24% lands into my retirement account. I know for a fact that the fee used to be 0.25%. I'm trying to verify that VOYA increased their fee from .25% to 0.66%. If I find out that VOYA didn't increase their fee, then it's missing money that I need to track down. I've had two previous mistakes in my VOYA account in the last 12 months. I do not trust anyone that the amounts are correct.

[maizefolk]

Learn how to present yourself like a Dangerous Professional™ and get answers from any institution.

That is great. Bookmarked (but hopefully never needed).

This is extremely good advice. Good post.

[Rylito]

Learn how to present yourself like a Dangerous Professional™ and get answers from any institution.

PTF, love this!

[clarkfan1979]

I finally got an answer.

"Yes, the employer contribution for the "401a" increased from 10.4% to 10.9%. However, you will not see an increase of deposits into your retirement account because the 0.5% increase will be going to the pension, in which you do not belong."

This is weird, right? My paycheck even shows the 0.5% increase of employer contribution to my retirement. However, when I log into my retirement account, the deposits are still the same at 10.15%.

[maizefolk]

If you don't belong to the pension, shouldn't you not be seeing the extra 0.5% coming out of your paycheck? Are employers able to take money out of some employees paychecks to support retirement plans that only other employees belong to?

[WalkaboutStache]

I finally got an answer.

"Yes, the employer contribution for the "401a" increased from 10.4% to 10.9%. However, you will not see an increase of deposits into your retirement account because the 0.5% increase will be going to the pension, in which you do not belong."

This is weird, right? My paycheck even shows the 0.5% increase of employer contribution to my retirement. However, when I log into my retirement account, the deposits are still the same at 10.15%.

"Would you kindly provide documentation where I agree that money can be taken out of my paycheck that is not used to cover benefits to me or for statutory taxes or other government-mandated levies?"

[clarkfan1979]

These are the new rules for Colorado PERA. I'm not going to fight it by myself. I just wanted to understand what was happening. I might bring it up at our next all-faculty meeting.

I went to the Colorado PERA website and could not find any documentation. However, on the website, you can request a hard copy of this information and they mail it to you. This type of process doesn't seem to be very transparent.