HELP - BT Retirement Plan Wind up.

rrr241279

Wondering if anyone can help?
I worked for BT for a couple of years about 6/7 years ago and paid into the BT retirement plan.

When lef the company totally forgot about it and have since been paying into another pension scheme.

Anyway, got a letter a couple months ago saying plan is being wound up, what do I want to do with money I have in it, a result since I was totally unaware of its existence!!

As the total is only around £3.5k, which happens to coincide very nicely with the balance of credit card I have, I decided to get the money back to clear card so not paying any interest (So I can cut it up and destroy it never to use the dreaded thing again!!!!).

So my question is, does anyone know how long this is going to take before I get the cash??!?! I don't know if there are any legal requirements to do this quickly, is it going to be days, weeks, moths...or god forbid years!!

I did call them and they confirmed receipt of forms, bank details to pay money etc, but they tell me that they don't have any idea how long it will take, sometime after july 9th 2011 is all I could get, I tried to push for an estimation of timescale, but consultant clearly had a standard scripted answer to follow, from which she would not deviate, sounded moronic and robot like!!!

Any advice would be hugely appreciated.

In advance, many thanks.

PS, my first ever post............:T

jamesd

Winding up can easily take years. They wouldn't even be mentioning very short timelines like 9th of July unless they were close to the end of the process. So you can expect weeks or a few months, not years.

rrr241279

Thanks for quick reply. The letter they gave me said I ha to make my decision as to option for the funds must be received by them by 9th July latest. i.e did I want cash or other options.

When called they said sometimes after 9th July.

Do you think this means they are really close to the end of the road and will be only a couple of months????

bigfreddiel

rrr241279 wrote: »

Wondering if anyone can help?
I worked for BT for a couple of years about 6/7 years ago and paid into the BT retirement plan.

When lef the company totally forgot about it and have since been paying into another pension scheme.

Anyway, got a letter a couple months ago saying plan is being wound up, what do I want to do with money I have in it, a result since I was totally unaware of its existence!!

As the total is only around £3.5k, which happens to coincide very nicely with the balance of credit card I have, I decided to get the money back to clear card so not paying any interest (So I can cut it up and destroy it never to use the dreaded thing again!!!!).

well you can cut it up now can't you? you don't need to pay it off first surely?

So my question is, does anyone know how long this is going to take before I get the cash??!?! I don't know if there are any legal requirements to do this quickly, is it going to be days, weeks, moths...or god forbid years!!

I did call them and they confirmed receipt of forms, bank details to pay money etc, but they tell me that they don't have any idea how long it will take, sometime after july 9th 2011 is all I could get, I tried to push for an estimation of timescale, but consultant clearly had a standard scripted answer to follow, from which she would not deviate, sounded moronic and robot like!!!

Any advice would be hugely appreciated.

In advance, many thanks.

PS, my first ever post............:T

don't accept their offer of cash - you're entitled to a pension and have preseved rights - stick to them -i i have a simiar amount in a pearson pension from 30 yrs agoits paying me £200/month now!

jamesd

A pension pot worth £3,500 in today's money is not going to pay £2,400 a year in today's money.

It's stretching it to get £2,400 in value from £3,500 30 years ago, which is worth £17,300 in today's money if increased with wage inflation. That'd be a 13.8% payout each year.

rrr241279

Thanks for replying. The credit discussed is already not being used, in my own melodramatic way I mean I want it paid off so I can close account and never use again. I already don't use card, and keep it at home all the time to remove any temptations to use

With regard to your forecast of what it would pay in pension, I did look into that and it is more likely to pay £200 a year than a month! So the money would be much better used to relieve debt. Now and stop me paying interest to horrid credit card any longer.

I already have another pension plan that I pay into each month which is much more substantial so I am already covered from that point.

I really at this point want credit card cleared so I can start saving the money I pay to them each month rather than lining the pocket of a fatcat executive!!!!

@EVERYONE Does anyone have any idea to the timescales I am realistically facing?

RichandJ

rrr241279 wrote: »

Thanks for replying. The credit discussed is already not being used, in my own melodramatic way I mean I want it paid off so I can close account and never use again. I already don't use card, and keep it at home all the time to remove any temptations to use

With regard to your forecast of what it would pay in pension, I did look into that and it is more likely to pay £200 a year than a month! So the money would be much better used to relieve debt. Now and stop me paying interest to horrid credit card any longer.

I already have another pension plan that I pay into each month which is much more substantial so I am already covered from that point.

I really at this point want credit card cleared so I can start saving the money I pay to them each month rather than lining the pocket of a fatcat executive!!!!

@EVERYONE Does anyone have any idea to the timescales I am realistically facing?

Having dealt with a wind up or two it could be anywhere from a week to several months after the cut off date. It depends on how long it takes to disinvest units, then allocate funds received to each individual, then pay the funds to each individual.

The administrators will not be working to your timescale, but theirs. This is entirely understandable as a) a wind up is not always an exact science and b) you're getting the money from a pension arrangement far earlier than you would otherwise have been entitled to it. Basically, if you've provided all the info/docs required you'll get it when you get it.

By the way, you will not get the whole fund into your account, only 25% is tax free, the rest is taxable. This should have been advised in the initial paperwork you received. See:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/rpsmmanual/rpsm09105150.htm

rrr241279

@RichandJ many thanks for your answer. I knew about the tax bit and as the saying goes, there are only two certainties in life, death and taxes!!!

I'll just have to cross fingers and hope it is weeks rather than months!

Thanks to everyone who helped with this!


R.

BOBJYDE

I am also waiting for this payout which I had opted for in the form I returned some months ago. I called them to confirm that they had received my form which they had and I tried to enquire as to when the payments will be made but I got the script read reply you did...payment will be made shortly after the dead line date, which they told me was the 8th of July.

Have you heard anything new since, I am hoping they make the payment by next week at the latest. :beer:

rrr241279

It would be nice to think the payout would be that quick but, I feel that may be a bit optimistic. From the previous posts here I feel a couple of months from 9th July would be a more realistic timescale......but I have my fingers crossed it is going to be closer to your target timescales!

I've not heard anything recently, but was going to call end this week if not heard to try to see if they had anything new to tell me......or a new script to read me!!!!!

Can you keep updated if you hear anything and I'll do the same!


Thanks!

leese2504

Hi there

I emailed pensions today and they confirmed should receive the money on or round mid August. Hope this helps.

Not as soon as I hoped by hey ho least we know roughly when now