Equitable Life Policyholders - Happy New Year?
Discussion
My plan is to take the entire sum as a drawdown.
25% tax free, and the rest taxed.
I started the process on Tuesday - first attempt was by phone, but then I emailed them.
It will be interesting to see how long this takes - from the previous few posts it looks like it might take a while.
25% tax free, and the rest taxed.
I started the process on Tuesday - first attempt was by phone, but then I emailed them.
It will be interesting to see how long this takes - from the previous few posts it looks like it might take a while.
Same here .... Nothing from UTMOST.
I'm going to phone them again later today and also send emails. I'll suggest that withholding my cash transfer - cash due since January is illegal.
I will suggest the next move is to take this up with BBC Radio 4 'You and Yours' if I don't hear from them. I expect there are thousands waiting for their money to either buy annuities or reinvest.
There are plenty of directors on the board, so you would think that they were in control, but not in the interests of the Policyholders ...!!
Lord Finkelstein conjures up thoughts of Alfred E. Neuman in MAD ... 'Fink' was an often used derogatory term in the mag.
https://www.utmost.co.uk/about-us/our-board/
Sadly, I heard that Honor Blackman has died - she was a prominent activist for Equitable Members Action Group (EMAG). I had a look around the policyholders at the November EGM to see if she would turn up ..
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/oct/21/hono...
I'm going to phone them again later today and also send emails. I'll suggest that withholding my cash transfer - cash due since January is illegal.
I will suggest the next move is to take this up with BBC Radio 4 'You and Yours' if I don't hear from them. I expect there are thousands waiting for their money to either buy annuities or reinvest.
There are plenty of directors on the board, so you would think that they were in control, but not in the interests of the Policyholders ...!!
Lord Finkelstein conjures up thoughts of Alfred E. Neuman in MAD ... 'Fink' was an often used derogatory term in the mag.
https://www.utmost.co.uk/about-us/our-board/
Sadly, I heard that Honor Blackman has died - she was a prominent activist for Equitable Members Action Group (EMAG). I had a look around the policyholders at the November EGM to see if she would turn up ..
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/oct/21/hono...
55palfers said:
Update.
At least the Utmost pot is cash......
Hmmm, not so sure it is actual cash. Your bit may be nominally cash, but Utmost probably have it invested in "things", and weren't expecting too many people to demand their cash out.At least the Utmost pot is cash......
Same as your current account in your bank, if every customer turned up on the same day to withdraw all their cash, they couldn't do it.
Not sure if this has been mentioned, but policyholders back in December 2019 didn't have to keep it all as "cash" for the first 6 months ... you had an option form to put it in things, (like unit linked I think) but given that the FTSE has gone down 25% since then, it was a wise move to take the cash. This was also the default if you didn't send the form back. Lucky I think. For us, not them.
M4cruiser said:
55palfers said:
Update.
At least the Utmost pot is cash......
Hmmm, not so sure it is actual cash. Your bit may be nominally cash, but Utmost probably have it invested in "things", and weren't expecting too many people to demand their cash out.At least the Utmost pot is cash......
Same as your current account in your bank, if every customer turned up on the same day to withdraw all their cash, they couldn't do it.
Not sure if this has been mentioned, but policyholders back in December 2019 didn't have to keep it all as "cash" for the first 6 months ... you had an option form to put it in things, (like unit linked I think) but given that the FTSE has gone down 25% since then, it was a wise move to take the cash. This was also the default if you didn't send the form back. Lucky I think. For us, not them.
I think Utmost need to improve their game somewhat - but what do they care really, they're losing the business.
omniflow said:
My plan is to take the entire sum as a drawdown.
25% tax free, and the rest taxed.
I started the process on Tuesday - first attempt was by phone, but then I emailed them.
It will be interesting to see how long this takes - from the previous few posts it looks like it might take a while.
Emailed them on Tuesday 31st March - received a response by normal post today - 28th April. It's a pretty generic response, giving me a box to tick that tells them exactly the same as I told them in the email. Still - I think I'll consider it progress for now.25% tax free, and the rest taxed.
I started the process on Tuesday - first attempt was by phone, but then I emailed them.
It will be interesting to see how long this takes - from the previous few posts it looks like it might take a while.
Had my Annual Pension Statement from Utmost this morning.
Appears the money is not actually held as "cash" as we were led to believe, but invested in some sort of a unit-linked "Secure Cash Fund"
They didn't make that distinction clear at the time, did they??
And by the way, still no news about transferring to my other pot.
Appears the money is not actually held as "cash" as we were led to believe, but invested in some sort of a unit-linked "Secure Cash Fund"
They didn't make that distinction clear at the time, did they??
And by the way, still no news about transferring to my other pot.
55palfers said:
Had my Annual Pension Statement from Utmost this morning.
Appears the money is not actually held as "cash" as we were led to believe, but invested in some sort of a unit-linked "Secure Cash Fund"
They didn't make that distinction clear at the time, did they??
And by the way, still no news about transferring to my other pot.
Same here - it had gone up slightly though, so some compensation although not much - and they did say originally it wouldn't be any less than the value on Jan 1.Appears the money is not actually held as "cash" as we were led to believe, but invested in some sort of a unit-linked "Secure Cash Fund"
They didn't make that distinction clear at the time, did they??
And by the way, still no news about transferring to my other pot.
uk66fastback said:
Same here - it had gone up slightly though, so some compensation although not much - and they did say originally it wouldn't be any less than the value on Jan 1.
I received my Pension Statement last week, and then on Friday a letter from Utmost to say they had transferred (as cash) my With-Profits fund to my SIPP provider. I had access to this on Monday and have been busy buying Investment Trusts.Next, I'm sending paperwork to Utmost to transfer my Unit-Linked pension into my SIPP.
A couple of weeks ago I had sent a letter and fax to Utmost that I would be contacting the Pensions Ombudsman Service, Pitmans Trustees and the media if I did not hear from them about my transfer. My stockbroker also sent my request by registered post. All this seemed to have worked. I'm really quite happy now,
but this should have been done two months ago when I first requested the transfer.Missed quite a lot of the recovery with this delay.
UPDATE
I have eventually spoken to someone at Utmost.
They are claiming they didn't get the form / letter from receiving pension pot dated 24 March until 29 April!
However, it's now the 12th May and they haven't actually done anything. That point seemed to pass them by.
Utmost are now telling me I have to wait for an "Options Pack" and fill in the forms and return then.
They won't do anything without those forms being completed.
It may have been nice if receiving pension pot had given me the heads-up on this and I wouldn't have wasted quite so much time!
Also, receiving pension pot hadn't actually contacted Utmost to chase them despite my request on 22 April?
I could have got the bloody forms myself in early March.
No wonder Financial Services have such a poor reputation.
...and finally, let's not forget the only reason we are in this situation is because Equitable were "apparently" a bunch of crooks.
I have eventually spoken to someone at Utmost.
They are claiming they didn't get the form / letter from receiving pension pot dated 24 March until 29 April!
However, it's now the 12th May and they haven't actually done anything. That point seemed to pass them by.
Utmost are now telling me I have to wait for an "Options Pack" and fill in the forms and return then.
They won't do anything without those forms being completed.
It may have been nice if receiving pension pot had given me the heads-up on this and I wouldn't have wasted quite so much time!
Also, receiving pension pot hadn't actually contacted Utmost to chase them despite my request on 22 April?
I could have got the bloody forms myself in early March.
No wonder Financial Services have such a poor reputation.
...and finally, let's not forget the only reason we are in this situation is because Equitable were "apparently" a bunch of crooks.
55palfers said:
UPDATE
No wonder Financial Services have such a poor reputation.
...and finally, let's not forget the only reason we are in this situation is because Equitable were "apparently" a bunch of crooks.
No. "bunch of crooks" isn't really fair. Equitable had a unique combination of selling method, investment plan and payouts. It was based on optimism, and it served them well for a long time. Then they made some poor decisions in a difficult market.No wonder Financial Services have such a poor reputation.
...and finally, let's not forget the only reason we are in this situation is because Equitable were "apparently" a bunch of crooks.
Many people have done exactly that. It's not the same as deliberately setting up some kind of pyramid scheme, knowing it will fail so the top people get away with all the investments themselves - that's not what happened.
M4cruiser said:
55palfers said:
UPDATE
No wonder Financial Services have such a poor reputation.
...and finally, let's not forget the only reason we are in this situation is because Equitable were "apparently" a bunch of crooks.
No. "bunch of crooks" isn't really fair. Equitable had a unique combination of selling method, investment plan and payouts. It was based on optimism, and it served them well for a long time. Then they made some poor decisions in a difficult market.No wonder Financial Services have such a poor reputation.
...and finally, let's not forget the only reason we are in this situation is because Equitable were "apparently" a bunch of crooks.
Many people have done exactly that. It's not the same as deliberately setting up some kind of pyramid scheme, knowing it will fail so the top people get away with all the investments themselves - that's not what happened.
"A culture of manipulation and concealment"
UPDATE
I have today received a letter from Utmost.
Seems they need the following information from the receiving pot;
A letter confirming they you will accept the transfer of the funds
Their bank account details
A copy of their HMRC registration certificate.
Do they think I have this information at my fingertips?
In the time it took to write the letter surely they could have made a call to the other company?
Useless bunch of bone-idle ******!
I have today received a letter from Utmost.
Seems they need the following information from the receiving pot;
A letter confirming they you will accept the transfer of the funds
Their bank account details
A copy of their HMRC registration certificate.
Do they think I have this information at my fingertips?
In the time it took to write the letter surely they could have made a call to the other company?
Useless bunch of bone-idle ******!
55palfers said:
UPDATE
I have today received a letter from Utmost.
Seems they need the following information from the receiving pot;
A letter confirming they you will accept the transfer of the funds
Their bank account details
A copy of their HMRC registration certificate.
Do they think I have this information at my fingertips?
In the time it took to write the letter surely they could have made a call to the other company?
Useless bunch of bone-idle ******!
I've not got much sympathy for you as that information is asked for right at the start of the process. Before I sent my form in I made sure the receving firm were sending that too. My transfer actually only took 3 weeks, it was completed mid May.I have today received a letter from Utmost.
Seems they need the following information from the receiving pot;
A letter confirming they you will accept the transfer of the funds
Their bank account details
A copy of their HMRC registration certificate.
Do they think I have this information at my fingertips?
In the time it took to write the letter surely they could have made a call to the other company?
Useless bunch of bone-idle ******!
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