empower-retirement.com Reviews 417

My father passed he was receiving retirement pension payouts where he worked years ago - Empower is the administrator. I contacted Empower 5 weeks ago reported his death and was told paperwork on the way (3-4 days). Never received it. Instead, I printed off documents off their website and sent certified mail all the information to process the death claim with a note of what I need to file probate. I waited 2.5 weeks called back spoke to same person- he told me he will resend out paperwork take another 10 days. I don't know why - I sent everything in the mail. Meanwhile, I needed to know beneficiary on the account to fill out probate. No response. Five weeks no progress waste of time.

This joke called EMPOWER Holds YOUR money hostage!!!! I was adamant about how the rollover check was to be made out 7 times. Yes 7 times. It is wrong. IF THEY EMPLOYED UNITED STATES, ENGLISH SPEAKING CITIZENS, Their is a STRONG CHANCE IT WOULD HAVE BEEN CORRECT!!!!!!!!!!!!! PUT YOUR MONEY IN A MATTRESS AND AVOID THIS SCAM COMPANY AT ALL COSTS!!! THEY DEMAND A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INVESTIGATION INTO ILLEGAL BUSINESS PRACTICES. The Attorney General is the next move. Trust me, you'll believe me when it's too late for you.

My mortgage was sold so the previous account isn't updating, and I'm not able to remove it because it shows up as "delayed". It's been like this for 90 days. Now my net worth is all screwed up because the mortgage is listed twice and they refuse to help me, so the interface is useless for me.

Empower's (what a stupid name) website is terrible Rather than reporting mutual fund balances using the closing values from the day before, Empower reports using values from 2-4 days earlier. Empower's CS people could not give a rip about helping when a Plan Participant calls with a question. But worst of all is when it comes to making distributions. Their unfair practices are unconscionable! I NEVER treated my investors' money like these fools at Empower. My plan has a mandatory 10-year payout. It's very simple. You take the balance on the measurement date, divide by the number of years remaining. You redeem that number from each mutual fund and then pay that amount of cash to the Plan Participants. Every year, Empower measures the balance on March 1. They redeem the appropriate amounts from each of the mutual funds on the measurement date. They take the resulting cash from my accounts that same night. But then it takes a full two weeks to get my money. Why?? Because they use my money for their own operations. Are they kiting money from all Participant accounts to fund their bloated operating expenses? Or are they simply investing our money and keeping the earnings for themselves? Either way, they are using my money for their benefit. Meanwhile, for two weeks, I am left to wonder where the heck my money is...it's not in my accounts at Empower and it is not in my bank yet. Two full weeks!!! That should be a crime! If I tried to do that with their money, it would be a crime. This year, because March 1 was on a weekend, the measurement date was actually February 27th. The money came out of my account on Monday March 2nd. Today is March 14. Their crack team of CS morons can't even begin to tell me where my money is nor why it has taken so long. I will not see it until sometime next week, if I get it at all. Empower. A stupid name. But appropriate. They are empowered to use my money and I am powerless against them.

The advisor service is awful. Their is no point in even talking to a person, might as well just be AI bots. They do not listen or hear your individual concerns or goals, just repeat mantras.

Very frustrating experience with this company. I tried to withdraw $8000 for medical expenses and was asked to revise my documents multiple times and even get them notarized. Despite that, the request still hasn't been approved. The lastest requirements asks for details that the medical paperwork doesn't provide. Customer service was also disappointing

One representative hung up during my call. Overall, the process has been far more complicated than it should be.

Been in the investment space for years, I will keep saying it loud and clear, Bitci Stack Asset Platform which I found on Trustpilot after doing my due diligence, has been the only investment platform that I have earned and successfully withdraw my money without any hidden fees.

First let me help - LPL Financial is the best. Myself and my family has been with them for years and they handle WAY MORE then retirement accounts.
Ask for Ryan Willamson @ LPL Financial 708-352-2994
Empowers quality of support is horrible. The rep. admitted he was located in a call center out of the country.
NOT comfortable supplying my Social # not in the US!
They"ll overwhelm you with paperwork and make it extremely difficult to get your $$ out. My former job put me into this company, It's not one I'd recommend anyone to go with.
Look into LPL/R. WIllamson. Best of luck - Smiles Tracy

I would give them 0 stars if I could. I called back on february seventeenth to a withdrawl first of all, the person I talked to could barely speak English. So I had a hard time understanding them. I was told that I had to wait until March 4th to receive the withdrawal. But apparently what she said is I had to call back on the fourth to confirm my withdrawal, that it takes three weeks for my bank to confirm an ACH which I've never heard of that before in my entire life, with all my years of working with accounts, payables, receivables, and things of that nature. It usually only takes 2 or 3 days at the most when I called back on March 4th, they said that there was no ACH of the money that I requested that I was told to call back due to not being able to understand the person I was talked to. Because they barely spoke to English. And it was very broken. They claimed it was my fault. They need to hire people who can speak english.They have instead of outsourcing 2 countries with people who can barely speak English. I ended up taking all my money out. And closing my account, I will move all my money into Fidelity. Never have these problems with Fidelity. Oh and they have people who speak English fluently
That you can understand.

I would give them 0 stars if it was an option. I rarely take the time to write reviews, but my recent experience with Empower has been extremely frustrating and disappointing.

I requested a 401(k) withdrawal, and the first submission was returned due to an alleged issue with the “dates on my request,” which felt unnecessary and overly procedural. After correcting and resubmitting the requested documentation, I specifically elected direct deposit for faster processing.

Instead, without contacting me, the funds were mailed via check because the representative stated the account number I provided did not match what was “on file.” Rather than simply calling to verify the information or confirm whether I was comfortable proceeding with the listed account, the company defaulted to mailing a paper check adding nearly two additional weeks to a process that could have been completed in a day via direct deposit.

To make matters worse, customer service interactions have been consistently discouraging. Representatives often come across as condescending and rarely show empathy or provide meaningful options beyond repeating, “that’s just our policy.”

Policies are understandable. What is not understandable is the lack of basic communication. When someone is dealing with their retirement funds often during important or time-sensitive situations the bare minimum expectation should be a proactive phone call to verify information before defaulting to a slower method.

The biggest takeaway for this company: call your clients when issues arise. Don’t hide behind policy. A simple verification call would prevent unnecessary delays and significantly improve the customer experience.

This process has felt impersonal, rigid, and unnecessarily difficult especially for something as important as accessing your own retirement funds.

I opened a 457(b) with Fairfax County Public Schools over 20 years ago. When Empower acquired that account, I stayed. When I finally decided to roll it over to Vanguard in 2026 — largely because Empower’s fees were more than double — I expected the process to be straightforward. It was anything but.
First, I couldn’t access my online account. Despite trying every address I’d ever used, I was locked out. Customer service sent me paper forms requiring notarization and a fax — in 2026. When I submitted everything as instructed, I was then told they couldn’t read the faxed documents and asked why I hadn’t just uploaded them to my online account. The same online account I had been told I couldn’t access without submitting those faxed forms.
Over two hours of phone calls followed. Some representatives were polite; some were not. None of them had any record of my previous calls. Every conversation started from zero.
The rollover also required a TSA authorization form — standard for this type of transfer. TSACG processed my paperwork quickly and without issue. Vanguard provided their required form with no friction. Empower, meanwhile, delayed long enough that by the time they processed my name change, the TSA form reflected my maiden name. When I resubmitted, they rejected it — despite having documentation of my name change on file and the form containing a matching SSN and address. TSACG promptly issued a corrected form with my married name. Again, Empower was the only obstacle.
If this was a retention strategy, it failed completely. It didn’t make me reconsider leaving — it confirmed I made the right decision. I left with less trust in their competence, their systems, and their integrity than when I started.

Applied for a withdrawal Hardship loan to payback. Sent the required documents and spoke to a supervisor. The supervisor told me to write a letter explaining situation. I have gotten denied 3 times for my money. It's my money. I shouldn't have to go through this after sending the required documentation. What a joke. Don't contribute to this place. Run around. STRAIGHT JOKE.

Stay away from them. They try to solicit everyone

This company has so many issues I don't even know where to begin and unfortunately it is used by many employers. Past login issues high fees and this time a "transfer/rebalance" I never initiated that can't be undone. I just changed employment and can't wait to roll my money out of the account. I am guessing there is some fee they can charge for this latest transfer/rebalance that I didn't ask for.

Empower is a trash! It says work on your own schedule and get %100 of share. That is totally a bulll and lie. They charge customers less plus gets lots fees. When you you too pissed on yourself then start doing employer.

One month for us to receive the distribution? It’s our money empowerment not yours. We are leaving your company and I hope no one else comes. Do better and be better.

horrible, uneducated support team that doesn't know how to answer your question and even put me on hold several times, and again at the end, so that I couldn't leave a review via their phone system. $150 fee to move the money. Do not bank with these clowns, unprofessional and uneducated company I was forced to use due to my previous employer. Also the money I had originally in the account decreased by 50%. They are shady and should be taken off of the market .

Given different answers every time I call. Told to send documents and then told something differently. Just trying to take care of my 95 year old father's finances.

Worst customer service ever.

I called 3 times today and each

They charge me to send my check direct deposit 15 then 20dollars why wen im already paying to transfer it to my bank it's a scam

I have made a number of withdrawals from my 401k. I am still working at age 67 so I am well within my rights to withdraw money from the account. It used to be somewhat annoying to get the Plan Administrator's approval so it would take maybe a week to process the request. It was all online. Now they have added a form which requires spousal consent and Plan Administrator approval. I am going on two weeks with no withdrawal having been deposited into my account....