401k fee'd to death!

[401kripoff]

new york state.
a few years ago, my union(teamsters) offered us a 401k. though i stopped contributing a year ago, it is worth about $37,000. it had become apparent through the 401k account web site that we realized the fee schedule was completely out of hand. we only realized this because they added a new option to the web site displaying account activity. since august, 2004, they have taken about $2,000 in fees from my account alone. inquiries, complaints, requests for more information are getting us nowhere. the union is little help. the company contracted to run the 401k(excellus) is less help. we were never informed of any fee schedule beforehand. account statements mailed to us don't even show fee or transaction activity. just balances. please help.
sincerely,
mike pappalau

 

[anteater]

new york state.
a few years ago, my union(teamsters) offered us a 401k. though i stopped contributing a year ago, it is worth about $37,000. it had become apparent through the 401k account web site that we realized the fee schedule was completely out of hand. we only realized this because they added a new option to the web site displaying account activity. since august, 2004, they have taken about $2,000 in fees from my account alone. inquiries, complaints, requests for more information are getting us nowhere. the union is little help. the company contracted to run the 401k(excellus) is less help. we were never informed of any fee schedule beforehand. account statements mailed to us don't even show fee or transaction activity. just balances. please help.
sincerely,
mike pappalau

Welcome to the wonderful of 401K's where the stakes are high and information on fees is usually buried deeper than Jimmy Hoffa!!!!

Not certain what you mean by the union offering the 401K. It should be the company you work for. Start with the company HR function. And be persistent. Too often HR folks are oblivious to the real costs of their 401K plans. You might also want to try posting this question to the folks on the Benefits forum here. They might be able to suggest some tips on what to ask for.

And, are you certain that the $2K was completely for fees? Even for a high cost 401k plan, that seems high. Are you sure that part of that was not fluctuation in the value of the investments?

 

[hdwillis]

Rollover

Talk to a financial advisor about the suitability of an IRA Rollover.