TIAA Reviews 175

My dad passed in October and we have been trying to finalize his retirement funds. It is ridiculous the lies that we have been told and still no action or results. It is sad!!! Train your representatives and do what you say you are going to do.

I’m honestly blown away by how unhelpful and uninformed TIAA’s customer service has been. Every time I called, I got a completely different answer about what I could or couldn’t do with my account. Reps kept assuring me everything was set up correctly—only for me to find out later it wasn’t. It’s like no one there actually understands their own company’s policies. I’ve wasted hours getting bounced between departments, trying to fix problems that never should’ve existed in the first place. For a company handling people’s retirement money, this level of disorganization and confusion is just unacceptable.

I wish I could rate them zero stars. The the automatic labyrinth you must navigate on the phone in an attempt to get hold of a broker, the extremely long hold times, the inability to easily control your financial transactions. Terrible all around. Very user unfriendly interface. Getting my money out asap.

I previously arranged with TIAA to take my required minimum distribution the last week in December. I gave very explicit instructions to withdraw the funds from two investments. A week later a TIAA email arrives saying the transition was cancelled at my request. Since I made not such request, I checked my online account which show the transaction was still pending. I contacted the TIAA call center and was told the transaction was cancelled, but could offer no explanation as to why. The rep said the error was corrected and it would go forward. The second week in December TIAA notifies me that my transaction was completed. I checked my account and discovered the money was taken from the wrong investments on the wrong date. TIAA promised to reverse the distributions. The corrections still are not 100% correct.

Conclusions: I can’t count on emails from TIAA to be correct. I can’t count on the info in my online account to be correct. I can’t count on them to follow simple instructions and don’t count on them to fix their mistakes.

If I could I would give TIAA ZERO or NEGATIVE stars. Their website is a mess. It is impossible to find information. You go down the rabbit hole from one screen to another without being able to find answers to simple questions about the money they supposedly manage for you. Mismanage is more accurate! When you do reach someone on the phone after long holds, they are completely ignorant of their own processes and procedures. Avoid this company if you want to be able to maintain your retirement funds and have access to a full range of investments. If it is a 401K, after you retire, immediately roll it over to an IRA with a reputable company like Schwab, Fidelity or Vanguard.

Started investing with TIAA-CREF in 1995. No choice as that was my university's contractor (I'm a professor). In the past few years they have done poorly, not even meeting average market returns. I moved most of my funds to Edward Jones, but TIAA stubbornly holds on to more than $100k of my funds. That amount, I learned, is invested in an annuity that I never authorized. Still TIAA refuses even to provide the percentage of the annuity I'm entitled to. It's criminal. When you call customer service, you talk to "bots" and ignorant associates. They make promises just to get off the phone, but no progress ever occurs. Stay away from TIAA.

The financial consultant for our college is a criminal who intentionally misleads professors into investing in poorly performing funds because it gets him a larger commission. Then again, I got them to sheepishly admit that he is really a salesperson and not a fiduciary, so he technically isn't breaking the law. But given that TIAA is embroiled in multiple large ERISA lawsuits over this exact behavior, I think my critique stands. For reference, when I chose my own assets and compare to what my returns would have been over the last several years, I would have been paying 3% higher in fees to get a 9% lower return and I am only in a moderate risk class. If you can avoid TIAA do it like the plague.

Terrible customer service, long hold times, confusing and conflicting answers given to what should seem to be simple questions. Have been trying to transfer an inherited account out of TIAA for over a year now and even though I follow their instructions exactly (as has my chosen financial firm) they still "reject" the transfer/close request for various unspecified reasons and the supposedly are researching why it won't complete. Am now on my 16th phone call to them on hold still for 30 minutes when their estimated hold time was "less than 10 minutes". Ridiculous lack of customer focus.

I've been with TIAA-CREF for over 20 years, and they have changed for the worst. When I'm having a discussion about the intimate details of our finances, I may be old fashioned, but I want to talk to a person face to face. Not a phone call, not on Zoom, not someone different every time I call. They also manage my brokerage account and the returns have been lackluster when compared to their competition. I am currently looking into alternatives.

Tool to plan retirement income does not work. Long phone menu encourages me again and again to use online tool. Support agent agreed website tool does not work on a Friday. Promised a call back on Monday. TIAA never called back by Wednesday. Get a different support agent when I them again. My customer file was not updated properly with details from last week's inquiry, so had to start from scratch with new rep. Frustrated asked to speak with original rep who never called back... sent to his voicemail. I will console myself gazing at the male homos with earrings sitting cozy close on sofa on TIAA's webpage splash screen.

It's ok, but hard to get straight answers to puzzling questions, and I have enough in the account that I have a dedicated "advisor." Figuring out how guaranteed money can be taken in retirement (does it have to be an annuity?), asking them to rebalance so that between two accounts the one with the better guaranteed rate has all the money for that investment while the other has the appropriate mix of funds, determining how diversified the various mutual funds are, all are subject to delay and lack of clarity. And some years ago, I had my "adviser" recommend a portfolio for me. I am glad I was careful and only devoted some extra money to it, to test how good the recommendations were. Most of the investments he recommended are worth less than I paid years ago, despite record stock market performance in more recent years. It's appreciated as a whole far less than my investments in ordinary TIAA funds and in my Vanguard portfolio. Some extremely bad advice, as far as I am concerned.

I'm happy with how my funds have performed overall, and I like the 360 view. I find it easy to change investments for rebalancing. But help is inferior.

This company is horrendous. I've had my own account with them for over 30 years and never had to contact them. Recently I inherited an IRA from my father that is held by TIAA CREF. I was sent bales of meaningless drivel paperwork but nothing useful including the account number so I could transfer my funds to Fidelity. I tried booking an in-person appt at the location on the TIAA website that came up for my zip code. That office blew me off for over a week and then finally after emailing yet again I get a snippy phone message that no appt option was available for me at that location because it was a 'wealth management' location and only open to people who had over a million in TIAA assets. W T F. So I am not even worth spending 20 minutes telling me what I inherited and how to move it. This company made it clear I wasn't a valued customer. I have over $300,000 of other funds with them and inherited another $110,000 and I am not worth a phone call that gives me basic info. I have a deadline in which to do something with this inheritance and there are tax consequences. The fact I am so 'worthless' in the eyes of this company speaks volumes about the (not) service I will receive when I actually retire. I regret the day I ever signed up with this company through my previous employer. They are bad and can't answer a single question for an account holder. Not only that, they will 'wealth shame' you, coming from people who I sincerely doubt have a million dollars themselves. Haughty and ridiculous and beyond maddening.
UPDATE: There are two class action lawsuits, one of which AARP just joined accusing TIAA of 'rebalancing' and suggesting sub-par investments to increase their commissions and fees. It is an active case, you can Google it for more information.

Such a terrible platform and so frustrating in the way they handled things.It's such a waste of time and money. I will rather just deal with Zin𝖾nsis Investment and enjoy the returns they provide, instead of wasting more time here.

If I could give zero stars, I would. This is a horribly organized company that is run like a call center, and with so many faceless employees involved in any transaction, it is a setup for the errors that occur. And when this happens, and large amounts of money are lost, they take no responsibility. Again, a faceless committee of “management” (you will never be allowed to speak to anyone with authority) will dig around and find some way to blame you for what occurred. And don’t even think about trying to access YOUR money quickly. It’s impossible. Chose Fidelity, Schwab, Vanguard - anywhere else. Run from TIAA.

I sent a package to TIAA with my husband's original death certificate in it. I sent it by express mail and paid $10. Also, each page of the package was carefully copied and included in the envelope. Then I get a letter saying "no death certificate was enclosed." Now someone has my husband's death certificate along with whatever else you disclosed without my authorization. I called and they said they would look for it and they would not call me back but I would have to respond in 5 days. I do not want to pay another $10 to verify delivery or call you when I am being accused of something that is a lie. Your service is not good. Frequently, if someone does not want to process a claim they will send a letter claiming that something is missing as in this case. Please quit delaying this case and process my claim.

I have been retired for 4 yrs I move my accounts to a life time aunity at the time of the transfer I was told each yr my monthly payments would increase the first 2 yrs were great I received my increases
The last 2 yrs I have received no increases
I have spoke to a representative and asked why.
I was told the board of directors deside each year who will receive a increase.
I dont understand what right the board of directors have to make such a decision with members money.
With the cost of living intrest rates and inflation we know that tiaa is making $$$$$.
I was a fan of tiaa but not anymore.
They tell you one thing when you turn your money over to them and after 4 yrs everything changes. I have lost my trust with tiaa.
The board members need to stop putting money in there pockets and start taking care of there members 🙏

TIAA is awful. I wish my employers offered other investments. It is difficult to adjust investments to other offerings across portfolio offerings (web site not user friendly), but probably the worst is how difficult it is to get my money from them when I want (and legally can) withdraw. Delay after delay, always some excuse. I am told a check is coming, only to find out a mistake was made.... always allowing them to keep my money longer.

TIAA has provided me with the absolute worst customer service experiences of my entire life. The TIAA customer service experience can best be described as abysmal. Because of restrictions that they impose (and blame on my previous employer), it is going to take me 17 years to get my retirement savings out of them. I'm not certain I will live that long. Nothing was disclosed at any step of the process. This is an unscrupulous company, with no regard for the customer. Please, stay away from them.

My personal id information was leaked/stolen from TIAA in 2024. My social security number, birthdate and other identifying information showed up on the dark web, linked to TIAA, according to Microsoft.
In addition, their customer service is particularly poor. They are not available on weekends or late night. Their website is frequently unavailable or rejects my valid logon.
TIAA often forces me to change investment funds in my retirement accounts at TIAA. I suspect to get larger fees. Their fund choices generally have higher fees than others. I was forced to use a TIAA retirement account because I worked for a University.

Put the wrong amount of contribution and didn't fix it.