compliance officer

senior compliance officer

planning consultant

consultant

customer service representative

Ascensus


If your need money ASAP, have financial goals that need to be accomplished in a timely manner, this is  place to start. Working at this company is not for the weak. If you struggle with multitasking, quick thinking, problem solving, patience and kindness regardless to how you’re being treated then keep looking for a job, even for the cash you wouldn’t last long! This is a typical 8hr job where you can easily go to work, clock in, play politics and go home. What makes this career choice uneasy is management, departments, callers, and plan policy. This is my first introduction to 529’s, because of working here I’m very uncertain and on the fence about opening one. I’ve watched account owners get screwed followed by loved ones. This company seems to be the main source of where everyone nationwide has a 529 plan unfortunately, the system is poorly designed and even as the agent assisting callers most times is very hard to explain situations which make the experience for the caller and agent harsh and uncomfortable. In the callers eyes we are scamming them because most of the employees are misinformed and not trained properly. You literally have to think outside of the box to last at this company. Come up with your own tricks, notes, etc just to back yourself up during calls. There is a chat where you ask questions however, the leaders barely read your question, respond with half answers or a completely different answer that has nothing to do with your question, or they respond with sarcasm but however it supposed to be a friendly environment and it’s not. The departments don’t do their jobs so most of the calls are you being screamed at about cases that aren’t your fault , but if the department did their jobs the caller wouldn’t be so frustrated. The companies policy isn’t customer friendly so a lot of the calls are people going off on you , rude, nasty, mean, cursing at the agent. Management doesn’t know what they are doing , you will notice regularly employees “playing high positions” like “escalations” “Special handling” and giving the wrong information. You will have to take on uncomfortable legal matters like death of account owners, it’s not easy , each scenario is different, and management expects you to treat those calls as an expert when in reality you shouldn’t have to handle those calls. You will find yourself taking on many roles with just one base pay. As the weeks go, months, your supervisor will pack more on your belt and sweet talk you saying how your so awesome that’s why we are giving this to you, blah blah blah but it’s all manipulation to keep you settled and not mad and asking for a raise. When callers are rude with you , your on your own, escalations will let the calls ring so they won’t have to handle them. There is a guide your supposed to reference for support however management picks and chooses when to apply the rules from the guide so technically speaking it’s not a true guide. A lot of plan policy, a lot of rules and specifics , language is kind of hard to understand, you may have to research outside of the job or on google just to understand what your telling the callers. The process to get things done is super long for no reason, sending escalations an email, writing questions in the chat, it’s like a controlling method! There is no reason why you should have to do so much unnecessary work to get tiny task done, plus the company gives you absolutely no time so your forced to hold the caller on the line feeling rushed and anxious while they wait. The financial advisors are rude also, so this is what I will say, by the time you know it it’s pay day, by the time you know it it’s time to clock out, by the time you know it it’s Friday, if you can make it through the day, the hour the week, each time is a goal accomplished, it’s not easy!!! You have to bite your tongue and play politics and figure out what tricks work for you and keep them for yourself! Trust no one that you work with!! Don’t expect any perks, raises, kudos, praises , when you go above and beyond just know the lord is watching, you won’t get credit from the bosses and crew but just know your doing what you can and the best you can!! What’s to be will be! Also be prepared to never truly get time off, yes the company gives PTO however that PTO is sicktime, internet interruptions, and vacation time. The ruling system they have for calling out, being late, etc is very cruel and unrealistic! They block majority of the months and only leave you with like a few days in the year to sign up for PTO. Most of the months in the year is blocked off and if you call out on a Monday or Tuesday for what ever reason you have to personally reach out to the CEO of the company, I guess this is to scare you from calling out! They make you feel so bad for calling out because apparently there are a lot of call outs but that’s not your fault, if you had to call out then you can’t worry about why everyone else isn’t at work! Btw calls are nonstop no room to breath, grab water, use the bathroom, cool down from a long draining call or bad caller the calls are non stop and the 45 secs they give you in between calls count against you!! Adherence is not counted fairly, a lot of loops and holes that make things difficult for you to meet expectations. The call system doesn’t have a bathroom switch so if you need to use the restroom your forced to switch to break code which makes it look like your just using your break time, so you don’t technically get a 15 minute break if your using your break every now and then to use the bathroom you would have to take that from your break time. It’s like you’re working in a prison for 8 hours! 
They want you to give them a doctor’s notice as to why you have to use the bathroom outside of your lunch break and 2 fifteen min breaks which is not realistic! Plus your adherence score lowers if you aren’t taking your breaks at the right times so imagine how low your score is just from using the bathroom! If the system glitches it makes it look like you refused calls when you didn’t. The points system for attendance is also not fair! I can go on for days! This is a good place to work at to reach your goals in a season of rebuilding credit, paying loans, catching up on bills, saving for wedding etc. however if you could find another way please do! I’ve made it this far so it is possible but you do have to be very strategic and wise to make it through! Ive had many nights of crying or breaking down while on the job! It’s not worth your mental health if you can avoid this! Don’t be fooled training is not how the floor is! Blessings to all! 

I want to begin by saying that this is a call center job. If you've never worked on one, I recommend researching. It is your typical run-of-the-mill call center position. Prioritizing metrics and quantity over quality.

It will be different if you are looking to get this job and come from a different customer service field, such as hospitality. Callers will appreciate caring and attentive service, but the center will not, as it doesn't pertain to its metrics. You will receive tips such as responding, "I am good; how can I help you?" to friendly callers. 

If you are interested in straightforward customer service, this is for you; however, if you're more empathetic or you're the social type who likes building rapport with customers, this might not be for you.

There is nothing wrong with this kind of customer service in its own right. The problem arises with you and the attention you feel comfortable giving customers.

I am far too empathetic for this kind of service, which is a fault within myself for this job.

I like to describe it as the fast food of customer service—fast food in the context of your attention to customers: quick and "cheap." I have worked in several fast food joints in the past, and I find that you can do more when interacting with customers there than in call centers.

If I had to choose, I would rather be bored than stressed at a job. Monotonous, repetitive work is not a deal breaker for me, but I know it is for many people.

The company offers good pay, starting at $19 an hour. In my experience, the company truly likes to let its employees grow. While there, I saw people promoted to team leads, managers, agility representatives, and QA. 
I was originally hired to work in a specific department, but I was switched to a different one mid-onboarding. This led to my training being a tad bit more rushed, but I managed.

I became an agility representative, receiving a raise bumping me to $21 an hour; however, everything began to fall apart for me when I took this jump.

My biggest recommendation is that if you are happy & comfortable with the department you are in, do NOT accept agility. I am sure it can depend on each department but from my experience and what I had heard from other coworkers, when you say yes to agility, you are MOVED to the other department as your home department, very rarely taking calls on your original department.

If you are unhappy with your current department, this can be good! 

I was happy with my previous department; I loved it, and it gratified me. When I agreed to agility, this was after a lot of convincing from my manager and leads. I was told I would only occasionally assist the new department, only to be told it was the opposite once it was too late for me to back out.

I really disliked my new department & despite multiple meetings of me asking to be demoted, I was denied.

I want to say that Ascensus is a massive company with multiple departments. My experience with agility could differ from yours. I only want to warn others.

A big issue is the chat support. It is assumed you did not use your resources before reaching out for help, leading to longer hold times while you explain you did attempt to locate the answer. At times, I found that they would not even read my full question and would give a response that had nothing to do with my question or it was something I already knew and applied to the matter, but it did not suffice/apply. Not only is this frustrating for you & the caller, but this goes back to metrics: they want you to keep calls short, but chat support leads to longer calls. You are only allowed 4 minutes of hold each time. At times I'd go the full 4 minutes without response. Sometimes I'd go 8 minutes without a response, only for the response not to be applicable or just plain-out vague and unhelpful. Calls are expected to be around 6-7 minutes long, if I am waiting 8 minutes for a response, I already did not meet expectations for the call and it reflects badly on me. At times, I would not even receive a response...

You will get two paid 15-minute breaks and one unpaid 30-minute lunch. You will be scheduled for 8 hours and a half. Pay is biweekly, so you will receive a full 80-hour paycheck; you won't lose time due to your breaks, which is a big plus, in my opinion. Equipment is provided; you will not get reimbursed for Wi-Fi, though.

401-k is available.  Life insurance, identity protection & legal insurance are provided for free if my memory doesn't fail me. Decent PTO, stock market holidays are off & you also get an open holiday for PTO (for example, you can use this for your birthday). Your PTO and sick leave are the same, and you will get in trouble for calling in sick (this is on the HR side).

Do I recommend this job? Sure, if it's the best you have available or if you're using it as a stepping stone. That was the situation for me, at least back then, but there are way better jobs out there. Just note that I would not recommend call center jobs even to my worst enemy...




There are very few jobs here that are worthwhile. Unless you are an actuary/consultant or working on the ERISA Law side of things steer clear of this company altogether. This company refuses to promote any people of color and the management team is a bunch of bitter, wall-street has beens catfighting and condescending towards you. Especially steer clear of any job posting that requires you to sit on the phone all the time. This is a glorified call center for retirement accounts. It is equity owned and your raises and salary bonuses are going to the equity firm investors not you. The pay is at the minimum of the scale and they will literally tell you you aren't qualified even if you have 5 years experience. They always talk about going public but nobody in their right mind is investing in a retirement firm let alone a company that can't manage their own mutual funds. There is literally no real finance opportunities here and you do not need a college degree to complete the job. The management team doesn't understand how to retain customers and they refuse to invest in the highly skilled employees that will help them retain clients. The company management structure is relatively flat and therefore you will not be considered for a promotion unless you or someone else leaves. They will burn out a great employee in the minimum of year unless you are working on the consulting side. Stay as far away as possible. 

A Client Service Associate at Ascensus isn't a human being, there a robot. Excellence is measured through purely statistical criteria. How many calls you take, how long they are, how much break time do you take, how long are you unable to take calls, etc. The very last thing managers and company leaders care about is customer service and the well being of their customer service representatives. If you aren't regularly exceeding 80% in any of their various criteria then you'll be taken aside to explain how you're not performing to expectations and that you'll need to improve those numbers if you don't want to get written up. It doesn't matter if you give excellent customer service to everyone that calls in, if your taking to long with those calls your adherence will fall and you'll risk a write up. 

All of this while upper management reduces how long agents have between calls, the number of tasks they need to do when their not taking calls, and constant shake ups that have new managers rotating in and out disrupting what little team dynamics that manage to exist. 

Working at Ascensus I never once felt I was working on a team. I was just a cog in the machine, all that the company valued was the internal numbers, the Customer Service product was an afterthought.

A problem company is all this is. Constant changes done incorrectly cause nothing but irate clients and issues that you can't explain and are given no support. Ascensus continues to merge with other companies, taking on hundreds of thousands of accounts that their elementary software cannot handle. Accounts are broken up, merged when they aren't supposed to, clients are unable to register online, the horror continues. You are told to send this information to certain departments but everyone here wants to play hokey-pokey and pass off blame. No one has the integrity to actually fix the issues so that the same people aren't calling over and over and over. I'm sure the back end workers and management have no idea what they are doing either. If you have any sense of competency, just move on. The executives expect you to be so dumb because you are a "call center" worker that you won't be able to see how backwards, antiquated, and messy their entire "recordkeeping" practice is. If you are an employee, you are automatically enrolled into Ascensus' own 401k plan. I would take all of my money out. I would never hold any of my own money with this institution.

Get ready for a very lonely experience. If you work remotely as a Frontline representative for this company in retirement or 529 plans, you really need to look after your mental and physical health as this job will take you to the lowest you’ve been in your life. Clients and advisors are extremely rude and disrespectful, and you have zero support from your peers and management. Not only are you taking 60 to 100 inbound calls a day, you’re also emailing, sending forms, sending request for things to be mailed, faxing, having to call other departments, the list goes on. In this role, you’re expected to do the job of five people. A lot of people here are miserable and hate their jobs, work is passed along between people. We are an inbound center, and other employees will message you telling you to take a call just because somebody asked for you when it’s something they can do themselves. Other departments do nothing but leave notes on accounts and don’t communicate directly with clients. As a front line person it’s pretty much your job to do everyone else’s job. This becomes draining and annoying really quickly. 


The company does not value skills. They talk about ‘soft skills’ however most if not all managers at this company lack them. They are very elusive, difficult to communicate with and often times downright rude. Please take your mental energy elsewhere

Management is horrible. There’s no work life balance, and the work culture is awful. Don’t bother taking time off even one day off leads to you coming back to so much work. I instantly regret taking time off when I come back. You are required to have a back up person cover your work, so if you can’t find anyone good luck taking PTO. You lose what you don’t use and I’ve lost 7 days of PTO because this job is so busy and stressful. Management doesn’t care about grievances. Mental health and work morale is not a priority and they continue to pile on more and more working without hiring sufficient staff. I regret leaving my previous employer to work here. They’ve cut benefits such as the 401k match because of COVID. So it really makes it difficult to stay motivated to continue doing good work. The turnover rate is crazy people leave often. Additionally almost EVERY procedure here is manual and a lot of the work is offshored, which causes all kinds of errors and confusion. There aren’t sufficient workflow processes, very limited automation of processes that could easily become automated, and there are not enough quality controls so if mistakes are made they don’t come up until it’s too late.

Workload is ridiculous. Company has done extremely well, and has grown massively the past decade but what do you get for it besides more work? The more you stay, the more issues you see. No-one I know there who has worked longer than 2 years actually thinks positively about them. Insane expectations of being able to do X between basically back to back calls. Management expects every single second to be spent efficiently while actively creating harder processes and adopting bloated new systems.

Pay is also not worth it, lacking and if you’ve been here for years, they are now desperate enough to hire at 19 an hour so you’d barely make more with insulting nothing raises. There are people here for 5 years plus making ~21. Is this how a company that values its people, compensates them?

There is nothing for you here, it's a remote job if you can’t find any other one, but be warned they love preying on recent college grads to exploit their naivety. There's far better places to get your start, the odds aren't in your favor here. No one will recognize you in a way that matters, only superficially.  

Work on an exit strategy from the get-go. Say no to agility. 

This job experience has been challenging. The training involves excessive micromanagement, constant surveillance, even in breakout sessions. High turnover stems from the company's dishonest practices rather than the inherent demands of the role. Despite being a call center job with expected stress, poor management exacerbates the situation. My early encounters with deceitful behavior from my manager raise concerns about trust. While initially hopeful, it's apparent that the company targets vulnerable new grads, emphasizing benefits while lacking transparency and consistency between interviews and training. It's essential to scrutinize paperwork, constant surveillance, and promises made during interviews due to discrepancies in training.

Please read this review and understand that I'm very overqualified for this role and I only took it because I was looking for something to do while I finish my secondary education.  I am not exaggerating. About 50% of my team so far likely is going to quit after training is over.

I am only honest. I will only tell the truth, Ascenus does not. 

Be sure to read all of the paperwork you sign and write down every promise they make you. Keep a paper trail because you'll need it later.

If you are in any kind of client service or operational role, you WILL be stressed out consistently. You can kiss goodbye any semblance of work/life balance - be prepared to work an exhausting 9-10 hours a day WITHOUT any sense of accomplishment. The company should show some concern to the over-worked and under-trained employees (under-staffed departments as well) I tried so hard everyday, but it was useless and depressing. Please do not apply at any client servicing or operation position unless you want to work almost 50 hours a week with minimal training and assistance. I honestly wish I could be more positive about this company - I had such high hopes. I know people who have been here for years, and they all admit it is stressful and difficult but at least they're getting promotions and working in decent departments. HR and Management really make it seem like it's sunshine and rainbows at the interview... Additionally, they will mention working from home a couple days a week (awesome, right?) but you WILL NOT, they always come up with excuses. Nobody in the entire department did, even though they basically promise it during interviews. Disaster! Feeling so much more relieved and happy I left.

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