Vanguard's Ongoing Website Issues May Be Its 'Worst Tech Screw-up' Ever: Source

Anyone calling the firm's general phone number Wednesday hears a recorded message from Vanguard CEO Tim Buckley, noting that the firm is "receiving an exceptionally high number of calls right now. … Someone will be with you as soon as we can [and] you can get immediate access to account and fund information at Vanguard.com."

Callers can stay on hold or get a call back. This reporter did receive a call back and was told that the firm's third-party problems are continuing, and there is not as yet a set time for when they will be fixed; Vanguard clients will be notified when that happens, probably through email.

On Monday, Vanguard posted this message on its website that could be accessed by investors once they logged in: "Due to a third-party service provider interruption, certain statements, confirmations, and tax forms are currently unavailable via our website and mobile application. Transaction history is up to date and can be used to confirm the status of your transactions, deposits or other account details. Certain mailings and requests for checks by mail may also be delayed. Our teams are actively working to resolve this issue and we apologize for the inconvenience."

"It's a nightmare,"  Wiener said. "This is the worst possible time for something like this to happen."

Days before year-end is a crucial period for investors to take capital losses for tax purposes, ensure they have taken required minimum distributions for year-end accounts, and make deposits to tax-free retirement accounts. Thus, it's important for them to know the account details this week in order to make those moves.