Letter from AXA Re-Transfering a Pension

stuart264

I want to transfer a small pension I have with HSBC (about £3k) in value to my other pension with AXA so I only have one pension my reasons for wanting a transfer from HSBC is because HSBC shut my bank account down when I reclaimed illegal bank fees from them and after filing in the small claims court I got £800 back as an out of court settlement for 5 years worth of bank fees.

I wrote to HSBC and obtained the transfer forms in September and sent the form they required AXA to sign and confirm that they were happy to accept the money and received no reply, I chased this up at the start of December and received a reply yesterday stating that they would not accept me just doing the paperwork myself and I had to go through a financial adviser, problem is, its that there will be no profit in it for the FA and they want to charge me a fee and as I am now disabled and on benefits I don't have the money for the fees and I don't want to pay a fee just for someone to send a form to AXA, wait until it comes back signed and then post the form to HSBC.

Any advice about what to do in this situation as I plan to call AXA on Monday and see if they will be a little bit flexible in this situation and some knowledge of the legalaities around this situation would be appreciated.

dunstonh

Some providers insist on IFAs signing off on pension transfers. This is because if you dont know what you are doing and the existing pension has benefits you are not aware of then you could lose more than you gain by transferring. To be sure that the providers cannot be accused of mis-selling down the road, some insist that they need an IFA.

This typically is the case more with occupational pension transfers than personal pension transfers.

EdInvestor

Pick another provider then.L&G will do a simple pension online, no IFA required.

If you want access to more exciting funds, you could try a low cost Sipp, also online. The Hargreaves Lansdown one is the cheapest for funds. https://www.h-l.co.uk

Theres no advantage to having the money in one fund.

dunstonh

If you want access to more exciting funds, you could try a low cost Sipp, also online. The Hargreaves Lansdown one is the cheapest for funds. www.h-l.co.uk

That phrasing would not pass from a compliance point of view

If you want access to funds with greater potential for growth and more specialised than the typical pension fund then you could use a SIPP. The HL pension is one of hte cheapest for SIPPs. However, they are still more expensive that stakeholder and many personal pensions.

A SIPP is really for an experienced investor who knows what they are doing or is getting professional advice. Your choice of both AXA and HSBC (neither of which I would go near) suggests you shouldnt be looking at a DIY SIPP.

stuart264

Ok so who should I go near to dump both pensions into? and yes I am a newbie at this pensions stuff but if anyone knows some good online guides I can start reading.

brasso

Stuart, I sympathise becasue I was in a similar position myself not so long ago.

I had 2 or 3 small pensions, about £10K in all. I've ended up opening a SIPP with Hargreaves Lansdown as a previosu poster suggested. There are others, but HL seemed to have a lot of credibility and also their website has a mass of useful information.

It was easy to transfer the pensions into the SIPP. I just had to tell HL and they organised it.

IMPORTANT -- a SIPP is appropriate only if you want to make decisions yourself about how you want your money invested. You have the full range of stocks and funds to choose from. Personally, I've found HL's recommendations for funds very useful and so far, profitable.

A SIPP was right for me, but may not be for you.

dunstonh

Personally, I've found HL's recommendations for funds very useful and so far, profitable.

HL dont recommend any funds. Information being given by the FSA indicates that any information that is published or given which could be considered a recommendation would eliminate execution only and by treated as advice in the event of a complaint. Dont mistake information with advice.

EdInvestor

What H-L does is separate out a selection of around 150 of what they regard as the better choices out of the 5000 or so funds out there, most of which are dross.

The Citywire site divides all the funds into categories and rates them over 1,3,5 and 10 years.For consistent performance a fund that is in the top 10 over all those periods ought to be a reasonable choince.IMHO it's worth checking any HL selections you fancy against the Citywire ratings.

https://www.citywire.co.uk/Funds/Home.aspx

Certainly this is all execution only DIY stuff, these sites are just producing helpful information, not "advice".

brasso

Obviously a word like "recommendations" is a sensitive one!

I accept that HL don't offer advice as such unless you request and pay for it, but as EdInvestor says, they make it pretty clear which funds new investors, or those who don't have the time to do endless research, might want to limit their decisions to. Also, they send out regular leaflets in which they highlight 3 or 4 funds, usually with a glowing report by one of their people. I can see a pair of lawyers having a right old tussle about whether, or to what extent, these pieces of publicity constitute recommendations, and further, whether "recommendation" equals "advice".

I'll leave it to them!

dunstonh

I can see a pair of lawyers having a right old tussle about whether, or to what extent, these pieces of publicity constitute recommendations, and further, whether "recommendation" equals "advice".

Unlikely that would happen. In the event of a complaint, the FOS would look at the documentation and if they feel it has been leading, then they will uphold the complaint. You cannot argue with an FOS decision if you want to retain your FSA authorisation.

It's something that made the financial press recently following concerns that some are issuing information which could be taken as advice. At this time, we arent aware of anyone that has fallen foul (following the recent news) but no doubt the FSA had a few in mind when it raised the awareness.

EdInvestor

There's only been one case IIRC where information/promotional material was seen as giving advice which constituted misselling.It was some years ago and related to precipice bonds.

The regulator took the view that the way the mailshots (from one of the big national IFAs now defunct) were written could have led the recipients to think that they were receiving actual advice that the product was tailored to suit their specific circumstances.

Since then I imagine IFAs like HL have been very careful to avoid that, just providing generic info for everyone.What constitutes regulated advice is very specific, with a long list of rules attached.A basic requirement is that the advisor does a long investigation into the financial circumstances of the client, so HL's site doesn't even come close to offering advice.