Pension Advice

rxg419

Can someone give me an idea as to the level that PCDs fees worked out at for them.

I believe it should be 4% initial + 1.3% per year for 5 years and no additional charges apart from Hornbuckle

I agree the mechanism for charging fees is not as initially described, but is the amount also different?

For me I dont know as I am a recent joiner so so far have only paid the 4%

oaklea

Hi,

I have a another client who has been caught up in the PCD debacle, having spoken to HM and Irish Life it would appear that my client has been charged an initial 4% fee taken directly from the SIPP bank account then a further 6.75% when monies have been moved to Irish Life, unfortunately this is a funded commission contract therefore if monies are moved out within five years there would be a large surrender penalty. I also asked about annual trail commission my clients SIPP application quotes 0.5% per annum and Irish Life have told me there is a further 1% payable each year. My client was also told there were no costs involved in this transfer, and to make matters even worse, he is actually registered blind!

mrgibbson

It's a shame that there are such crooks about when all you're trying to do is save for your retirement!

RokerP

To Rxg419 if you have not yet seen a statement from ILI you are in for a shock. The HM fees are separate. Here's what's on my statment:

1.75% Annual management charge; 1% service charge, some administration charge and an as yet unexplained Investment Instructor Fee - also looks about 1%. Sounds as tho' the 4% wasn't enough! Also as mentioned above, there is an early encashment charge which starts at 8.5% reducing by .85% every six months for 5 years. So it will also cost a fortune to get out of this account. These deductions are not from the BOS SIPP account where the 4% was taken but from the ILI account. It seems someone has given ILI the right to milk our funds for whatever amount they feel like. Needless to say I knew nothing about any of these charges until the HM letters stared arriving in May.
I'm sure I'm in the same position as everyone else, I had never heard of ILI nor have I seen or signed anything to do with them. It was only when HM sent out their package of 10th May 2010 that I saw the forms. Note also, although HM say they have stopped taking instructions from PCD-IAW they don't mention ILI where I assume the deductions will continue. Anyone got any idea how we can stop that?

rxg419

Thanks to Roker P

Does anybody have a real example of the Royal London charges as opposed to Irish Life. I only have a contract number which is probaly private between PCD-IAW, IAWIAA and Royal London ?

TDMM

To RokerP

I have a client who has also been caught out by PCD completing applications after they had been signed. Hornbuckle Mitchell have stated that they have suspended commission payments to them through the SIPP, but it will also be necessary to ensure no further commisson (the 1% 'trail') is paid through the offshore bond contract. Following a phone call with Irish Life I'm in the process of sending a signed fax with instructions to cease all trail commission to PCD, which I believe should be sufficient.

RTR

To TDMM

In a recent Questions & Answer Statement which Hornbuckle & Mitchell sent out, in response to Question 11 - Can PCD get any further money from my SIPP? they Answer : "No. We will not pay any further fees to PCD or Inter-Alliance from your SIPP. We have also contacted the investment managers instructing them not to pay any further commission to PCD or Inter-Alliance."
From your phone call with Irish Life do you believe the answer from HM to be incorrect ? Thanks

RokerP

Although I have a long list of complaints about individual fees/commissions etc I think what will do is go for a mis-selling claim rather than worry about individual fee amounts. On the HMRC website there is the following:

"The aim of the accepted remedies in the SIB review guidelines was to put people in a financial position equivalent to, or as close as possible to, that in which they would have been had the bad investment advice not been given."

FOS has a similar statement.

If most on here were with Equitable, they would have had a 5.5% uplift last year and 3.5% this year. If you take those numbers and subtract the current value of your fund it will make you cry! Come back Equitable...

masp

To RokerP

I agree the mis-selling route is the likely way to go, although the excessive commssions which were imposed by withholding them from the individual and adding them to the application forms after having been signed by the individual may well be deemed fraudulent.

The Securities and Investment Board (SIB) Review of Transfers and Opt Outs: Provsion of Redress for Mis-Selling is unlikely to cover what has happened here, as it covers redress for people suffering material loss as a result of bad investment advice which led them to forgo occupational pension scheme membership, in favour of retirement annuity contracts, personal pension schemes or buy out policies. It would, however, cover Section 32 buy out contracts.

I believe the route we shall have to go is via the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) if we do not get suitable redress from Inter-Alliance (IAW) or Hornbuckle Mitchell (HB). Their aim is to put you in the position you'd be in if things hadn't gone wrong. This might include telling the firm to do something or pay compensation. The "firm" could be IAW or HB or both - please see my post of 3 June.

I have now received an email reply from the Head Office of the Financial Services Authority (FSA), and I shall be speaking to them today. If anyone would like a copy of their reply, please post me a personal reply with your email address, and I shall forward it to you as an attachment. If we do not get satisfactory redress from either IAW or HB, then I am hoping going forward there will be enough of us to pursue a claim through the ICCS Cyprus. I have had two replies so far.

I note that Paul Clark contacted his local police. Crimewatch lasdt night made reference to action fraud. There is a website, but I am not allowed to post the link.

masp

TDMM

To RTR

HM have stated that they provide administrational services only and rely on instructions from the financial intermediary, therefore I fail to see how they can instruct the underlying investment manager not to pay the commission. The answer to question 11 does imply that they have done this but I would suggest making sure of this yourself by providing Irish Life with written instruction.