WEA Member Benefits - Madison, Wisconsin

abie V.

WEA Member Benefits is so easy to work with and have so many products that fit my needs. I send an email about what I need and I get quick responses with reasonable solutions. Best of all, I never feel pressured to buy anything. Definitely reccomend!

Christopher S.

Their recent fee structure change is aggregious and needs to be challenged or changed. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THESE PEOPLE. Their fees are SIGNIFICANTLY higher than their competitors who offer the same products and services. Funny their competitors can find a way to make a profit charging 1/4 of what these people charge. Look elsewhere if you can. Stay away at all cost. They are lining their pockets while RIPPING OFF their clients. Be very leary of such a scummy company. Funny that everyone is saying the same thing lately. Think they will listen or continue with their greed? I know what my bet is!

Emilee D.

Update after 5 months if you can believe it! See my previous review for the rest. I am adamant about leaving this review as i feel this company is acting in almost a criminal-like fashion with how they handle investments during rollovers.

After my review 5 months ago someone from WEA reached out, assuring me everything would be sorted out. However, this trend of false hope continues.

I am still waiting on paperwork and this company continues to have the worst communication. I have been waiting over 11 months now to switch my investments over from them due to a new job. Each time we contact them, they lose our paperwork or claim they didn't know about the request. The newest claim is the paperwork they sent us to be signed is "outdated" so we need to resign. Again. Meanwhile, this company is sitting on 0.35% variable investment fees, and I am helpless. I cannot stress enough how awful my experience with this company has been. If they see this, the only thing that would be humane would be to refund me the fees they have collected on my investments since the first attempt at the rollover.

Do NOT trust your money with WEA!

Sound A.

Be an active consumer and look at recent changes to the fee structure for WEA Trust retirement. You are actually significantly better off by moving your money to low fee index funds at like a Vanguard. I used some online fee calculators and based on how much I have and years to retirement I will save/accrue tens of thousands extra over the next 10-15 years by saving on the WEA account fees. Many high quality Vanguard funds have fees of .04/.06 vs .28+ for WEA. This can be significant difference over the course of many years. Not only that, you get a lot better fund offerings versus the very limited that are offered through WEA. Between friends, coworkers and acquaintances, I am going to sing this to the rooftops, as I think the most recent changes to the fee structure have pushed past the tipping point and people should contest that fact. WEA will certainly will come back and say that many people pay fees over 1% for such retirement accounts but in reality there are still many who pay significantly less than what WEA is charging.

Luke K.

I have been working with Beth Gold and WEA on an insurance claim for the past few months. Beth answered all of my questions within hours. I can be very demanding and Beth/WEA always came through with explanations and fair answers. My family has been using WEA since the 70s. You're crazy if you don't use WEA for all of your insurance and retirement needs. No company will treat you better or more fair. We are all lucky to have WEA. Thank you for taking care of your members and always looking out for us. I have home, car and retirement accounts with WEA and I would never consider another company. We are fortunate to have such a high quality company working for us.

Julie T.

I am beyond frustrated with WEA and dont know what else to do at this point. My most recent issue is regarding a loan I am trying to take out. I have been experiencing significant and unnecessary delays due to their inability to complete their own internal procedures accurately and provide even a minimal amount of customer service. Since 10/10/2022 I have been waiting for them to submit accurate 403b information so I can finalize my loan. That is the only thing i am waiting on at this point. They have submitted the incorrect data for weeks in a row now. Unfortunately, as of today, 10/27/2022, this issue still hasn't been resolved and they still do not seem to see this as a priority. I have worked with several different staff members (on my 5th one now) and none of them have resolved this for me. The last person I spoke to yesterday at 11am said they would look into it and follow up with me. Still havent heard anything and their office closes in a couple hours...which has been a pattern with them. Just them promising to fix this and that they will call me back, me sitting here waiting and never getting a call. At this point, I would expect a phone call back same day with a resolution...but here we are yet again, still no communication. This issue is getting to the point where it is beyond ridiculous and i need a call back now with a resolution to this issue. This place has some serious issues that need to be addressed before they should be allowed to manage anyones retirement funds.

Erich U.

Very diverse investment choices coupled with professional investment services. I have had my 403b with them for years and just set-up Roth IRA accounts for my daughters; they made the process VERY simple! This organization is a true advocate for the financial needs of teachers and their families!

Mary S.

There are REAL PROBLEMS at this place! Over a year ago, I pointed out to Bridgette Howell that the final amounts in the TSA ' s changed from one day to another for the SAME date. Nothing has been done to ameliorate this problem. Most recently, I asked to have funds returned for an indirect rollover. The person with whom I spoke had no idea what to do. I had to wait for her to call the school district to find out what two of their own employees had already told me: that this was possible and that it could be done within 60 days of the withdrawal. I was then told by another employee that the time limit was up - WHICH WAS ALSO INCORRECT because THEY counted the days wrong! I left a voice message for Ms. Howell and she did not answer me. The next day I called again. They KNEW I was planning to come to Madison from Milwaukee but STILL delayed (Bridgette) getting in contact with me. I AGAIN called and was told Bridgette would answer me within 15 minutes. I called after half an hour and got a message that they were in meeting until 11:15!! Nothing but run- around! A number of the people at WEA should be fired because they are incompetent and do not really serve the educators. I have beed repeatedly treated rudely and have reminded them that I- and other teachers p- r the ones paying their salaries!