Q. I am a former federal employee and would like to roll over my FERS contributions to my new employer-sponsored plan. The plan, however, requires advanced approval before the rollover can be accepted. To initiate the preapproval process, I must provide a letter from the custodian or a recent account statement that provides the member’s name, plan type, account number, balance and contact number and the fund custodian’s mailing address. Where can I get this letter or account statement?
A. Most applicants just request a refund of their retirement contributions and have them sent to them. Then they give the money to their plan. However, as long as the IRA certification is completed within the refund application, OPM can do a rollover to your plan directly. To do that, call OPM’s customer service at 1-888-767-6738 or email them at retire@opm.gov.
Check the following link for additional info and access to the forms: http://www.opm.gov/retire/pre/fers/formeremp.asp and scroll to “Procedures for having your retirement contributions refunded to you.”
