Update on IRA Transfer to Vanguard

Just got off the phone with Vanguard and Scottrade regarding transferring part of my Roth IRA asset from Scottrade to Vanguard and the news wasn't pretty.

I submitted the paper work on September 29th and had expected to whole process to finish in October. According to Vanguard, the transfer can take up to four weeks, so when I filled out the form I set the next quarterly automatic investment date on November 5th (quarterly automatic investment can only be made in February, May, August, and November). Exactly three weeks have passed and when I checked my Scottrade account last night, the four Vanguard funds I asked to be transferred out were still there. Apparently, the transfer didn't happen yet. So I called Vanguard and was told they initiated the transfer two weeks ago, but didn't get a response from Scottrade. I then contacted my local Scottrade manager who said they never received the request. Back to Vanguard again, they changed the story, saying the only mailed (yes, by mail) the request last Saturday to Scottrade headquarter, not to my local office though I put that address in the transfer form. The worst part of the conversation was the four-week time frame for transfer obviously started from last Saturday!

Well, it looks like I am going to miss the date I set, though it's not a big deal. I have already put $3000 into my Roth IRA account so far this year, and the next batch of $1000 should be invested this month if the funds remain at Scottrade. Considering the time it may take to complete the transfer, I think it's still safe to go with Scottrade and start with Vanguard next year.  

By the way, early this week Vanguard to me they didn't receive my wife's transfer form. At one moment, that really scared me because all her personal information were in the form. The next day I had problem with which form I should download to fill a new application (the forms online were a little different from the one I downloaded a couple of months ago). So I called Vanguard and, guess what, they told me they indeed received my wife's application! Could they do any better than giving faulty information? Plus, they said they sent me a letter with my account number early this month, but the letter never arrived!

I can only shake my head!

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