12/5/05 I left my employer and had a small 401k. I requested to cash out as it was small amount. 1/06 checked Manual life and account was still listed as active and open. I called Manul life to discuss closing account. I was told need special paper work from previous employer. So called again and also called the TPA who handles account. I was told that it would be looked into. I informed them on the advice from Manul life I would be contacting Dept of Labor if no call back. Guess what 3 days later received paper work. I promptly filled out and sent certified mail to TPA. They received it 3/3/06. I called today 3/27/06 to see about status of funds. I was told she sent it to manual life the same day she received it 3/3/06. She said she would look into it and asked that I call Manul Life to find out what the status of check was. I called Manual life and as of today 3/27/06 still has not received paper work. Account is still open and active. How do I get this money? As of 4/5/06 it will be 4 months trying to get what is mine. I am on unemployment and it will run out soon. Please tell me how I can light a fire under them? Is it legal for it to take this long? Thank... for any response.

The employer I worked for is sneaky.. other past employees waited up to 2 years for there rollovers/pay outs. I am on unemployment and need the money which will be about 1000.00 after the 10% is taken. Thanks for the reply, but I am dealing with not so nice people.

First, That is actually not unusual with 401Ks. I used to administer such plans and often distributions can take several months. A lot depends on the plan administration. Some plans do only a quarterly evaluation so distributions can only be made at the end of a quarter. Your plan documents should spell out the time frame.

On another note I would seriously reconsider using this money. You would not qualify for a hardship withdrawal, so unless you qualify for retirement you would be subject to a 10% penalty for withdrawal. I would roll it over into an IRA if I were you.

401K plans are governed by ERISA (Employees Retirement Income Security Act). There are very specific rules that have to be followed. If you aren't making headway, contact your local Labor Relations Board.

Thanks for the answer ScottGem. I will look into that also. I will give them another month, then that way they can't say about the quartley thing... Thanks again

Hi,
Just for some more information about a different company, I had to withdraw some of my 401k money. I was passed the 59 1/2 yr old stage, not subject to the 10% early withdrawel fee.
I did have to pay the 20% (withheld from my money) for taxes.
I called my Plan Administrator, received withdrawal papers within 10 days, mailed them back. Then in about 20 days, received the money.
Took about 30 days to actually get the money from the time of the initial phone call.
Best of luck.

To clarify based on Fred's comments, this will vary widely from company to company. Larger companies will tend to do this faster and more efficiently then smaller ones because they have dedicated staff and the experience of constant withdrawals. I administered plans at two Fortune 50 companies where I was dedicated staff. In those companies processing time was generally 30-60 days. I also administered plans in smaller companies where processing time could stretch to 120 days because of processing cycles. From my interaction with other people in the field, I found that this was not atypical of smaller companies. Some smaller companies may use large independent managers (I also worked for one of those) that can process things faster.

The main point is that you can't judge based on one company. There are a number of factors that go into how long processing of 401K distributions can take.