Judge denies class action in Principal case

A federal judge has refused to certify as a class action a lawsuit against Principal Financial Group that could have included as many as 57,000 401k plans.

[Nicola McGregor]

Principal Financial Group had my paperwork in full for withdrawl for an entire month before they placed a hold on the US Separate Property Account which I had some money in. Although they admit it their fault that the money was not processed in time to get caught up in the freeze, they will not pay me out, nor can they tell me when they will, I am powerless and can just watch it going down able to do nothing. I believe this is unconstitutional and wrong as due to their tardyness my pension is being wasted away. In addition my paperwork was a cancellation to this contract with them therefore the way I see it they have no legal right as it is in effect a contract cancellation, you cant just pretend that you have a contract when it has been cancelled because you held onto the paperwork.

So Frustrating but the little man is jipped again.

[Pat]

I sure feel for you Nicola. Principal has done the same thing to me. I can't imagine how much money investors have lose in their retirement plans because of this. All I wanted to do was transfer my funds to the Guaranteed interest 2 year fund so I wouldn't lose it before I retire in 2 years. Good Luck

Nicola McGregor wrote:

Principal Financial Group had my paperwork in full for withdrawl for an entire month before they placed a hold on the US Separate Property Account which I had some money in. Although they admit it their fault that the money was not processed in time to get caught up in the freeze, they will not pay me out, nor can they tell me when they will, I am powerless and can just watch it going down able to do nothing. I believe this is unconstitutional and wrong as due to their tardyness my pension is being wasted away. In addition my paperwork was a cancellation to this contract with them therefore the way I see it they have no legal right as it is in effect a contract cancellation, you cant just pretend that you have a contract when it has been cancelled because you held onto the paperwork.
So Frustrating but the little man is jipped again.

[greg]

Pat wrote:

I sure feel for you Nicola. Principal has done the same thing to me. I can't imagine how much money investors have lose in their retirement plans because of this. All I wanted to do was transfer my funds to the Guaranteed interest 2 year fund so I wouldn't lose it before I retire in 2 years. Good Luck
<quoted text>

Principal put the U.S. Property Separate account in the same catergory as Bonds as fairly secure investments.
That turned out to be totally false and they should be held responsible for deceiving investors.
They should be sued for thier deception.
I am also watching my investment go down the drain and am unable to do anything about it.

Could they be sued with a class action lawsuit

[Joey]

I also have money in the us property account that i cant touch. I'm also unemployed and need the money now. these people are criminals. I will never invest in the stock market again, with any company. Dont trust any of them, they are all the same.

[Don]

The judge denied the class action law suite on September 2008 HAS THERE BEEN ANY OTHERS STARTED IT IS NOW AUGUST 2009?

[JJJ]

Don wrote:

The judge denied the class action law suite on September 2008 HAS THERE BEEN ANY OTHERS STARTED IT IS NOW AUGUST 2009?

The link is broken above. Pls post the class action filing details in sept '08. Our company has had enough of this and we are research appropriate recourse.

[Gracie]

Principal froze those accounts in September 2008.

And you thought your company checked out your investment choices. did they forget to tell ya about the freeze out and melt down of your retirement account?

Don't worry Principal advertises they will still let you invest in the account.

[John]

It is now September 2009 and the fund is still falling at -25%. When will any of us have an opportunity to sell! I love the fact that they upheld their legal obligation to alert us by posting on the message board 2 hours and 13 minutes before they locked up our money. These people are criminals.

[Charlie]

It is funny, how the fund managers are more concerned than me about my own money and my fellow investors. I can assure you they are not more concerned than me. If they would have sold the assets at whatever price, as I requested. I could have taken the hit, and been re-invested in some other venture. I.E Opportunity cost. Meanwhile, We all ride the plane into the ground, while the 1.15% fees, keep these guys employed. Fund managers, please sell, and find a new job, as far away from other managing money and making decisions against the will of your real employers.

[Eric]

Add my name to the list of frustrated investors with funds being held hostage by principal. At age 53 , this is an important issue to me and not something that I can afford to let slide.
If anyone has any information regarding a class action lawsuit , I would be very interested in getting involved.

Thanks ,

[e-mail]

[John]

I too had put money in the US Property Account thinking that my investment was much more secure than the stock market. After all, Principal had listed the US Property Account in the same category as bonds. Now I watch my investment reduce in value each day and there's not a damn thing that I can do about it. I wanted to retire within a couple of years. It may be a while longer.

There must be a class action suit filed against these crooks!

[Don]

How do we appeal the decision to deny the claim?

[John D]

Same boat.

They told me it would be frozen no longer than 3 years.

This changed the way I feel about the company that I worked for that picked this as a choice .

Of course there are risks with any investment,

but who knew they could freeze it for 3 years?

The money managers my company hired!

[john]

Don wrote:

How do we appeal the decision to deny the claim?

I am investigating this and would like to talk to those involved with this plan. Also, I could only find a Prinical class action that was denied in August 08, having to do with ERISA issues, not this accout. This "freeze" didn't go into effect did it until Sept 08, correct

[john]

Charlie wrote:

It is funny, how the fund managers are more concerned than me about my own money and my fellow investors. I can assure you they are not more concerned than me. If they would have sold the assets at whatever price, as I requested. I could have taken the hit, and been re-invested in some other venture. I.E Opportunity cost. Meanwhile, We all ride the plane into the ground, while the 1.15% fees, keep these guys employed. Fund managers, please sell, and find a new job, as far away from other managing money and making decisions against the will of your real employers.

Instead of posting, how do we contact each other directly on this board? I am a new user. Charlie, with you in California, that is important and I would like to talk to you directly.

[Don]

john wrote:

<quoted text>
I am investigating this and would like to talk to those involved with this plan. Also, I could only find a Prinical class action that was denied in August 08, having to do with ERISA issues, not this accout. This "freeze" didn't go into effect did it until Sept 08, correct

It was effective as of September 26, 2008 to be exact. In the letter we received it says "Principal Life Insurance Company umplemented withdraw limitations on the U.S. Property Seperate Account. Principal Life took this action due to the fact the U.S. Property Seperate Account was experiencing liquidity issues caused by a marked slowdown in commercial real estate sales at the same time that cash flows out of the Seperate Account ahd outpaced new contributions into the account. The wiedrawal limitations remain in effect." So in effect they are saying that they froze the account so that they could use the money to brace up their failure. I spoke with someone just today and the excuse he gave was a joke. If we can't get a class action suit together I am seriously thinking of hiring an attorney myself here in South Carolina. You can contact me personally at [e-mail].

[Eric]

I can be contacted directly at [e-mail].
I'd be happy to sign on to any class action lawsuit against Principal regarding U.S. Propert Sep. Acct.

E.C.

[Johnny D]

The lousy admininstrators of these plans must take the advise of the flunkies on the other end.

This investment was in the wrong category.

The principal clowns that give the excused said there was fine print associated with this investment, but I'm still looking for it.

I don't find any class action besides one not associated with this loser.

Congratulations to all the money managers that made a living gambling with our retirement plans.

[Gail N Ocala FL]

I too lost and am still losing. Age 66 now & can't afford to wait 15 years to "make it up." Still working - maybe forever. How can you change the rules in the middle of the game? I trusted these people.
Don't know anything about law suits (class action), but this is wrong!

[Eric R]

I'm jumping on the frustration bandwagon, but I've got somewhat of a spin in my case. I had to take complete withdrawal due to hardship caused by unemployment. Principal applied tax and penalty to my entire distribution, which also included a sizeable amount in this U.S. Property Separate Account. So not only are they still holding on to my money, but I got tax and penalized on this money I haven't even received!