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

[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.

[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

[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.