TIAA-CREF Life Insurance Company

I have just received my Annual Report. It stated my life insurance death benefit of $3500.I didn't receive a bill. I called TIAA - CREF and was told my coverage Expiration date was 7/01/2021 . I mistakenly thought it meant till they received payment.
So now when I could use the insurance in a few years I have none and feel I have been cheated out of $3,500.
My opinion of TIAA- CREF has drastically Changed.

Review: I have had a term life insurance policy for the past 16 years which will be complete at the end of 20 years. I had the payment arranged to come from my checking account on a monthly basis that occurred for about 13 yrs. A couple of times due to insufficient funds the payments had to be made up. A couple of years ago I found that the account had gone inactive. I called TIAA-cref and they said that notices had been sent to a previous address and that they had no forwarding address. This was not true because I had added my sister to my policy that year and had been required to update all of my information. I paid the outstanding balance and had my insurance reinstated. I have had to call them again since then because they did not take the payments as they said they were going to and I had to come up with a few months payments to catch up. I have just checked my checking account and they have neglected once again to take payments since the last time I fixed this in May. This is very suspicious considering that I am older now and much more likely to die. Please investigate and let me know if this is a widespread practice.Desired Settlement: Investigate tiaa-cref to make sure they are not cheating people out of the benefits that they think they have.

Business

Response:

Hello Revdex.com,

[redacted] is unable to respond today, so I am uploading the response for [redacted]. Both the original complaint and our firm's response are attached.

If you have questions or if the documents failed to attach properly, please e-mail us at: [redacted]

Thank you very much,

[redacted], TIAA-CREF. [redacted].

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

I purchased term life insurance over 16 yrs.ago so that I, a single mom with two sons would have peace of mind knowing that if something should happen to me before they were on their own they would be provided for. I have had ongoing problems the last few years with my policy being cancelled with no notification,ect.In Sept. TIAA-CREF apologize to me and I set up quarterly billing rather than automatic withdraw from my checking acct.so that I would be certain that I was covered. Yesterday I contacted them inquiring about my bill because I still had not recieved one, I was told there was a problem with the billing dept. and one had not been sent. I then received a voicemail about the amt.I had paid previously saying something to the affect that even though it was the amt. I WAS TOLD TO PAY that it wasn't correct. I do not believe for one minute that a huge well-know company could be making multiple mistakes time and time again.I could have died a number of times in the past few years and not have been covered without any way of knowing this. I would like to know if I should involve a consumer lawyer at this point. There may be thousands of people being fooled by this company into thinking they are protecting their loved ones when they are not.

At this point I would like all of the $ I have paid this company back and I will buy a new term life policy which is going to cost me a lot more now because I am much older. I have paid approx.$16,000 so far for this insurance.

Sincerely,

Business

Response:

Dear [redacted],

This letter is in response to your recent correspondence regarding your dissatisfaction with the processing of your premium. As a participant of TIAA0-CREF for over 16 years, you are entitles to the highest level of customer service. Unfortunately, in this instance, we did not meet that objective.

We understand your frustration with the recent processing of your premiums. We regret that the processing of these payment did not occur as we were experiencing internal systems issues updating your billing methods to EFT with a monthly frequency. Per our conversation, we have agreed to change the premium frequency back to quarterly. Your policy paid to date will now reflect April ** 2013. With a premium amount due of $185.90. We also agreed to change the billing method back to direct billing starting wth the July **, premium due date.

I assure you we have taken a look at the cause of the issue you encountered and are taking corrective actions so this doe not happen again in the future. We appreciate you taking the time to change your feedback, and hope that you will give us an opportunity to restore your confidence in our service. If you have any questions please contact our Insurance service center at [redacted] Monday through Friday between the hours of 1am-6pm EST of your may call me directly at [redacted].

Sincerely,

Review: I have been trying to collect from them, and it has been nothing short of impossible. They have all the forms, even their employees say that everything should have been paid out and that this is taking very long. I have been given no reason as to why this is happening nor have I received anything.Desired Settlement: I want everything transferred already so I no longer have to deal with the stupidity of this company.

Review: I have a retirement account with TIAA-CREF offered by my previous employer I have separated from my previous employer and I want to roll my account over to an IRA account with my credit union. I am told that the only way I can get my funds from TIAA-CREF is over a 9 year time frame with yearly payments. I was not informed of this by TIAA-CREF or the previous employer when the benefit was offered to me by the employer. If I was informed of this I would have not accepted this benefit thru my previous employer. This account does not allow me to use my funds at my discretion even at the retirement age. I do not want to maintain an account with TIAA-CREF. I have paid into this retirement account for 4.5 years and I elect not to remain with TIAA-CREF since my employment ended. I want to withdraw/transfer all funds immediately.Desired Settlement: I want all funds transferred into my IRA account immediately.

Business

Response:

I am responding to your complaint filed with the New York Revdex.com (Revdex.com) regarding the liquidity restrictions on the TIAA Traditional investment in your Retirement Annuity (RA) contract ([redacted]) held with Teachers Insurance Annuity Association (TIAA). The TIAA Traditional Annuity is a fixed annuity.

Our records indicate that you electronically signed an enrollment form for a TIAA Retirement Annuity (RA) Contract and CREF RA Certificate on June **, 2010. On the enrollment form you indicated that 100% of your contributions should be applied to the TIAA Traditional Annuity Account. TIAA Contract [redacted] and CREF Certificate [redacted] were issued through your participation in the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc. 403(b) Defined Contribution (DC) Plan. This plan is funded with employer and employee contributions.

The RA contract is designed to provide lifetime retirement income. The contract contains clear language, in the paragraphs above your signature on the RA application (enclosed), stating that these annuities are non-assignable and that the TIAA RA contract does not allow lump-sum cash withdrawals from the TIAA Traditional Annuity. Furthermore, on the bottom of the first page of the TIAA contract it states that the contract is non-assignable and has no provisions for cash surrender. Alternatively transfers may be spread over a ten-year period via a Transfer Payout Annuity (TPA) Contract. The TPA is the fastest way to liquidate the TIAA RA Traditional Account.

It should be noted that the Traditional Account’s primary objective is a guarantee of principal and a specified minimum interest rate. These objectives are met through the company’s general account investments in a portfolio of long-term investments. This long-term investment strategy yields higher rates than short-term investments thus benefiting the investors as a class. Our retirement investment helps us to achieve the highest possible rate of return with limited risk.

TIAA generally prohibits exceptions to the liquidity restrictions of the TIAA Traditional annuity in order to comply with the anti-discrimination provisions of state insurance laws which provide that participants with similar contracts receive similar treatment in order to prohibit discrimination against any particular individual. In addition, the primary objective of the TIAA Traditional product is to guarantee the principal at a contractually specified interest rate.

It also offers the opportunity for higher returns through additional credited interest amounts, which may be declared on a year-by-year basis by the TIAA Board of Trustees. TIAA-CREF remains willing to assist you with a request to withdraw your TIAA Traditional Accumulations, but a lump sum distribution of the TIAA Traditional RA accumulations is not possible.

Please contact [redacted] Manager Compliance Officer, at ###-###-####, extension [redacted] if you have additional questions concerning this matter.

Sincerely,

Review: I have an annuity of $60,000 with Midland which was out of surrender on June **. On July * I arranged for it to be transferred to a CALSTRS Pension 2 account. TIAA-CREF is the agency designated to do the transfer. To this date (August **) my money is still in Midland. I have done all of the necessary paperwork, but TIAA-CREF has been dragging its feet and seem to have dropped out of the picture. The agent who was in charge did not return my calls or emails promptly, sent faxes that were illegible, and finally dropped me because he was unable to do the job. His replacement has not followed through either. I have been given the runaround and spoken with various TIAA-CREF personnel in Texas and in Colorado. They are not taking charge of this transfer, just passing the buck. It's been nearly two months.Desired Settlement: They need to move heaven and earth (if that's what it takes) to move my funds to CALSTRS Pension2.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.

Sincerely,

Review: TIAA CREF was expected to charge my checking account annual premium of $608.35. Instead, due to their internal error, TIAA CREF drafted this amount 12 times on the same day. This resulted in my bank balance going below zero and the bank charging me $102 of the returned check fee. I reached out to TIAA CREF to request refund of the over-drafted amount. Total 12 debits were made on my account, of which 3 were reversed by the bank and 1 is legitimate premium payment. Therefore, I should receive refund for 12-3-1=8 debits, which would be $608.35x8=$4866.80. TIAA CREF sent me a check for only $4258.45. Upon follow up with Morgan Francois, account representative, she stopped responding to voicemails and e-mails. Any other representative would not address the issue saying that only [redacted] can work on this account.Desired Settlement: I am claiming $608.35 of unreturned overdraft plus $102 of returned check fee because of TIAA CREF error, and $200 for my time of 2 hours spent calling customer service representatives and writing e-mails to no avail. Total = $608.35+102+200=$910.35.

Consumer

Response:

At this time, I have been contacted directly by TIAA-CREF Life Insurance Company regarding complaint ID [redacted], however my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

TIAA-CREF representative claimed that they are waiting on their internal finance department. They did not refer to the Revdex.com complaint when contacting me.

In order for the Revdex.com to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

Sincerely,

Business

Response:

Uploaded response dated 2/*/14. Thank you.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.

Sincerely,

Review: On August **, 2013, a check from me was received by TIAA_CREF Life Ins. Co. for $34,000. In my conversation with [redacted], who served as my agent, and in my application form, sent to me and signed by me electronically, no mention was made about a "free look" period of over 3 weeks. I had specified in my application, that my money was to be deposited in the T-C Life Growth and Income Account. Instead, during this "free look" period, my money was put into a money market account. I was never told anything about this other account. Also, I received in the mail a contract, after they received my check and set up my account, which states that there is a free look period and upon receipt of a request to cancel they will refund the contract accumulation as of the date I requested the cancellation. No mention was made that they had put my money into a different account than the one I specified.

A free look period is completely unnecessary for the account I specified for my funds because the funds can be withdrawn without penalty or fee as soon as the account is opened, so that if I changed my mind, I could immediately withdraw all of my funds anyway.

Unfortunately, during the free look period so far, I have lost over $1700 because the money was in the wrong account.

During the past two weeks, I have called several times the number given on my contract for questions, but no one has been able to answer my questions properly. I was told a supervisor would call me back, but that was last Thursday and this is Monday afternoon and I have heard nothing from them.

My account number is : [redacted]Desired Settlement: That my money be placed in the account I specified with credit for the accumulation in that account since August **, 2013.

Business

Response:

Dear [redacted]:

This letter is in response to your written complaint to the Revdex.com (ID

[redacted]) regarding the service issue you encountered opening an Intelligent

Variable Annuity.

I understand that you contend that your initial premium of $34,000 was not

immediately invested in the TC Life Growth and Income Fund as you indicated on

the application. Per insurance regulations, the State of Tennessee has a 20-day

“free look” period and is a return of premium state (this means that if you were to

cancel the policy during this “free look” period, we would be required to return to you

the full amount of your premium payment). By prospectus, this requires us to place

the initial premium into a money market account until the “free look” period expired

on September [redacted], at which time we automatically allocated the funds as indicated

on the application.

I apologize that this “free look” regulation was not clearly explained to you, and

instances like this underscore why we continually re-evaluate and refine our internal

procedures.

I hope you will give us the opportunity to serve you better in the future, and please

do not hesitate to contact me directly if you have any additional questions

concerning this matter.

Once again, I regret any inconvenience that may have occurred.

Sincerely,

Team Manager, Insurance & Annuity Sales

Business

Response:

Dear [redacted]:

This letter is in response to your written complaint to the Revdex.com (ID [redacted]) regarding the issue you encountered opening an Intelligent Variable Annuity.

We have made the determination to honor your request to have your initial premium of $34,000 invested in the TC Life Growth and Income Fund with an effective date of August **, 2013. You will receive a confirmation of this adjustment transaction as well as a confirmation of the adjustment to your 9/**/2013 partial fund transfer into the TC Life Real Estate Securities Fund.

I hope you will give us the opportunity to serve you better in the future, and please do not hesitate to contact me directly if you have any additional questions concerning this matter.

Sincerely,

Team Manager, Insurance & Annuity Sales

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.

Sincerely,

Review: Late last year I identified an issues with billing of my life insurance policy. I have had this term policy with Tiaa-Cref for over 20 years and the potential payout if one of us dies is still in force. My issue was that the company did not bill me or my husband for our term policies, and then proceeded to threaten to cancel the policy due to non-payment (via letter).

I discovered that Tiaa-Cref somehow "lost" two checks from my automatic Bill-Pay quarterly deductions from my checking account. This is the only company that I have dealt with that lost permanently two payments from my bank within a year.

Tiaa-Cref does not accept electronic transfer so forced my bank to write hard checks for the Bill-Pay, which were "lost."

As a result of this rigamarole, I provided Tiaa-Cref with a [redacted] card from which to deduct the quarterly payments.

Again, Tiaa-Cref has not billed me our most recent life insurance payments.

For now our life insurance is in good standing but if I hadn't noticed the lack of billing / payment, I wonder how long that would remain.

Note that in the 20 years, when the payment was less crucial and we were younger, I experienced none of these issues.

An ethically challenged company, to be sure.Desired Settlement: I would like Tiaa-Cref to bill my credit card the missing quarterly payments for my and my husband's life insurance, now and in the future, so I don't need to worry about missed payments and the consequent cancelling of the life insurance policy. I don't want to feel challenged to get them to accept my payments, and I don't want to feel as if I have to always check to make sure these transactions complete.

Business

Response:

[redacted],The client's concerns were previously addressed in the response letter attached above. Policy [redacted], is her husband’s policy and it is correct. There are no billing issues with this policy which is in an “Active Paying” (AP) status. We also sent an Acknowledgement of Insurance on February *, 2016 and have verbally communicated to [redacted] that this policy has had no billing issues. Thanks.