Is the NEA Raising Fees on Direct Invest 403(b)?

The fine print on a webpage related to the program may have jumped the gun

When a member of the 403bwise.org Facebook group asked whether the NEA Direct Invest 403(b) product charges 0.45% on money invested in the Vanguard funds the answer was an unequivocal no.

Then the member delivered the goods…a website link to Security Benefit (the distributor of the NEA Direct Invest product) where it was very clearly stated that their is an additional fee on Vanguard funds and an additional $20 per year fee (presumably on top of the $35 fee) for accounts with balances less than $25,000. The picture that accompanies this post is a screenshot. The link to these potential new fees (they are not currently being charged) is here, you’ll need to scroll down about 2/3rds.

Since I know these fees are not being charged currently because I’ve not been made aware of them via correspondence (my wife is an account holder), this makes me wonder if they are in fact getting ready to announce a change.

I called both Security Benefit and the NEA Member Benefits hotline and was told by both that they are not aware of any fee changes. I was asked to email them to get further clarification. I was connected to a product manager who seemed very surprised by the question and refused to give me a declarative answer, I found that strange.

I’ll update this when/if I receive a response.

8.31 - no response, but there is an update, here.

Scott