Rachel sent a message to Abigail Johnson – President and Chief Executive Officer of Fidelity Investments and Chairman of Fidelity Worldwide Investment email address that said:
Dear Ms Johnson,
I am a 66 year old, recently divorced woman presently living in Israel. I have been a customer of fidelity during my marriage and since the divorce my IRA has been invested with Fidelity. I am on a very limited income and need supplemental income from my IRA for basic living expenses. Approximately 4 weeks ago I contacted Fidelity in order to withdraw money from my IRA account and have it wired to my bank account here in Israel. I was very clear that I was wiring the money out of the country. Unfortunately, the employee who answered my call gave me erroneous information saying that I could electronically transfer the funds and that I had to download the proper form and mail it back to Fidelity. I was told I could not fax back the form to save time. Although I filled out the form and mailed it specially, return receipt (costing me $25) it took 10 days to reach Fidelity. At the same time and in the same envelope I also mailed a change of address form. When I called to see if Fidelity had received the form I was initially told that only the change of address form had arrived. Later in the 2 hour conversation I was informed that I had sent in the wrong form, and that the funds could not be electronically wired and that I needed to send in a FOREX wire form. I was told to call back and speak with a Wire specialist. When I called back later, and asked for a wire specialist I was told that I needed to provide information to the employee to whom I was speaking and that he could not transfer the call to the specialist. When I finally was allowed to speak to the specialist, she informed me that all I needed to do was write a letter with my banking information of my account in Israel and fax it back to her.
When my divorce was final 18 months ago, I called fidelity to remove my ex-husband as my beneficiary on my IRA account. That change was never made and the address change on my account has not gone through. After having spent a total of 4 hours on 3 separate international phone calls, an 4 weeks of my time, I still don't have access to my money.
I understand that part of the problem is U.S. government regulation and Dodd/Frank that makes it extremely difficult to send money out of the U.S. I also have to add that every employee of Fidelity with whom I spoke (except one) was courteous and patient, and that enabled me to maintain my composure throughout this extraordinarily frustrating effort. I wonder, however, why the employees who answer initial phone calls do not have the knowledge to direct customers correctly, and why requests like change of beneficiary or address are lost and never applied to account.
Unless there is a way to facilitate the procedure of sending my money to me when I need it, I will be forced to fly to the U.S., open a checking account there, and have fidelity electronically transfer funds into that account so I can then write checks here in Israel.
I am writing to you out of frustration because I dont know where else to turn except to go to the top. I appreciate greatly your attention to this matter.
Thank you in advance,
Rachel
