Immense Dependent care savings plan failure, lost $5k

[Anonymous]

OP, I feel for you. I've done similar financially stupid things from disorganization, depression, and poor memory. You're human. I think it's very reasonable to talk about this with HR. I've never heard of an FSA that didn't at least send reminders. My husband's Fed FSA sends tons of reminders and balance statements. Of course the vendor makes huge profit from people who forget, so it's not in their interest to remind you. Your HR department needs to tell them that they expect online access, balance statements, and reminders of they will choose another vendor. It doesn't have to be this way. The whole reason some
Vendors are required by their clients to send reminders is that people, like us, are human and can forget things. You don't deserve a $5,000 penalty for forgetting. If your HR department cares about its employees, it will want a vendor that reminds folks of their balances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People - Give the OP a break... Jeez!

OP is aware of all the "you should have known better; you deserve to lose" crap. Probably heard it from the spouse.

Now that it has happened, what's the next step?

OP - Like the other poster said, contact HR and see if they can at least implement a reminder system for next year.

I don't know how high up you are nor how close to top management. Most decent companies have a feedback system to improve operations. HR being a freeloader /cost center operation is always sensitive to criticism. If this is indeed run by your company internally, there is potential wiggle room to get your money back if you talk to the right HR person. Meet with the head of HR or ask your boss who's at the same level to have a chat with that person. Maybe you can backdoor your receipts in and get the money back.

Before the rest of DCUM tries to throw me in jail.. yes, I know it is illegal (for the company) but when it's your money it's worth a shot.

Interesting - in what other situations do you advocate illegal measures to obtain money you feel is rightfully yours?

[Anonymous]

We don't use our dependent care to pay our provider (as with most,it's way more). I treat it as 'mad money' for small house projects, parties, etc. So when it comes time to plan for things, I send in a reimbursement (with provider's receipts, of course) and then use the 'windfall' for whatever I'd like to use it for. That way I never forget about the $.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People - Give the OP a break... Jeez!

OP is aware of all the "you should have known better; you deserve to lose" crap. Probably heard it from the spouse.

Now that it has happened, what's the next step?

OP - Like the other poster said, contact HR and see if they can at least implement a reminder system for next year.

I don't know how high up you are nor how close to top management. Most decent companies have a feedback system to improve operations. HR being a freeloader /cost center operation is always sensitive to criticism. If this is indeed run by your company internally, there is potential wiggle room to get your money back if you talk to the right HR person. Meet with the head of HR or ask your boss who's at the same level to have a chat with that person. Maybe you can backdoor your receipts in and get the money back.

Before the rest of DCUM tries to throw me in jail.. yes, I know it is illegal (for the company) but when it's your money it's worth a shot.

Interesting - in what other situations do you advocate illegal measures to obtain money you feel is rightfully yours?

I would not ask the company to reimburse you. First, the company would be violating the rules of the plan. Second, the company would likely have to fork over the $5,000 itself, since it couldn't access the $ withdrawn from your paycheck. I would be very taken back if an employee asked for the company to bear the costs of her mistake. If you lost $5,000 in other circumstances I can't imagine you trying to hold the company responsible.

It sucks you are out the money, but I wouldn't compound the problem by making an unreasonable request to your employer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People - Give the OP a break... Jeez!

OP is aware of all the "you should have known better; you deserve to lose" crap. Probably heard it from the spouse.

Now that it has happened, what's the next step?

OP - Like the other poster said, contact HR and see if they can at least implement a reminder system for next year.

I don't know how high up you are nor how close to top management. Most decent companies have a feedback system to improve operations. HR being a freeloader /cost center operation is always sensitive to criticism. If this is indeed run by your company internally, there is potential wiggle room to get your money back if you talk to the right HR person. Meet with the head of HR or ask your boss who's at the same level to have a chat with that person. Maybe you can backdoor your receipts in and get the money back.

Before the rest of DCUM tries to throw me in jail.. yes, I know it is illegal (for the company) but when it's your money it's worth a shot.

Interesting - in what other situations do you advocate illegal measures to obtain money you feel is rightfully yours?

Any I can get away with, the operative phrase being "rightfully mine"..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People - Give the OP a break... Jeez!

OP is aware of all the "you should have known better; you deserve to lose" crap. Probably heard it from the spouse.

Now that it has happened, what's the next step?

OP - Like the other poster said, contact HR and see if they can at least implement a reminder system for next year.

I don't know how high up you are nor how close to top management. Most decent companies have a feedback system to improve operations. HR being a freeloader /cost center operation is always sensitive to criticism. If this is indeed run by your company internally, there is potential wiggle room to get your money back if you talk to the right HR person. Meet with the head of HR or ask your boss who's at the same level to have a chat with that person. Maybe you can backdoor your receipts in and get the money back.

Before the rest of DCUM tries to throw me in jail.. yes, I know it is illegal (for the company) but when it's your money it's worth a shot.

Interesting - in what other situations do you advocate illegal measures to obtain money you feel is rightfully yours?

I would not ask the company to reimburse you. First, the company would be violating the rules of the plan. Second, the company would likely have to fork over the $5,000 itself, since it couldn't access the $ withdrawn from your paycheck. I would be very taken back if an employee asked for the company to bear the costs of her mistake. If you lost $5,000 in other circumstances I can't imagine you trying to hold the company responsible.

It sucks you are out the money, but I wouldn't compound the problem by making an unreasonable request to your employer.

This is OP and I definitely would not ask them to do anything illegal. My plan is to read the company plan documents and the IRS regs to determine if I think there is any wiggle room. If so I will pursue that. If not I will tell the appropriate people in HR that I understand there is nothing they can do about my case, but I hope they will institute online account access, balance statements, and reminders so that this will be less likely to happen to others in the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People - Give the OP a break... Jeez!

OP is aware of all the "you should have known better; you deserve to lose" crap. Probably heard it from the spouse.

Now that it has happened, what's the next step?

OP - Like the other poster said, contact HR and see if they can at least implement a reminder system for next year.

I don't know how high up you are nor how close to top management. Most decent companies have a feedback system to improve operations. HR being a freeloader /cost center operation is always sensitive to criticism. If this is indeed run by your company internally, there is potential wiggle room to get your money back if you talk to the right HR person. Meet with the head of HR or ask your boss who's at the same level to have a chat with that person. Maybe you can backdoor your receipts in and get the money back.

Before the rest of DCUM tries to throw me in jail.. yes, I know it is illegal (for the company) but when it's your money it's worth a shot.

Interesting - in what other situations do you advocate illegal measures to obtain money you feel is rightfully yours?

I would not ask the company to reimburse you. First, the company would be violating the rules of the plan. Second, the company would likely have to fork over the $5,000 itself, since it couldn't access the $ withdrawn from your paycheck. I would be very taken back if an employee asked for the company to bear the costs of her mistake. If you lost $5,000 in other circumstances I can't imagine you trying to hold the company responsible.

It sucks you are out the money, but I wouldn't compound the problem by making an unreasonable request to your employer.

This is OP and I definitely would not ask them to do anything illegal. My plan is to read the company plan documents and the IRS regs to determine if I think there is any wiggle room. If so I will pursue that. If not I will tell the appropriate people in HR that I understand there is nothing they can do about my case, but I hope they will institute online account access, balance statements, and reminders so that this will be less likely to happen to others in the future.

Well, it wouldn't be illegal for the company to simply give you $5,000 out of their pocket, although you would have to pay taxes on that. If they felt bad for you or felt partly responsible because there were no reminders, they would be legally allowed to do this. But I think this would be a very brazen ask, that they would likely refuse.

There is no harm looking at the plan and regs, but I do not believe there will be any way for the company to provide you the $ that was withdrawn from your paycheck. If you read them as affording wiggle room, I would ask someone more versed in the rules to look at your interpretation so that you don't walk into a storm with your employer.

[Anonymous]

People talking about calendar reminders or emails. March 31 has been ingrained in my memory much the same as April 15th since my first kid was born 17 years ago. Submit early and only submit close to the deadline to get the final crumbs left in the account

[Anonymous]

My company doesn't send any reminder emails and neither does the company that runs their dependent care FSA. It's up to the employees to keep track.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People talking about calendar reminders or emails. March 31 has been ingrained in my memory much the same as April 15th since my first kid was born 17 years ago. Submit early and only submit close to the deadline to get the final crumbs left in the account

Good for you. Not everyone is as perfect. oP, if it makes you feel any better my husband almost did this last year. He submitted and the FsA asked for clarification documentation (on something that seemed to me entirely clear) and he didn't submit the followup info until I reminded him a few days before the deadline. There are so many ways these FSA accounts can go wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't have a dependent care account, but do have an FSA. My employer sends out reminder emails throughout the year and we are able to log onto our accounts online.

Sorry, OP. That really sucks. I would be so irritated.

+1. And even if you didn't have reminders the unresponsive Hr person is really unacceptable.