Frequently Asked Questions

Please contact an investment provider from your plan's approved provider list to establish your account. To view the approved vendors that pertain to your district, visit 403bcompare.com. Under "Find Employer," type in the name of your district. Once you've selected your district, you can select any provider under "Approved Vendors." We recommend that you research the various offerings and select what works best, based on your investment goals and individual financial needs. Once the account has been established, complete a Salary Reduction Agreement (SRA) form to begin payroll deductions.

Please allow 5-7 business days for the authorization of Distributions/Rollovers, Exchanges, Loans or Hardships and 3-5 business days for the processing of 403(b)/457(b) Salary Reduction Agreement forms. You may also contact a retirement plan representative for the status of a transaction at (800) 462-8328, ext. 4727. If you provide your email address on our form, you will receive a confirmation email once your transaction has been authorized and forwarded to your investment provider. For Salary Reduction Agreements, you will receive an email confirmation if your email address was provided on the form.

No, you do not need to update your district of any changes you have made via an SRA form or online. We will notify your district of any changes processed.

Please contact the provider who holds your 403(b)/457(b) account directly for balance inquiries.

PlanVue is a tool that will allow you to process SRA changes only. Balances listed on Plan Vue only reflect funds that have been remitted by SchoolsFirst Retirement Plan Administration to your investment provider and will not account for gains/losses.

If you meet a qualifying distributable event (Ex: age 59½ or older or separation of service/retirement), you may access funds. If you do not meet a qualifying event but need access to funds, we can explore other options, such as taking a loan against your 403(b)/457(b) plan. If eligible, we can also explore a hardship or unforeseeable emergency distribution.

Funds may be returned by an investment provider when an employee has not opened an account under the sponsoring employer, when an employee has closed the account due to a full distribution/exchange, or for another reason. When this happens, SchoolsFirst Plan Administration will work with the employee to resolve the issue. If the issue cannot be resolved in a timely manner, the funds will need to be returned to the employer for a payroll adjustment. SchoolsFirst Plan Administration does not have the ability to withhold the proper payroll taxes or perform tax reporting.

SchoolsFirst Plan Administration manages all Salary Reduction Agreement changes and uses the data in our system to validate the amounts received by the district. Once an employee makes a deferral change, a Deferral Change Report is generated for the district to pull from the PlanVue website for processing, which eliminates the need for the employee to provide individual forms to the district.

If an employee requests that you sign paperwork related to the 403(b) or 457(b) plans, please contact us or ask the employee to contact us for guidance.

If you receive any communication from an investment provider for the 403(b) and/or 457(b) plan, please email a copy to us at RPA@schoolsfirstfcu.org for review.

If you identify that funds need to be returned to your district as a result of an administrative error, please contact us as soon as possible by calling (800) 462-8328, ext. 4727, or email RPA@schoolsfirstfcu.org. Please do not enter a negative amount on your file in an attempt to force the recall, as this can delay the processing of your retirement remittance.