Why is it so difficult to transfer between pensions?

titewelshgit

Frustrating or what? I have a number of pensions and thought it was high time I tidied my affairs up. One of my pensions is a deferred one and I am not very confident that there will be enough in the pot at retirment. Many in the scheme are drawing lump sums and the pot is diminishing so I was looking to transfer its value to one I have more confidence in so I went to my main provider in which I have 3 funds. I have the transfer value and relevant paperwork for myself and them to complete if they were willing to accept the fund. I also have an AVC with them and after informal advice from a financial advisor we thought it may be better to stop my contributions and take the transfer value into my main account. The contributions I am currently making could then go to increase payments into my stakeholder pension. All makes sense but not to MY provider - it can only be done on both counts through a financial advisor!! But this would cost me I argued all to no avail (strains of Little Britain and 'computer says no'). Oh! it would have been ok for me draw down on both if I wanted and I could do that without the financial advisor input. The only thing I got from them was paperwork to be forwarded for me to contract back into the State pension. very frustrating and I can see where they are coming from but surely if you sign a disclaimer on your transfers then that should suffice. Anybody had similar problems?

Ickle_Steve

I've just transfered an old pension to a Legal & General stakeholder. L & G transfer team advised against going alone and required me to sign a disclaimer. There paperwork mentioned a fee for my financial advisor even though I wasn't using one so I asked them to reduce their charges to suit. I think it helped that when I spoke to them I talked about things that showed I had done research on the subject.

dunstonh

it can only be done on both counts through a financial advisor!! But this would cost me I argued all to no avail (strains of Little Britain and 'computer says no'). Oh! it would have been ok for me draw down on both if I wanted and I could do that without the financial advisor input. The only thing I got from them was paperwork to be forwarded for me to contract back into the State pension. very frustrating and I can see where they are coming from but surely if you sign a disclaimer on your transfers then that should suffice. Anybody had similar problems?

Its nothing to do with them being jobsworths.

Financial services companies have to decide what distribution channels they wish to use and have all the compliance requirements that go with each channel to satisfy FSA requirements. If a company chooses to be IFA only, then they cannot accept applications direct from the public. They could end up being fined by the FSA for a breach.

With pension transfers, due to the number of old schemes with guarantees and lower charges than current schemes and the issues with occupational pensions, a number of providers are not keen on accepting transfer business without an IFA signing it off. Others dont care and make it clear that it is you that is taking on the responsibility for messing it up and giving up retained benefits that may exist and may be better than what you are going into.

So, it isnt fair to criticise the providers for following rules which, if breached could lead them to being fined or worst case, have their licence to trade taken away.

EdInvestor

Hi welshgit

Could I just say that "tidying up" old pensions can be a very seriously bad idea?

In particular, moving old deferred company final salary pensions into personal pension schemes has in the past been the subject of a major misselling exercise by the regulator.THis is why insurance companie don't want to know about people who want to do this now.

You can lose very substantial amounts of money by doing this. Really you need to pay a fee to a qualified advisor to help you decide what to do with these pensions.


If you feel inclined to post details of them here, we might be able to give you a preliminary view