Forgotten pension surprise
Forgotten pension surprise
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Discussion

Rufus Stone

Original Poster:

11,123 posts

74 months

Saturday 11th October
quotequote all
Having worked in pensions for 47 years now, I always found it incredible that people could forget that they had a pension scheme earlier in life. Yet, here I am apparently having done just that.

The Pru have been contacting me periodically for about 10 years asking me to confirm my address. I have always ignored them, convinced I had no pension benefits with them and it must be a scam. I received another letter from them a couple of months ago, but this time I wrote on it to stop bothering me, signed it, and returned in the freepost envelope. A couple of weeks later they wrote back and said there is possibly an old Scottish Amicable personal pension in my name, and my signature matched that on their records. So I duly updated my address with them and asked for a valuation.

Well, it arrived yesterday. I am truly shocked to learn it's worth £40,000. eek I feel like I've won the lottery. laugh Apparently it's from 1993. I think it might be former Protected Rights from a defined benefit transfer value.

The moral I suppose, nobody is perfect and what you think may be a scam sometimes isn't.

Next job, to get it into my SSAS. tongue out


Spitfire2

1,960 posts

204 months

Saturday 11th October
quotequote all
Be some former colleagues of mine nagging you 🤣🤣🤣.

They spend quite a bit of time tracking down orphaned pension holders. 👍

The Leaper

5,386 posts

224 months

Saturday 11th October
quotequote all
Rufus Stone said:
Having worked in pensions for 47 years now, I always found it incredible that people could forget that they had a pension scheme earlier in life. Yet, here I am apparently having done just that.

The Pru have been contacting me periodically for about 10 years asking me to confirm my address. I have always ignored them, convinced I had no pension benefits with them and it must be a scam. I received another letter from them a couple of months ago, but this time I wrote on it to stop bothering me, signed it, and returned in the freepost envelope. A couple of weeks later they wrote back and said there is possibly an old Scottish Amicable personal pension in my name, and my signature matched that on their records. So I duly updated my address with them and asked for a valuation.

Well, it arrived yesterday. I am truly shocked to learn it's worth £40,000. eek I feel like I've won the lottery. laugh Apparently it's from 1993. I think it might be former Protected Rights from a defined benefit transfer value.

The moral I suppose, nobody is perfect and what you think may be a scam sometimes isn't.

Next job, to get it into my SSAS. tongue out
This happens almost exclusively because people fail to tell their pension providers of their changes of address. When I was volunteering for over 30 years at The Pensions Ombudsman's Office it always surprised me how often it was close to retirement that people realised there could be some pensions from the past, and often for large amounts.

A few years back my niece raised the matter of a possible "old" pension with me, so on her behalf I made some enquiries, and this produced a DB pension with a capital value of about......£300,000!! She was quite grateful to me.

R.

Rufus Stone

Original Poster:

11,123 posts

74 months

Saturday 11th October
quotequote all
The Leaper said:
This happens almost exclusively because people fail to tell their pension providers of their changes of address. When I was volunteering for over 30 years at The Pensions Ombudsman's Office it always surprised me how often it was close to retirement that people realised there could be some pensions from the past, and often for large amounts.

A few years back my niece raised the matter of a possible "old" pension with me, so on her behalf I made some enquiries, and this produced a DB pension with a capital value of about......£300,000!! She was quite grateful to me.

R.
Crikey, I thought I had done well. biggrin

Glosphil

4,697 posts

252 months

Saturday 11th October
quotequote all
I forget a pension. It turned out to be a lump sum of £245 & £30 pension per year. The arrival of the £30 in my bank account each October still takes me by surprise 14 years later.

The Leaper

5,386 posts

224 months

Saturday 11th October
quotequote all
Rufus Stone said:
Crikey, I thought I had done well. biggrin
Yes, a good result for my niece. This was in respect of her pension for pensionable service 1975-1990 when she left her employer, so many years ago. She reached her State pension age early 2023 and heard nothing about her private pension so she contacted her ex employer who stated something like "we can find no liability for you". I then made enquiries for her and got the good result. Quite quickly too helped, maybe, because the occupational pension plan she participated in is one of the UK's largest.

It included an option of a reduced pension plus a tax free cash sum of around £65,000 which she took, wisely IMO.

R.

Mr Pointy

12,654 posts

177 months

Saturday 11th October
quotequote all
Rufus Stone said:
Next job, to get it into my SSAS. tongue out
Good luck finding an advisor who will sign off & that & you could lose £5k in fees for the privilege.

Sheepshanks

38,116 posts

137 months

Saturday 11th October
quotequote all
I didn't forget about mine, but I couldn't quite believe it would ever happen.

It was from my first job, from 1978 to 1982. When I left, I got a letter saying it would be a fiver per week.

When I hit 65, that had increased to £100/wk. Apparently it went up at 8.something% every year.

Its value towards my LTA was just over £100K.

Only bummer is it doesn't increase now - it stays at the same amount.

The Leaper

5,386 posts

224 months

Saturday 11th October
quotequote all
Sheepshanks said:
I didn't forget about mine, but I couldn't quite believe it would ever happen.

It was from my first job, from 1978 to 1982. When I left, I got a letter saying it would be a fiver per week.

When I hit 65, that had increased to £100/wk. Apparently it went up at 8.something% every year.

Its value towards my LTA was just over £100K.

Only bummer is it doesn't increase now - it stays at the same amount.
A pleasant outcome for you, no doubt.

It's easy to see why people consider ancient small pensions from ages ago might be ignored/overlooked/not worth pursuing, and then they are surprised to find that they have quite a decent capital value when discovered/claimed years later.

R.

Simpo Two

89,845 posts

283 months

Saturday 11th October
quotequote all
Mr Pointy said:
Rufus Stone said:
Next job, to get it into my SSAS. tongue out
Good luck finding an advisor who will sign off & that & you could lose £5k in fees for the privilege.
Does it need an IFA to add money to a pension?

Badda

3,364 posts

100 months

Saturday 11th October
quotequote all
I tracked one down that I’d paid in about £90 (one month) 20 years prior and was valued at £4.5k. Well surprised.

The Gauge

5,489 posts

31 months

Saturday 11th October
quotequote all
I'm 53 and have worked since leaving school age 16. Only ever had two jobs, each with pension. I transferred my first employers pension into my second employers pension. So thankfully nothing to risk forgetting. But I now wish I had smile

The Gauge

5,489 posts

31 months

Saturday 11th October
quotequote all
So these pensions that people forget they have, had they known about them all along would it have made a difference to their value, as in would they have dome something with them such as transferring them into another pension?

Sheepshanks

38,116 posts

137 months

Saturday 11th October
quotequote all
The Gauge said:
So these pensions that people forget they have, had they known about them all along would it have made a difference to their value, as in would they have dome something with them such as transferring them into another pension?
I tried to transfer mine years ago but they wouldn't allow it.

Blue_star

284 posts

34 months

Saturday 11th October
quotequote all
Badda said:
I tracked one down that I d paid in about £90 (one month) 20 years prior and was valued at £4.5k. Well surprised.
I think someone in your pension fund was placing money to be laundered, how did they get this return…. Wtf

Rufus Stone

Original Poster:

11,123 posts

74 months

Sunday 12th October
quotequote all
Mr Pointy said:
Good luck finding an advisor who will sign off & that & you could lose £5k in fees for the privilege.
Don't need an adviser and it won't cost me a penny. But, errr, thanks.

Rufus Stone

Original Poster:

11,123 posts

74 months

Sunday 12th October
quotequote all
Sheepshanks said:
I didn't forget about mine, but I couldn't quite believe it would ever happen.

It was from my first job, from 1978 to 1982. When I left, I got a letter saying it would be a fiver per week.

When I hit 65, that had increased to £100/wk. Apparently it went up at 8.something% every year.

Its value towards my LTA was just over £100K.

Only bummer is it doesn't increase now - it stays at the same amount.
Pre '88 GMP. biggrin

Mr Pointy

12,654 posts

177 months

Sunday 12th October
quotequote all
Rufus Stone said:
Don't need an adviser and it won't cost me a penny. But, errr, thanks.
If you say so. If it's a DB type pension or if there are benefits attached you may well need the proposed transfer independently reviewed to make sure it's appropriate as it's over the £30k small pension limit.

Rufus Stone

Original Poster:

11,123 posts

74 months

Sunday 12th October
quotequote all
Mr Pointy said:
Rufus Stone said:
Don't need an adviser and it won't cost me a penny. But, errr, thanks.
If you say so. If it's a DB type pension or if there are benefits attached you may well need the proposed transfer independently reviewed to make sure it's appropriate as it's over the £30k small pension limit.
"Scottish Amicable personal pension"

Badda

3,364 posts

100 months

Sunday 12th October
quotequote all
Blue_star said:
Badda said:
I tracked one down that I d paid in about £90 (one month) 20 years prior and was valued at £4.5k. Well surprised.
I think someone in your pension fund was placing money to be laundered, how did they get this return . Wtf
Sorry, slightly misleading - my contribution was £90 then the employer chipped in the same, from memory. But yes, good return!