Pension Provider wont talk to me about consolidation

[Dodsy]

Just looking for a bit of advice about how to deal with a pension company. I have had a lot of jobs over the years as I pushed my career on , this has left me with a total of 8 personal pensions. 4 of them happen to be with the same provider. Looking at each scheme there doesnt seem to be anything special about them and I would like to consolidate them all into one pot still with the same provider.

I called them up and they said they would need to write to me. The letter says basically they cant talk to me only my financial advisor.Nothing can be transferred , consolidated or moved unless my financial advisor writes to them and gives it the ok. They would not carry out any actions that I asked for.

Rightly or wrongly I dont have a financial advisor, can they do this ? My first reaction was to simply send them a request to transfer all the funds from all schemes to one of my other providers but before doing so I thought it worth asking for some free PH advice. I suspect they will block any attempt to transfer the funds, if that happens what do I do next ? I assume I would need to go to court to force them to give up the money ?

Any advice welcome

ETA: These are all fairly small amounts from early in my career making up 15% of my total current pension pot, none are SERPS payments.

Edited by Dodsy on Sunday 20th July 10:04

[RichS]

I'd talk to an IFA. You say they "seem" to all be the same, and they may well be, but isn't it sensible to make sure? Could be quite a whack of money.

They're probably covering themselves for just this reason, so you can't later claim you didn't know what you were doing and that it was all a mistake in which they were complicit.

Plus an IFA should be able to help you maybe consolidate all 8 into one pot with a low fee?

[Welshbeef]

Check out what the transfer cost is for each one as they are not low and some you may decide to not consolidate due to these high costs.


Also think about not putting all eggs into one basket some could perform better than others and the remember one could go bust which would then be covered by the Govt pension scheme protection.

If you have final salary or career average - don't move them no matter how small

But talk to an IFA get yourself covered and all questions answered

[RESSE]

I am surprised they are refusing to provide information to you.

Have you asked for a reasons why?

Under the Treating Customer Fairly Rules (TCF) established by the Financial Services Authority (now the Financial Conduct Authority) you may be able to register a complaint against the product provider as I do not think they are treating you fairly?

As Welshbeef has said you should be able to obtain and they should provide a transfer (and if unit linked, a fund value).

There could be penalties in transferring to one of your other pension providers (if the pensions are 'With Profits' a market value adjustment (reduction in the value) maybe applied on transfer).

If unit linked, there could be a delay in exiting the fund(s) you are invested in (e.g. Property based funds).

I do not believe they are treating you fairly and would want any communications from them in WRITING.

Failing that speak to the FCA:

http://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/complaints-and-com...

[Dodsy]

Ok, so I should pass it by an IFA so will look into to that. I'll get them to write to me with all the details of all the pensions then get a professional opinion. I *think* it will be the same as my view and my original plan to simply consolidate all the pots into a single one but keep with the same provider to avoid transfer fees.

While it looks simple on paper , and I was trying to avoid paying someone to do it for me, I bow to the PH wisdom and will get myself an IFA.

[Ginge R]

Dodsy,

I'm an IFA, you can do this yourself - if they get stroppy, politely ask to speak with the complaints department (it wasn't Scottish Widows is it??!!). Many companies are now hugely risk averse due to pension liberation but that aside, copy/paste/edit this as you think appropriate.

It's a very basic list of questions mind, so forgive me for taking no responsibility for any omissions that later may disadvantage you.

Dear Mr Pension Company,

Ref: Dodsy
Plan No(s):
National Insurance No:

Please take this letter as my signed request to learn a little more about the pensions that I have invested with you. You have previously declined to assist me, something which I feel is contrary to the principles that the FCA compels you to abide by.

I do not have a financial adviser and I wish to undertake a review of my savings and investments so I would be grateful if you would provide the necessary full data to allow me to do so. Please provide following information:

Specific type of pension (stakeholder/SIPP etc)
Date of Joining and Leaving Service/Scheme(s)
Levels of contributions
Normal Retirement Date (NRD) declared
Current Fund and Transfer Value
Allocation of funds
Projected Fund Value at NRD or detailed charge structure
Current Investment Fund(s)
Details of any Guarantees attached – Annuity Rate, Pension at NRD, Fund at NRD, Fund Growth Rate used
Any Transfers In from previous employment, with any restrictions

We shall look forward to receiving this at your earliest convenience. If there are any questions or comments please let me know.

Yours aye,

Dodsy

[Dodsy]

Ginge R said:

Dodsy,

I'm an IFA, you can do this yourself - if they get stroppy, politely ask to speak with the complaints department (it wasn't Scottish Widows is it??!!). Many companies are now hugely risk averse due to pension liberation but that aside, copy/paste/edit this as you think appropriate.

It's a very basic list of questions mind, so forgive me for taking no responsibility for any omissions that later may disadvantage you.

Dear Mr Pension Company,

Ref: Dodsy
Plan No(s):
National Insurance No:

Please take this letter as my signed request to learn a little more about the pensions that I have invested with you. You have previously declined to assist me, something which I feel is contrary to the principles that the FCA compels you to abide by.

I do not have a financial adviser and I wish to undertake a review of my savings and investments so I would be grateful if you would provide the necessary full data to allow me to do so. Please provide following information:

Specific type of pension (stakeholder/SIPP etc)
Date of Joining and Leaving Service/Scheme(s)
Levels of contributions
Normal Retirement Date (NRD) declared
Current Fund and Transfer Value
Allocation of funds
Projected Fund Value at NRD or detailed charge structure
Current Investment Fund(s)
Details of any Guarantees attached – Annuity Rate, Pension at NRD, Fund at NRD, Fund Growth Rate used
Any Transfers In from previous employment, with any restrictions

We shall look forward to receiving this at your earliest convenience. If there are any questions or comments please let me know.

Yours aye,

Dodsy

excellent place to start :-) Thx

[RESSE]

Good letter.

PS Post it via Royal Mail Special Delivery/Recorded Delivery.

[The Leaper]

You could give The Pensions Advisory Service a call. They are a not-for-profit quango financed by UK pension plans and the DWP, and their objective is to be the go-to place for members of the public seeking information and help with any pension matter. Their services are totally free. They do not give specific financial advice.

You'll be asking them for advice etc regarding the intransience of the insurance company in dealing with your problem.

More info and contact details are here:

http://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/

R.

[Simpo Two]

I just wrote to mine and said I was no longer working with an IFA so from now on they'd be dealing with me, and to take the previous monkeys (no offence Ginge!) off the paperwork. They were happy with that so now I can ring them up and get whatever bumph I need.

I know little about the intricacies of pensions but my simple peasant view is that it's my money, I'm the customer and so ultimately I call the shots.

[Ginge R]

No offence taken - good and bad IFA around!

[RichS]

So (and apologies for the slight derail) how much should I pay for an IFA? I have a pension of £250,000 which he's sorted for me, moving it from Aviva; an ISA; some health insurance, both of which he's set up; and potentially some "what do I do with my bonus" advice each year. He charges £100 a month and there's no commissions (he says). I do believe him. My finances aren't exactly complex though.

[Ginge R]

The Leaper said:

You could give The Pensions Advisory Service a call. They are a not-for-profit quango financed by UK pension plans and the DWP, and their objective is to be the go-to place for members of the public seeking information and help with any pension matter. Their services are totally free. They do not give specific financial advice.

You'll be asking them for advice etc regarding the intransience of the insurance company in dealing with your problem.

More info and contact details are here:

http://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/

R.

You raise a very interesting point, and a prescient one. TPAS and MAS are quangos funded by the likes of, erm.. me via the financial levy I pay (game face on). MAS in particular has been roundly condemned for being a pointless money pit - the 2014 budget though has provided it with a raison d'etre.

At the time of the budget Osborne made much of there being free face to face advice for everyone at the point of retirement and everyone promptly laughed. The overheads alone are such that this would be akin to public sector loss making on British Leyland levels.

The face to face aspect at retirement has changed, but today we'll see news being rolled out of how it's going to be delivered. How to transition from working to retirement won't be face to face but you'll get 30 minutes or so on the phone with someone in a call centre. If it *is*going to be called advice, best they be as qualified and as accountable as I am.

Because I surely couldn't establish enough in 30 minutes over the phone to be able to advise anyone.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-28396953

[Ginge R]

RichS said:

So (and apologies for the slight derail) how much should I pay for an IFA? I have a pension of £250,000 which he's sorted for me, moving it from Aviva; an ISA; some health insurance, both of which he's set up; and potentially some "what do I do with my bonus" advice each year. He charges £100 a month and there's no commissions (he says). I do believe him. My finances aren't exactly complex though.

Rich,

Depends what's in the ISA and what the insurance was all about, etc. Most advisers will take some money for the initial advice, the actual transaction (in your case, the transfer from Aviva etc) and the ongoing management - all components are seperate. Transferring the pension presents the biggest single/liability cost issue with you I suspect. From the looks of it, he's charging you 0.5% pa which looks reasonable - if he's working for it.

If your investments are doing what they want you to do because of decent stewardship, then it's money well spent. If not, then continue to pay him and work with him, or sack him. Many investors do manage their own wealth but many of them limit the scope of their insight into reseearching one or two funds that they like, and miss the big picture.

Remember too, that there is also an underlying cost with your new pension provider so it's not just the adviser who is being paid. In the olde days, advisers would say that their services came for free and of course, you were quietly paying for him/her via your investments all along. And that's one of the reasons why old style IFA are despised so much. I got fleeced back in the 80s too, so I'm not best pleased with the florid and languid BMW clad 60 somethings I see at seminars lamenting the passing of the "good old days".

I can't say if you're getting good *value* - the adviser's job these days isn't to simply pick investments with forward thinking insight, it's to layer and set up investments to be contingent for all manner of eventualities and aspirations. Hopefully though, your ISA and (new) pension will be as competitively priced and as suitable as absolutely possible. If so, then the 0.5% is money well spent, if not, then it's wasted. The adviser's cost base has gone through the roof as well, so the more complex and involved your needs, then so too, is that reflected in the cost.

Make sure that you have a structure for your annual review meetings and that they aren't just an opportunity to top up your funds and be sold some more insurance. Try and become informed about retirement/risk (advisers see it differently to clients) and your investment process - are you saving money and nicking a few quid around the ages wisely by fusing any active investments with passive funds for instance?

The jury is still out on that, but increasingly, it's making sense - the Local Government Pension Scheme declared the other week that it was going to go ALL passive in one go , the Cornish (I think) left its hedge fund (wise move if you ask me) and the Isle of Wight scheme is going to become more independent, establishing its own strategy and tactics..

Are you funds suitable not only for your inclination for risk, but also your capacity for loss and for each and every contingencies that you've got lined up? Establish benchmarks and although you can't guage it over one year alone, try to ensure that your performance parameters are being met and that you're on target. If not, ask some spicy questions - clients these days are more informed than they've ever been. Sometimes and for some advisers, uncomfortably so and rather too much?!

[Dodsy]

Now the next question - how to find an IFA ?. I found this site http://www.vouchedfor.co.uk/ , is there anywhere else I should be looking ? I will ask around but I dont think anyone I know has an IFA.

[Ginge R]

Here you go.

http://www.unbiased.co.uk/

Tap in your postcode.

[Mr Trophy]

Just to reiterate Ginge's post.

Make sure that if your Adviser is charging you x amount, make sure you have something from him on what you're actually getting for that x amount each year.