In 2005 I left my company and transferred my 401K over to Smith Barney. I was young and didn't really keep up with it until this past summer when I was buying a house. I remembered that I had placed it with them and called to get a statement. Upon calling they had no information on me nor my money. I had to back track and research myself to try and find out what happened to it. I called the company I left and finally found out that my company did in fact send a check in my name to Smith Barney. Now Smith Barney called to get more information and finally found out that the money was deposited into my brother's account and no account was opened for me.
My brother has since withdrew all of his 401K out and closed the account. We do not have the same name so not sure how this error happened. He also has filed bankruptcy in the meantime.
I've been dealing with Smith Barney since June 2009 and was told that they would make me whole and open an account and give me the full $15K that should have been deposited in 2005. I filled out paperwork to open an account back in November 2009 and was told the money would be put in there. I waited until April so I could get my quarterly statement and to my surprise I did not receive one. I called this month to see why I did not receive one and they do not have a record of my account. Upon research they have yet to put my money into an account for me. I have an account number and the paperwork for my account but they still do not have it on record or have my funds in it. To this day they are still "trying" to get everything together. I've since lost 5 years worth of interest and I'm sure I would have lost some of the funds since most 401K's crashed due to the economy but who is to say that is true also. The market has picked up some since January so I'm sure I could have earned some interest for 1st quarter.
My question is what recourse do I have to go after Smith Barney? Can I possibly sue them for not handling my funds and not investing it for five years? They still cannot give me a timeline for when this will be resolved and I'm losing interest daily.
Any help will be greatly apprerciated. Thanks!
My brother has since withdrew all of his 401K out and closed the account. We do not have the same name so not sure how this error happened. He also has filed bankruptcy in the meantime.
I've been dealing with Smith Barney since June 2009 and was told that they would make me whole and open an account and give me the full $15K that should have been deposited in 2005. I filled out paperwork to open an account back in November 2009 and was told the money would be put in there. I waited until April so I could get my quarterly statement and to my surprise I did not receive one. I called this month to see why I did not receive one and they do not have a record of my account. Upon research they have yet to put my money into an account for me. I have an account number and the paperwork for my account but they still do not have it on record or have my funds in it. To this day they are still "trying" to get everything together. I've since lost 5 years worth of interest and I'm sure I would have lost some of the funds since most 401K's crashed due to the economy but who is to say that is true also. The market has picked up some since January so I'm sure I could have earned some interest for 1st quarter.
My question is what recourse do I have to go after Smith Barney? Can I possibly sue them for not handling my funds and not investing it for five years? They still cannot give me a timeline for when this will be resolved and I'm losing interest daily.
Any help will be greatly apprerciated. Thanks!
