Personal Finance Questions and Answers for Young Professionals

A few months ago back in September 2008, I initiated a transfer in my 401k. I was to sell shares in my Opp fund and put into an index fund. Immediately after I set that transaction to happen I decided it was a bad idea. I have many years for that fund to turn around and I didn’t want to lock in my losses by selling it. So I canceled it online right away(1-5 min after). I changed my future contributions to put more into my index funds as my plan to ride out the ups and downs.

Figuring me canceling that transaction was ok, because I got a confirmation email telling me it was canceled, I didn’t check back in several weeks. I got busy at work and didn’t have time to check my 401k account often. In late October I noticed my funds were not represented in my asset allocation anymore. I called up NEF and put in a claim for this, and they admit that they messed up and that it was a computer error why this transaction still went through even when I canceled it the same day.

It has been 6 weeks now, NEF calls me every week telling me, they haven’t figured out why this happened, but are still working on it. My account has not gone back to the way it should be. What is the hold up?

There are a few things that need to happen in order to get my account back to the way it should be. 1. They need to give me back the same number of shares I had, in my Opp fund. 2. Reimburse paid dividend that account might have had in the months I was “out” of the fund. 3. Reimburse me for any extra fees I paid while making the transaction and maintenance fees on the fund the money went into.

Why can’t they put it back the way it was NOW, then figure out why their system made the mistake? My theory is that it will work out better for them to wait. As the market keeps falling the price at which they will buy back the shares that were sold, is much lower. So the longer they wait, the farther the fund falls, the cheeper it is for them to get my shares back. I am not sure if that’s how it works but what other reasons are there for them to be waiting on this?

Am I SOL and I will never get my shares back?