Hefty MVR being imposed by Phoenix Life

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  • xylophone
    xylophone Posts: 44,138
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    New information! This sounds like they have your retirement age set at 65. Which may be right or wrong. This is what you should check.

    The OP first wrote


    Back in the 1980s I contracted out of SERPS and chose to have the earnings-related part of my NICs paid into a with-profits policy managed by NPI. All arranged through the Halifax. Not much was ever paid into it because within a relatively short space of time I joined a firm who had a final salary company pension scheme. And now, as I'll be 60 later this year, I've received my "countdown to retirement" pack.

    which would seem to indicate a "selected retirement date" of 60 ( which might be expected for a woman commencing a policy in the eighties) and yet it seems that Phoenix are indicating a SRD of 65.

    It is unfortunate that the OP has lost the original documentation.
  • Linton
    Linton Posts: 17,061
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    xylophone wrote: »
    The OP first wrote....which would seem to indicate a "selected retirement date" of 60 ( which might be expected for a woman commencing a policy in the eighties) and yet it seems that Phoenix are indicating a SRD of 65.

    It is unfortunate that the OP has lost the original documentation.

    The new infomation is that there will be no MVR at 65 which strongly suggests that 65 is being used as the SRD. It seems that the OP may be working on the basis that Phoenix are arbitrarily disadvantaging her whereas it's far more likely that they are operating the rules correctly on the data they hold- I dont believe they are pemitted to do anything else. It's the data and the rules that need to be checked. Yes, the original documentation (or even subsequent annual staements) would help considerably here.
  • Malthusian
    Malthusian Posts: 10,898
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    Linton wrote: »
    The new infomation is that there will be no MVR at 65 which strongly suggests that 65 is being used as the SRD.

    The fact that Phoenix automatically sent her a retirement pack just before her 60th birthday, which accords with her belief that the plan was set up with an SRD of 60, suggests even more strongly that it is 60.

    The OP needs to ask Phoenix to confirm in writing exactly when the plan is MVR-free. If it is from the SRD, then clearly she should be able to get the full plan value paid out. If it is age 65even if the SRD is earlier, then she is stuck, unless she can find her original policy documents to prove that Phoenix are not quoting the plan terms correctly.
  • chipp
    chipp Posts: 141
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    edited 16 November 2017 at 5:02PM
    This is the first I've heard of a pilot group, but having read the article I think it unlikely that I'd be in their target audience.

    My paperwork has always said with profits and when the plan was receiving contributions these were used to buy more units. The Phoenix statements refer to it as unitised with profit. I think that's some sort of hybrid. It currently suits Phoenix to regard it as With Profits so they can impose an MVR if I draw it before I'm 65. In theory, as a WP policy, for the next 5 years it should continue to receive guaranteed annual returns as described in sandsy's link. So while savings interest rates are so low it suits me too.

    Alexland, according to all the paperwork I have, including annual statements, their records should indicate my policy was originally due to pay out this year, at age 60. I imagine their computer system holds a number of dates and for some reason the maturity/MVR calculations are referencing a different one from statements. Yes I do have it in writing (several times) that an MVR won't apply at 65. I'm not convinced it's a promise that will be adhered to.
    If you can't think of anything nice to write, say nothing. Rudeness isn't clever.
  • lisyloo
    lisyloo Posts: 29,580
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    I suspect it will be 60.

    I took out an NPI person pension in 1994.
    I am pretty sure the age for me is 65 as I checked it fairly recently.
    The MVR was about 38%.
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