The presentation focused on specialized risks regarding the impact of un-cashed checks due to missing or deceased participants in active and terminated plans as well as related escheat laws; covering the importance of understanding your check population and what is ERISA protected property. Knowing what should be done once you understand that population can be confusing as end destinations (i.e. re-issue, roll-over, escheat) can be different for each check type – making the management of an ever increasing number of un-cashed checks a daunting task.

Some best practices that were reviewed included the need to address issues related to bad data as well as ongoing data quality controls, life status determination, the importance of communication including FAB 2004-2 steps when necessary, and audit trails.

RCP Solutions exhibited at the conference as well and had one-on-one opportunities to discuss ways to help providers and plan sponsors to proactively execute on programs to resolve these issues. Selecting the right strategy based on your unique un-cashed check population will reduce risks and questions from internal audit and compliance as well as prepares your organization should regulators want to audit.

Why should you bear the burden when a partner, like RCP Solutions, understands the unique challenges that plan sponsors and record keepers face and offers best practice solutions.

Go from PSCA Regional back to the Blog

The Retirement Plan Management Services division of RCP Solutions recently attended the ASPPA (American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries) Conference in National Harbor, MD.

The ASPPA conference was well attended by TPA (Third Party Administrators), Plan Sponsors, Custodians and Record Keepers who face increasing regulatory scrutiny and risks in dealing with retirement plans.  In this regulatory climate, maintaining accurate data is imperative for providers and plan sponsors to reduce risks and costs.  Plan Sponsors no longer want to wastefully spend money to find out that a participant no longer resides at the address of record or worse, has been deceased for 5 years.

Being proactive and putting together a program that identifies issues allows for the plan sponsor to reduce the opportunity for problems to arise.

Plan providers who are at the forefront of issues such as un-cashed check mitigation, plan termination services and maintaining accurate records are providing enhanced value for their clients.  RCP Solutions exhibited at the conference and discussed ways in which we help providers and plan sponsors understand these issues and execute on programs to resolve them.

By being proactive, fiduciaries are able to reduce unwanted costs and the potential for regulatory risks.

Go from ASPPA Conference back to the Blog

The presentation discussed how the sour economy has increased plan terminations.  There are over 40,000 plans each year on the defined contribution side that terminate.  This can happen due to a company going out of business, filing for bankruptcy, terminating a plan that has been acquired or simply to reduce costs.  Having a streamlined process to provide to your clients when this situation arises is key.  A plan sponsor typically has never been through this process before so they will look to their trusted partners to help.

Providing a Department of Labor compliant process to effectively terminate the plan, along with the necessary audit trail will reduce risks and costs to both the record keeper and their plan sponsor client.  Simply rolling assets over isn’t the answer.  There are no short cuts to compliance.  How do you defend yourself and your client when a participant comes forward asking you to prove what you’ve done to communicate with them?  What do you do with missing participants?  The presentation also described the challenge that missing participants present for record keepers and their plan sponsor clients.  It was estimated that a minimum of 10% of a record keepers files have bad information.  That can occur due to bad addresses, incorrect Social Security Numbers and unknown deceased participants as an example.

In the Defined Benefit world, often plan sponsors want to know the second a participant passes away so they don’t have to continue funding the account.  That best practice falls short in the Defined Contribution side as folks consider it “the participants money.”  What risks are presented to a record keeper or their plan sponsor clients on the Defined Contribution side if they have folks that have died 1, 5, 10 years ago and are unaware of it?  Who is receiving the quarterly statements or required communications?  Who is cashing the checks that are being sent to them?  Un-cashed checks present a huge issue that all record keepers and custodians have to deal with.  The costs internally to support this issue are astronomical and oftentimes are not streamlined.  An example was provided of a mid-size record keeper who has over 23,000 stale dated checks each year.

The cost to support that effort is over $250,000 each year.  The risk to record keepers or custodians by failing to have a solution for their clients is that they will hear from plan sponsor clients individually that want it addressed a different way.  In one way or another, the record keeper or custodian is going to have to be involved anyway by taking phone calls, reissuing checks, etc.  Having a streamlined process will help reduce risks and costs as well.  Un-cashed checks come in all shapes and sizes and each may have a unique end destination which may include escheat to the states.  Having a documented strategy by the type of checks will reduce not only the questions you receive from internal audit and compliance, but also help defend yourself should the regulators come knocking.

RCP Solutions also exhibited at the conference and discussed ways in which to  help providers and plan sponsors understand these issues and execute on programs to resolve them.  By being proactive, record keepers and custodians are able to reduce unwanted costs and the exposure to regulatory risks.  RCP Solutions realizes that these risks are not a one size fits all and differ from one record keeper or custodian to the next.  Understanding the unique challenges that each entity faces while reducing risks and costs are how RCP Solutions helps.

Go from SPARK Forum back to the Blog

The Department of Labor (DOL) has indicated that they are going to increase the scrutiny of Trustees by auditing all of their activities and expenses to terminate a plan of any Sponsor who has filed for Chapter 7 or Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.  Bankruptcy Trustees take on the fiduciary liability formerly held by the Plan Sponsor and is responsible for the timely and accurate dissolution of the Plans assigned to them.

RCP Solutions exhibited at the conference along with our partner, Bankruptcy Management Solutions (BMS) and discussed ways in which we can assist Bankruptcy Trustees to terminate plans for them.

By being proactive and using RCP Solutions, Bankruptcy Trustees are able to reduce unwanted costs and the potential for additional and costly regulatory risks.

Go from Bankruptcy Conference back to the Blog

Plan Sponsors often face the difficult challenge of resolving un-cashed checks from terminated participants that requested them and failed to cash them or had the check returned as undeliverable. Working with Plan Sponsors and Recordkeepers, RCP Solutions customizes programs to reduce the risks and costs associated with un-cashed check issues, as well as, plan terminations and locating the whereabouts of missing terminated participants.

RCP Solutions was well received by the audience of plan sponsors that attended the 401k conference.

Their knowledge of their fiduciary duties has increased and understand that it’s no longer acceptable to simply say that "my recordkeeper handles that for me."

In this day and age of enhanced scrutiny by internal audit and regulators, plan sponsors can no longer risk a passive approach which could harm their companies reputational risk.

Go from 401k Conference back to the Blog

Go back to the RCP Solutions Homepage

RCP Solutions recently created a partnership with rollover provider, Centier Bank.  With this partnership, RCP Solutions has expanded the options available to their clients for distributing final assets in a plan termination.

In terminating a defined contribution plan, like a 401(k) plan, RCP Solutions provides all required communication steps with plan participants as stated in the Department of Labor’s FAB 2004-02 guidelines.  At the end of the process, the plan sponsor or recordkeeper has the choice of where any final assets which weren’t resolved in the FAB process will reside.  Providing flexibility and options for the client if they don’t have a preferred provider allows them to choose the rollover provider that works best for them.

A key benefit with Centier Bank is that they don’t have a minimum threshold to rollover assets, so clients can rollover accounts less than $1000.  In addition, Centier Bank is a pioneer of the safe harbor rollover provider program created by the Department of Labor Section 657(c) which took effect in March of 2005.

Go from Rollover Provider Partnership back to the Blog

Go back to the RCP Solutions Homepage

Lisa had stopped by the RCP Solutions booth to discuss particular areas of risk and compliance concerns that face Plan Sponsors on a daily basis.

With an ever changing regulatory climate, Plan Sponsors need to be focused more than ever on making sure that their plans are in good standing.

As a retirement risk and compliance company, RCP Solutions helps companies solve issues dealing with terminated participants, un-cashed check mitigation and terminating defined contribution plans.

By addressing these risks and providing an audit trail, areas of concern from a risk perspective can be reduced dramatically.

With regards to a plan termination, there are specific Department of Labor steps that need to be followed in order to properly terminate a plan.

Simply mailing out to a population to make their distribution and rolling over the missing and non responders is not compliant and is often overlooked by Plan Sponsors.

The Plan Sponsor is then left to deal with any fall out for failure to comply with the necessary steps.

With un-cashed checks stemming from participant requests or as part of a force out written into the plan document, internal audit or regulators identify this population and look for resolution.

RCP Solutions works to come up with a strategy to mitigate this issue for plan sponsors and reduce their risks.

As a risk and compliance firm, RCP Solutions works to maintain compliance for Plan Sponsors and effectively communicate with participants.

Go from Plan Sponsor iPad Winner back to the Blog

Go back to the RCP Solutions Homepage

TPA’s are often the trusted source where their plan sponsor clients go to learn how best to address terminating a plan, reducing uncashed checks and resolving missing participant issues to reduce their fiduciary risks. As a risk and compliance company specializing in retirement plan management solutions, RCP offers services to address these issues that provide value for TPA’s with their clients.

Go from iPad Winner Don Powers from Abacus back to the Blog

Go back to the RCP Solutions Homepage

The National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees (NABT) Conference – RCP Solutions’ Retirement Plan Management Services division attended the Spring Seminar in Santa Monica, CA from March 25-27.  RCP Solutions exhibited with its partner, Bankruptcy Management Solutions (BMS).  Both companies recently partnered to offer a new service to ease the burden Trustees have to terminate defined contribution plans required due to BAPCPA.  The service was well received by Trustees and is designed as an outsourced solution for Trustees to reduce administrative costs, risks, management and the challenges of each unique defined contribution plan.

American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA) 401(k) Conference – RCP Solutions’ Retirement Plan Management Services division attended the 401(k) Summit in Las Vegas, NV from March 6-8.  The conference provided RCP Solutions with the opportunity to exhibit and discuss our services with retirement advisors and other retirement professionals.  The advisor and retirement professional community are under increased risk and scrutiny to maintain accurate information within active retirement plans to reduce the risks of their plans sponsor fiduciary clients.  Some of the other challenges this community faces on a regular basis are the treatment of uncashed checks as well as the ability to terminate a plan.

Go from RCP Solutions Attends Conferences back to the Blog

Go back to the RCP Solutions Homepage

“We are delighted to be expanding our service platform to further serve the needs of bankruptcy fiduciaries tasked with navigating the complexities of terminated or abandoned plans,” said Dorothy Flynn, Chief Executive Officer of RCP Solutions. “This is a true partnership enabling two best in class providers to collaborate on a specific category within our capabilities while continuing to operate separately. By integrating solutions, RCP and BMS will streamline participant outreach and location, determination of eligibility, payment of benefits, payment of plan expenses, preparation of reports for participants, and compliance with the Internal Revenue Code and the Department of Labor guidelines. Our combined expertise will offer fiduciaries a one‐stop‐shop solution reducing the burden of performing these obligations as the administrator of employee benefit plans after a company files bankruptcy as defined by Section 704(a)(11) in the Bankruptcy Code”.

“This is an exciting program that will deliver enhanced products and services to our clients” said Raquel Edwards, BMS’s Chief Operating Officer. “Terminating a plan is, unfortunately, becoming increasingly common in our current economic environment. While many fiduciaries and advisors look to follow general guidelines for terminating defined contribution and benefit plans, the process can be time‐ consuming, as well as administratively and legally complex”.

“We are excited to partner with RCP Solutions,” Ms. Edwards continued, “RCP is an organization with extensive experience in managing ERISA compliance and, 401(k) plan terminations. RCP’s experience will be invaluable to fiduciaries and will ensure they are compliant with the Department of Labor guidelines while terminating abandoned plans and, will assist with the location of missing participants quickly and efficiently.”

About RCP Solutions

Risk compliance Performance (RCP) Solutions specializes in risk management, compliance, communications and outreach programs that drive performance and positively impact the bottom line.
We are a women‐owned business and our executive team has more than 100 years of combined experience in a variety of industries and disciplines bringing a wealth of knowledge, excellence and innovation to all of our services. Driven by state‐of‐the‐art technology solutions, we integrate the many facets of business, risk, compliance and management to achieve the best results for our clients. For more information, please visit us at, www.rcp‐solutions.com

About Bankruptcy Management Solutions

For over 20 years, Bankruptcy Management Solutions, Inc. (BMS) has been the industry’s leading bankruptcy case administration software provider. Our software solutions support the administrative and legislative requirements of Chapter 7 trustees, as well as a variety of bankruptcy fiduciaries. BMS understands the complexities involved in bankruptcy and has developed practical and easy‐to‐use solutions that automate and streamline bankruptcy administration, making trustees and other fiduciaries more productive and profitable.

Go from RCP/BMS Partnership back to the Blog

Go back to the RCP Solutions Homepage