Complaint Review: BPAS - Internet

My complaint is very simple. I contracted with BPAH with one simple request. From the very first visit with the CFA who recommended BPAH I was very clear that I wanted to be in control of my money. I wanted to be able self direct my pension plan. I did not see anything that was complicated about my request for self direction of my pension plan. BPAS set a plan in which I could not Self Direct. They did not sell me what I thought I was buying, bait and switch scam.

I had done my due diligence and I was advised how to identify a trading and investing system which I could control and eliminate third party or counterparty risk.  In order to do this I would open an account at a different licensed brokerage firm where I was the only one with rights to the account. I could perhaps sign a Letter of Direction to have all trades executed for me or I could also execute them myself. This would eliminate the full control of my money by someone else. 

Michele Graham, Cynthia Poss and I met with CFA, Taylor Stokes from Capital Bank in October of 2008. I told him I wanted to Self Direct my pension plan. I would assume a professional would know and should know what Self Direct means.  He told me in front of the above witnesses that I could self direct my pension plan at BPAH.

We went through all the paperwork and paid a rather large sum of money to BPAH as an administrator of the Greenwood Family Practice INC pension plan, which is Defined contribution and a defined benefit plan. I think we paid them $7500 to set this plan up.

After set up I tried to make some investments with my money and I was only given the choice of a small group of mutual funds. I was outraged. I went to the plan and researched the plan. I found the following words;

Participant direction of investments. You will be able to direct the investment of your entire interest in the Plan. The Plan Administrator will provide you with the information on the investment choices available to you, the procedures for making investment elections, the frequency with which you can change your investment choices and other important information.

Now after the plan is in place I review my choices and found only 15 choices to invest in. All of the choices are mutual founds, and most of them lost money in 2008. One broke even, and I chose that one until we got this cleared up. I call my CFA, Taylor Stokes and asked him some questions regarding Self direction and he told me you can but you cant.  I called Lynn Nicolson and she did not know anything, and I mean nothing, she said I only had the choices listed in the plan. This  list was not revealed until after the contract was signed sealed and delivered, appears to be a bait and switch. On May 3^rd I mailed/faxed a letter and I have not received any on point answer. I did speak with Ken Prell and he told me their plan could support self direction but does not. They were in the process of setting up an account with TDAmeritrade so I could invest in bonds and stocks. As of October 25, 2009  I have had no contact regarding this TDAmeritrade. After I spoke to Ken Prell I found it abundantly clear the BPAS interpretation of  You will be able to direct the investment was clearly different than mine. We do not have a meeting of the minds. I was sold a bag of goods I did not intend to purchase. I was represented by two licensed professionals who did not represent my interests even after direct interaction and clear communication witnessed by two other parties at my office. This is simply ridiculous for BPAS to use the words in their contract You will be able to direct the investment and then limit the investments to 15 Mutual Funds.  BPAS wrote the contract and BPAS is the professional and BPAS should have made the words clear and direct so when the words are read by the client the client would understand the investment may be self directed into a small group of mutual funds.  The words should have indicated the choices were limited to small group of funds. I thought the investment limitations would be was controlled by law and the IRS rules of pension plans. I had no idea the limitations were to the mutual funds set up and controlled by BPAS.

I have file a complaint with BBB, and also with their customer service. I have not had a response, but it has only been on week.

BPAS.com complaint sent to customer service.

Jed ****,
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