Equitable Life Policyholders - Happy New Year?

Equitable Life Policyholders - Happy New Year?

Author
Discussion

21TonyK

11,494 posts

208 months

Friday 7th February 2020
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Didn't look at he back of my letter until I saw this thread...

115% uplift

beer

rfisher

5,024 posts

282 months

Friday 7th February 2020
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Are these 'with profits' pension policies?

Bearing in mind how difficult (impossible) it has been for the professionals on PH to get information out of Utmost regarding their fees and performance figures, you may want to check very carefully on their 'market revaluation' if you take your money out before the normal retirement date.

Anyone know what the NR date is for these policies?

55palfers

Original Poster:

5,892 posts

163 months

Friday 7th February 2020
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As I understand it, the value on everyone's letter is in good old hard cash.

You can put it into one of Utmost's funds or transfer it out to another pension pot.

You have 6 months to decide before they will invest it on your behalf based on any Risk Appetite info you have previously submitted and your age.


21TonyK

11,494 posts

208 months

Friday 7th February 2020
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Mine was with profits.

Jimatalveston

1 posts

49 months

Wednesday 12th February 2020
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I would like to cash in and not invest. I also don’t want to transfer to any other funds.
Any ideas how I would go about this ?

henrycrun

2,448 posts

239 months

Thursday 20th February 2020
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Can't help, but you will probably pay income tax on 75%.

AndyAudi

3,007 posts

221 months

Friday 21st February 2020
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omniflow said:
The policy was for contracting out of Serps back around 1990 - no idea whether I'm up or down on the deal.
I had similar & contracted out late 90’s -00’s on fairly low earnings.
(Mine was Unit linked fund which I transferred to HBOS though, just looking here out of curiosity).
One win I think on deal for me is following all the State pension changes & looking at the online forecasts & other forums, I should qualify for full state pension & have the contracted out pot as a bonus!

The Leaper

4,937 posts

205 months

Friday 21st February 2020
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AndyAudi said:

One win I think on deal for me is following all the State pension changes & looking at the online forecasts & other forums, I should qualify for full state pension & have the contracted out pot as a bonus!
The contracted out pot cannot really be considered as a bonus. Had you not contracted out you would have had a full SERPS pension on top of your State Basis Pension. What could be considered a bonus is if the contracted out pot produces more than the SERPS pension.

R.

omniflow

2,545 posts

150 months

Friday 21st February 2020
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Jimatalveston said:
I would like to cash in and not invest. I also don’t want to transfer to any other funds.
Any ideas how I would go about this ?
AFAIK this would be no different to cashing in any other pension - same rules would apply, and the same tax treatment

55palfers

Original Poster:

5,892 posts

163 months

Thursday 12th March 2020
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All you City types out there....

Is now the time to move the cash money from Utmost into an existing pot?

I appreciate markets may fall further, but we'd still get significantly more units than a week or so ago and I'm not greedy.

Ean218

1,959 posts

249 months

Friday 13th March 2020
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You may be surprised how long it takes to get the cash out!

55palfers

Original Poster:

5,892 posts

163 months

Friday 13th March 2020
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Ean218 said:
You may be surprised how long it takes to get the cash out!
I wasn't expecting that. I thought my money would be ring fenced in a specific coffee jar



Ean218

1,959 posts

249 months

Friday 13th March 2020
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The money is safe enough but you have to send in various forms as well as docs from the place you want to move the money to.

The best bit is they won't talk to you on the phone and it all has to be done by post!

55palfers

Original Poster:

5,892 posts

163 months

Friday 13th March 2020
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Thanks. I see.

I have the forms, so will post them in the morning now. Welcome to 2020!

uk66fastback

16,454 posts

270 months

Thursday 19th March 2020
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Just checking in to this thread - sorry, didn't know it was here. Thanks to 55palfers for the link ...

I requested (by phone) the forms to withdraw the money - but they've not arrived yet. I think it was at about the start of March that I did that - they were saying it would take 10-15 days to send them - no idea why - they're just delaying tactics I'm sure.

On what basis was the uplift percentage decided - as it looks like people got different amounts? A friend of mine had an EL fund similar to mine (with profits) and also some annuity ones, can we also withdraw the annuity ones does anyone know?

I won't hold my breath on the forms to withdraw hitting the doormat. but then at the moment, the money is probably okay in a cash account - at least it hasn't taken the hit.

ErikTheViking

4 posts

47 months

Wednesday 1st April 2020
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Equitable - UTMOST Pensions Transfers

I may be able to let you how I'm doing, trying to transfer my 'With-Profits' Equitable Life cash to my newly opened SIPP with my stockbrokers.

If you are a 'With-Profts' policyhoder like me, who's pension fund has been transferred to UTMOST on the 1st January, and plan to transfer this to a SIPP for example, then you need to download the transfer form.

You can download the documents from their website here:
https://www.utmost.co.uk/pensions/manage-my-policy...

Scroll down to Claims, and click on the first item: "Transfer Payment Form - all pensions other than exceptions below"

Download this .pdf form named as: 45Z037_-_TRANSFER_PAYMENT_FORM_ALL_INDIVIDUAL_PRODUCTS_EXCEPT_UNASSIGNED_IPPS-_u4PeOjN.pdf

Fill in the form and send it to the SIPP provider or other pension scheme. I did this by completing, signing, scanning and sending as a .pdf.

So far, dealing with UTMOST since January has been quite painful. The tranferred pension from Equitable to UTMOST was supposed to be completed by 1st January, 2020, and held in cash for six months - without any interest ..!!

I became a bit nervous as February approached, and making enquiries, found that they were preparing to send documentation by early February, finally materialising on the 5th February. This was just a statement of the cash value of my With-Profits (R0251xxxx) policy, and confirmation that my 'Unit-Linked' (SERPS) policy was invested.

A few telephone calls in February and March finally produced th 'Tranfer Form', detailed above. Plus, I have a bin full of junk from them too..!

The situation at the moment is that I'm still waiting for the funds to be transferred to my SIPP, and yesterday I sent a 'Stroppy' email to them demanding that this be completed before the finacial year-end on Friday 3rd April - this Friday ..!! I've not heard anything back ..yet!

When they say they have a 10-15 day turnaround for any action, they actually mean 14-20 days if you count weekends. I expect those on a 3-day week, you'll be luck if you get 21-28 days ..!! The first phone call was to a very disinterested 'agent' who I think was chewing gum while doing her nails. Their mantra appears to be delay and obfuscation.

I'm really getting quite upset with them now. I'll write more if any news. I'm thinking of taking this up with the FCA and Pensions Ombudsman.


Robert-q32ja

47 posts

50 months

Wednesday 1st April 2020
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uk66fastback said:
Just checking in to this thread - sorry, didn't know it was here. Thanks to 55palfers for the link ...

I requested (by phone) the forms to withdraw the money - but they've not arrived yet. I think it was at about the start of March that I did that - they were saying it would take 10-15 days to send them - no idea why - they're just delaying tactics I'm sure.

On what basis was the uplift percentage decided - as it looks like people got different amounts? A friend of mine had an EL fund similar to mine (with profits) and also some annuity ones, can we also withdraw the annuity ones does anyone know?

I won't hold my breath on the forms to withdraw hitting the doormat. but then at the moment, the money is probably okay in a cash account - at least it hasn't taken the hit.
Do it the other way round. Get new provider to supply transfer request forms. Doubt utmost will insist their form is used.

ErikTheViking

4 posts

47 months

Wednesday 1st April 2020
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I did both .. My stockbroker / SIPP provider has an on-line form to request a fund transfer - which I completed, and all was set in motion on the 17th March.
I thought I would also fill in the transfer form, which I was told on my last phone call with UTMOST, and send that by email to my SIPP provider / stockbroker on the 18th March.

I went the the Equitable EGM on 1st November, and was filled with confidence that this whole nightmare was nearing an end. There were representaives fron UTMOST there to answer questions too .. I'm now not so sure ..

henrycrun

2,448 posts

239 months

Wednesday 1st April 2020
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Please let us know if anyone successfully transfer outs and how long it took....

55palfers

Original Poster:

5,892 posts

163 months

Wednesday 1st April 2020
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Update.

I am getting an existing pot to handle the transfer. It took them a week to get off their backsides after receipt of my form.

They contacted Utmost about 10 days ago requesting the transfer value.

Nothing heard since.

I appreciated Covid may be a spanner in the works.

At least the Utmost pot is cash......