Generally, we’ll issue you a TIAA contract when we receive a completed application or enrollment form in good order. ‘‘Good order’’ means actual receipt of the transaction request along with all information and supporting legal documentation necessary to effect the transaction. This information and documentation generally includes your complete application and any other information or supporting documentation we may require. With respect to purchase requests, ‘‘good order’’ also generally includes receipt of sufficient funds by us to effect the transaction. We may, in our sole discretion, determine whether any particular transaction request is in good order and reserve the right to change or waive any good order requirement at any time either in general or with respect to a particular plan, contract or transaction.
If your application is incomplete and we do not receive the necessary
information and signed application in good order within five business days of our receipt of the initial premium, we will return the initial premium at that time.
If we receive premiums from your employer and, where applicable, a completed application from you before we receive your specific allocation instructions (or if your allocation instructions violate employer plan restrictions or do not total 100%), we will invest all premiums remitted on your behalf in the default option your employer has designated. It is possible that the default option will not be the Real Estate Account but will be another investment option
available under your plan. We consider your employer’s designation of a default option to be an instruction to us to allocate your premiums to that option as described above. You should consult your plan documents or sales
representative to determine your employer’s designated default option and to obtain information about that option. Further, to the extent you hold an IRA contract, the default option will be that fund or account specified in your IRA forms.
When we receive complete allocation instructions from you in good order, we’ll follow your instructions for future premiums. However, if you want the premiums previously allocated to the default option (and earnings and losses on them) to be transferred to the options identified in your instructions, you must specifically request that we transfer these amounts from the default option to your
investment option choices.
Amounts may be invested in an account other than the Real Estate Account (absent a participant’s specific instructions) only in the limited circumstances identified in the paragraph immediately above and the circumstances outlined
below on page 126 under ‘‘How to transfer and withdraw your money — Restrictions on Premiums and Transfers to the Account’’ namely: (1) we receive premiums before we receive your completed application or allocation instructions, (2) a participant’s allocations violate employer plan restrictions or do not total 100%, or (3) we stop accepting premiums for and/or transfers into the Account.
TIAA doesn’t generally restrict the amount or frequency of payment of premiums to your contract, although we may in the future. Your employer’s retirement plan may limit your premium amounts. There also may be restrictions on remitting premiums on an IRA. In addition, the Code limits the total annual premiums you may invest in plans qualified for favorable tax treatment. If you want to directly contribute personal premiums under the contractual provisions of your RA contract, you will be issued an ATRA contract. Premiums and any earnings on the ATRA contract will not be subject to your employer’s retirement plan. The restrictions relating to these premiums are in the contract itself.
In most cases (subject to any restriction we may impose, as described in this prospectus), TIAA accepts premiums to a contract during your accumulation period. Once your first premium has been paid, your TIAA contract can’t lapse or be forfeited for nonpayment of premiums. However, TIAA can stop accepting premiums to the Real Estate Account at any time.
You may remit premium payments to the following address: P.O. Box 1259, Charlotte, N.C. 28201.
Note that we cannot accept money orders or travelers checks. In addition, we will not accept a third-party check where the relationship of the payor to the account owner cannot be identified from the face of the check.
You will receive a confirmation statement each time you make a transfer to, a transfer out, or a cash withdrawal from the Account. The statement will show the date and amount of each transaction. However, if you’re remitting premiums through an employer or other qualified plan, using an automatic investment plan or systematic withdrawal plan, you may instead receive a statement confirming those transactions following the end of each calendar quarter.
If you have any accumulations in the Account, you will be sent a statement in each quarter which sets forth the following information:
(1) Premiums paid during the quarter;
(2) The number and dollar value of accumulation units in the Account credited to you during the quarter and in total;
(3) Cash withdrawals, if any, from the Account during the quarter; and (4) Any transfers during the quarter.
You also will receive reports containing the financial statements of the Account and certain information about the Account’s investments.