The TSP Transition is Still Giving Users Some Problems

Ross Gianfortune:
 This is GovExec Daily, where we bring you the federal stories that really matter.  It's February 6, 2023 . I’m Ross Gianfortune.

In June of last year, the Thrift Savings Plan moved its recordkeeping services to a new provider, Accenture Federal Services. As part of the transition, TSP updated its website to feature a more secure login process and a number of other changes and new features. But the transition was troubled from the start, with months of participants reporting difficulty setting up and logging into their accounts. Others had initial trouble finding account information,accessing historical documents and confirming their TSP choices.

In the months since, the site has stabilized with fewer complaints, but the transition is far from complete. Users still report some bugs, errors and difficulties with the revamped site. While the wide variety of individual needs and situations suggests that some issues will remain, users have understandably been upset with their inability to work smoothly within the system. This does, after all, affect the financial lives of millions of federal employees, military members and retirees who are enrolled in the TSP.

Abraham Grungold is a financial professional as the owner of AG Financial Services , a longtime federal employee and a member of the exclusive TSP millionaires club. He’ll join me after a short break to discuss the issues he and his clients continue to experience with the TSP site.

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Ross Gianfortune  

Millions of federal employees, military members and retirees are enrolled in the Thrift Savings Plan. This past June, the TSP moved to the new recordkeeper vendor Accenture, touting better security and functionality for these users. Those same users reported many problems with the recordkeeper transition, including excessive customer service wait times and issues with usability. While there have been improvements, the transition was a slog and there are still outstanding issues. 

Abraham Grungold is a financial professional as the owner of AG Financial Services , a longtime federal employee and a member of the exclusive TSP millionaires club. He joins me now to talk about the TSP site transition and where things stand now.

Welcome back to the show.\.

Abraham Grungold
Hello, Ross. Thank you for inviting me. It's a pleasure to be here.

Ross Gianfortune  
So we're a little bit over six months on to this is probably about seven, seven and change. What is still unresolved that you have seen?

Abraham Grungold
Well, Ross, the new tsp website reminds me of one of my favorite movies, The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly. Overall, there are many significant problems with the TSP website and the Thrift Savings board. But there have been some improvements with the new website. And the good thing is the functionality, for the most part is very good. The bad part is there have been some issues with regarding monthly withdrawals that you're not going to receive in most situations. Well, in some situations, you will not receive the monthly withdrawal that you want. You're going to receive the monthly with drawl that's forced upon you. And the ugly thing of the website is specifically about the Cares Act where federal employees were taking loans from the TSP during the COVID pandemic and these employees are trying to pay it back. And the representatives do not know anything about the care side. paying back the loan. And there's nothing on the website that discusses this issue. So that's really the ugly part of what's going on these days. There are many other issues. But these are just a few off the top of my head.

Ross Gianfortune  
So one of the main issues around things like withdrawals and revamp site that are still, you know, bothering people and giving people problems.

Abraham Grungold
Well, with respect to withdrawals, I have experienced something from a personal standpoint, and I've had many people contact me, and as well as some friends, some clients have told me some issues. So from a personal standpoint, back in August, as a new federal retiree, I wanted to make a monthly withdrawal. So I was interested in taking out $1,000 a month just to get it going. And I tried to do it on the website through the monthly withdrawal option, module, that would not work. I called the representative, the representative said, now it's not working this a system wide problem, try back in a few weeks, I call back in a few weeks, same problem. One representative said, you know, you can't have a $1,000 withdrawal or a $2,000 withdrawal. But what will work for you is a $4,000 withdrawal based on your profile. Now, the policy for a monthly withdrawal is a minimum of $25. That's the policy, anything you choose above that is your own particular interest in needs. Now, it was okay for me to have the $4,000 withdrawal, I was willing to accept it. But I've been contacted by many people who are new retirees, one individual was told that he has to take a $7,100 monthly withdrawal. Another individual contacted me. And he said he has to take a $9,300 monthly withdrawal. Now, both individuals are aware of the $25. Minimum, and they were speaking to a representative at the TSP. But the only thing that would work in their module with these particular figures for them. This is a this is a big problem. And from what I understand the TSP is presently working on this issue to try to resolve it.

Ross Gianfortune  
It's tax season. Have you had any issues with the TSP site and tax documentation? Have you seen this with any of the people that you work with?

Abraham Grungold
Yes, unfortunately, I just had this issue come across my direction with respect to federal withholding. My first tsp monthly withdrawal I received the payment in January, and my federal withholding increased by $146 per month. Now, I researched the TSP website, there was no information on this. I contacted the representative. And the representative tells me after 30 minutes of his own searching on the TSP website, that he said this is a system wide issue. Everyone that had a marriage marriage status for federal withholding, they were changed to a single status, which would cause the federal withholding to increase. And I understood that, but it wasn't communicated to me. And he said it was a system wide issue. He asked me for a correction. I said please don't make any corrections. I can handle the additional $146. But a friend of mine called me that very same day, a federal retiree, and he had the same issue. But in his situation. He's already single. So why did he have an increase of $85 for his federal withholding? No one could explain it. He requested a correction and I basically told him good luck. I hope he gets what he wants. But again, no communication on something as important as this If they sent out a system wide message to all the participants, that when I received my monthly withdrawal, I would have understood it right away.

Ross Gianfortune  
And the lack of communication seems to be just strikingly frustrating to anyone even remotely connected to this, because it does seem like that would be the basic way to at least help people along with these kind of things. What are some other kind of examples of the issues that you've had that clients have had, that you've sort of seen that the stuff that's the most, you know, makes you most angry, or frustrated or whatever?

Abraham Grungold
Well, the the frustrating part for me is the, the way that the the performance of the website, you know, the website looks great, you know, it has large fonts, it has wonderful colors, but you are not getting the performance in that website that you would get, say from a fidelity or a Charles Schwab type of website. So let's just take a simple example. I've been a participant in the TSP for 35 years, Ross 35 years, I should be able to go back and look at all the contributions that I've made in the TSP, as well as the matching contributions from the government. And to see how that account has grown over 35 years, you can do that on another website. But unfortunately, now with the TSP, they don't retain that information, it only goes back 10 years. So in order to get that information, you have to make a written request. So that is somewhat of a frustrating issue. Another major frustrating problem is my monthly withdrawal, I hate to go back to this issue. But this is important, my monthly withdrawal, you should be able to change it each month. That is basically what I understood the prior website, you could do on the prior website, now I get $4,000 a month, I should be able to change it to $3,000 a month, or maybe I want to change it to $4,500 a month, that change should be made easily on the website. Now I contacted the representative at the TSP, they say you can't do it, you cannot do it, you have to cancel your monthly withdrawal, and then create a new monthly withdrawal. That's the only way that you can change it. Now, when you do that, there's a possibility that the timing could cause you to lose a monthly withdrawal, because it won't be executed in the correct manner. So this is a big problem that the TSP is also working on. Because you can do this on other websites, it should not be a problem. You're only changing the figure. It's still a direct deposit to your bank. And it's also federal withholding going to the government as required. So this is a very frustrating issue.

Ross Gianfortune  
Yeah, I'm always shocked at how much you know, Accenture is not some fly by night organization. It's a pretty big technological concern, how they can't double the kind of stuff that other similar systems can do. As you mentioned, someone like Charles Schwab, you know, those kinds of firms certainly can do that. So what can be done? We'll end on this what can be done to make it better? What can What do you think should be upgraded and improved?

Abraham Grungold
Well, just a short comment about the censure contract. From what I understand the Government Accounting Office, the GAO was going to be looking into that contract to see what was in you know, what did a censure promise and what were they not able to deliver? Because I ensure that tsp spent millions of dollars on upgrading this website. And I don't know if they beta tested it or what but it's just not working to the performance that we the participant should expect. Now. The things that they they could improve on. Was that your question? I'm sorry, that was a question. They could improve on the communication when there's a policy change. If the federal withholding is going to change, starting the beginning of the year, just send out a system wide message. They don't allow emails for security reasons on the website. But you can send out a message to say, effective January 1, there'll be a new federal withholding, or because we changed the federal withholding, we had a system wide problem. So communicate the problem to let the participants know that something is going on, and then communicate. What is the timetable that the problem will be corrected, for example, the monthly withdrawal issue, or changing your allotment, we're working on this issue, we hope to have it corrected within the next six months, we'll provide you with some sort of an update when that happens. So really, communication is the big key. And it would really reduce the anxiety from every participant, because a lot of my clients are very frustrated, and they want to leave the TSP. Now, Ross, I've been in the TSP for 35 years, it has served me very well. It's a wonderful retirement plan. It provides great rates of return the lowest expenses that you're going to find, I do not plan on leaving the TSP nor do I encourage my clients to leave. But time will tell you know, in the next three to six months or a year, if things cannot improve, participants will be leaving. And that's their choice.

Ross Gianfortune  
And no one is forcing anybody just to stay in certainly stuff if they think they can have better experience somewhere else or better return and it seems like that'd be their choice to do so. Abraham thanks so much for being on the show with us.

Abraham Grungold 
Thank you for having me. Ross. It's a pleasure to be here.

Ross Gianfortune:
Thanks for listening to GovExec Daily. Our show was produced by Adam Butler and hosted by me, Ross Gianfortune. We want to thank Abraham Grungold for joining the program. Our music is the song “Signals” by Catfish Dancing. Be sure to rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.  You can email us any feedback at podcast @ govexec.com or hit us on Twitter @ Govexec. Find us on Facebook or LinkedIn by searching for Government Executive.

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