FSAVC.....Transfer Value Ripoff !!!!

dunstonh

A TVAS would let know you know if you are stuck with them.

shiredeon

Hmm, i sympathise greatly, i was very lucky and contested my pension on the grounds it was missold, i succeeded in getting the charges backdated and the units changed.

If i remember correctly if you call a payment a regular "single" contribution, it buys more accumulation units than a regular payment of the same amount which buys more capital units(these are the ones that acrue charges).

So anyone out there with this type of pension needs to check as it will have a dramatic effect over the long term. good luck.

mlattimer

I am in a somewhat similar position, I have about 30k in the allied crowbar pension started in '94. I only recently started reviewing my pension and was somewhat staggared as to the charges and the transfer value.

I have about 50% capital and accum units and a transfer value of only about 22k.

I have done lots of phoning up and hasslling the allied dunbar staff to try and get some propper definitions to the charges, they dont seem to understand them themselves so it has been quite hard. It looks like all additional contibutions for 2 years are used to purchase capital units and the rest accumulation units.
The capital units are subject to 3.5% management charge which is taken in the form of a price reduction of the capital units.
The accumulation units are subject to a 0.75% annual charge which is then reinvested back into the units.

There is a further 0.75% charge applied to the entire value of the two funds.
In addition there is an index linked administration charge of about £5-20.

After about 20 phones calls i am still in the dark as to whether the 3.5% charge is applied annually monthly or daily.

I have also discovered that you have to pay about £1.70 a month in order that in the event of your death that the capital units are passed to your estate. The justification for this has not been explained to me.

I am trying to find out exactly how much management charge has actually been levied so far on my fund so that I can tell what sort of value of have been provided. Needless to say, this is not very easy but i will get there in the end.

As for the transfer value, this looks like some sort of legalised theft or confidence trick and would like some advice on how I may be able to increase this to fairer levels. At the least i think that Allied Crowbar should at least be able to show my how they arrived at the figures and why.

Any adivce as to what strategy to persue in order to file a claim for misselling would be appreciated. The plan is obviously very inflexible and may not have been the best thing to set up for a graduate embarking on a career in around '94, maybe it was. But as soon as better plans came along, it may well have been better to stop it ASAP. Luckily for me, as soon as I started a job where the employer had their own scheme, I stopped contributions ( 2002).

shiredeon

If remember correctly, we complained that we were not advised to make regular "single" contributions, so we made just regular contributions,

These purchased more capital units and hence higher charges,(and more commision for the FA). they agreed to backdate the contributions, (not all but quite a few). so it's worth having a go. good luck.

Hmm, just noticed i am repeating myself, must be my age,

purch

I sympathise.....

I have asked AD for an explanation of the charges and received a 'standard' document today in the post.

Basically it is just as stated above....and they state that the total payments received are £ 39K of 'REGULAR' payments and Nil of 'SINGLE' payments....they also state my current slary is £ 145K :T (IF ONLY !!!!)

REGULAR payments my a#se........I only made ever made 2 contributions.... in 1990 and 1992

Current plan value £ 98,407.80...Transfer Value £ 82,750.99

Yes it appears that the Conman ( oops I mean Financial Adviser ) who did nothing more than fill in the forms for me has done very well out of my retirement planning !!!

At least when I reach my 'selected' retirement date of 55 they will convert the Capital Units to Accumulation Units.....so only 9 more years until I get a transfer value somewhere near what the Fund is allegedly worth !!!!

I never wanted to make regular payments......just to put away any excess amounts I earned in any year.

Was I 'missold' ??? or just gullable ????

And who should I pursue to make a claim for misselling ???

EdInvestor

I have also discovered that you have to pay about £1.70 a month in order that in the event of your death that the capital units are passed to your estate. The justification for this has not been explained to me.

Pensions are actually not included in your estate: the trustee pays the money directly to the beneficiaries.

DavidLaGuardia

purch wrote:

I sympathise.....

I never wanted to make regular payments......just to put away any excess amounts I earned in any year.

Was I 'missold' ??? or just gullable ????

And who should I pursue to make a claim for misselling ???

Sympathy fopr you here, I think you should complain. The company represenative who sold the plan (I won't bestow the title of adviser on them) was almost certainly trying to increase commissionv and/or sales targets by claming a single payment was an annual payment. Burden of proof is more on the file they have, so go for it. This type of thing is disgraceful and, sadly, not uncommon. Your complaint should go to the company who sold it first and then I belive they have 8 weeks to reply. If they fail to satisfy you a complaint you go to the financial serices ombudsman.

mlattimer

I've been on the phone to them for about a month trying to get some basic information such as charges and how my contributions have been allocated. They keep sending me the same standard stuff back. Eventually the woman on the phone got fed up and said that I should log a complaint!
So basically I have to now make a formal complaint in writing to get a coherent explanation of the charges !

mlattimer

David,
Did you start to make a complaint.

I have discovered that for mine, I could have made single contributions of which 4% is taken as an upfront commission. The rest is then used to purchase the accumulation units. This is much better than the normal contributions which have 3.5% plus 0.75% ( = 4.25%) taken out of them every year.
The reason why you were not told about this was probably because the agent earns less commission from these.