opted out of serps do i have a claim

dunstonh

Whilst I understand the sentiment, I dont see it being successful. CIS dont offer enhanced annuities. So, they cant give you something they do not have. Also, their administration staff cannot give advice. They take instructions from you or your adviser.

The whole point of execution only is that the provider is not giving advice. Any whiff of advice and the FSA and FOS cease to treat it as execution only.

I was also not made aware that up untill april 2012 contribtions from contracted out money have to provide a pension for a spouse after my death.

Not their job to. However, be careful what you are arguing for. If you were not contracted out, you would never have had this pension. Instead you would have to wait until age 66/67 to get the income and you wouldnt get a tax free cash payment. If you want them to unwind that, you will need to pay the money back to them.

I was also not advised of the benefits of contacting a independent financial advisor which one would expect from a professional company such as yourselves.

They have their own salesforce. Why would they tell you to use someone else? That said, their open market option wording on the letter containing the options sent to you would be expected to cover the point that OMO could provide better.

At the end of the day, you never know what a complaint outcome will be as firms sometimes uphold complaints to make sure their stats are in the right range to keep the FSA happy or that its cheaper to settle rather than to fight their corner. However, you are asking for an awful lot when there has been no wrong doing.

One last thing is that many CIS plans have guaranteed annuity rates on plans arranged before around 1992, even on contracted out benefits. You may well find that asking them to unwind a plan with GARs to go into one without actually gives you less.

Be careful what you wish for.

dazzabambro

what do you think
Cis Insurance Ltd
Miller Street
Manchester
M60 0AL 1st February 2012
Re penson ref no:
Dear sir/ madam,
I beleive i have made an error in choosing my options for the above pension.When i spoke to you representative by phone and informed them that i wished to be sent the options pack made them fully aware that i was medically retired due to parkinsons,
Even as an execution only sale my conversation with your representative and the fact that i have parkinsons a condition which can severely affect quaility and life expextancy should have prompted them to consider the inapropriotness of an execution only sale of a non enhanced annuity given my situation.
I was also not made aware that up untill april 2012 contribtions from contracted out money have to provide a pension for a spouse after my death.
As i have no spouse i beleive this has cost me severe financial loss.
I was also not advised of the benefits of contacting a independent financial advisor which one would expect from a professional company such as yourselves.
May i suggest that as a form of redress can you please look at rearranging the annuity taking into account the lack of a spouse.
I look forward to your comments and eagerly await your reply.
Yours Sincerely
Darren Bambrough
O

dunstonh

May i suggest that as a form of redress can you please look at rearranging the annuity taking into account the lack of a spouse.

They cannot. It would be unlawful for them to do so. Protected rights require the provision of spouse benefits of 50% (no more, no less). That rule doesnt change until April 2012.

dazzabambro

so do you think if i ask them to change the annuity in april that may get a favourable response or in april will ibe able to change it anyway ?

dunstonh

dazzabambro wrote: »

so do you think if i ask them to change the annuity in april that may get a favourable response or in april will ibe able to change it anyway ?

They cant change it. An annuity purchase is cast in stone. There is some legislation that allows it to be unwound but the crystallisation date (the date you made the original decision) would stand. Plus, hardly any providers will unwind.

jamesd

They will not change the annuity in April. You either get them to cancel the annuity - when it's a bit late to do that, but might still be doable - and get the money back or they probably will do nothing.

Perhaps try:

---

When i spoke to you representative by phone and informed them that i wished to be sent the options pack made them fully aware that i was medically retired due to parkinsons and believed that this was being taken into account in the offers made to me,

Even as an execution only sale my conversation with your representative and the fact that i have parkinsons a condition which can severely affect life expectancy should have prompted them to consider the inappropriateness of an execution only sale of a non enhanced annuity given my situation. At an absolute minimum even an execution only provider should have clearly and explicitly informed me that I was not being sent annuity offers that were enhanced for the condition I'd specifically mentioned and wanted considered in the offers. The product sold was not the one I believed I was purchasing, an annuity enhanced for the medical condition, but rather a standard annuity which ignored it.

Please unwind the annuity purchase so that I can finish rectifying the matter with a transfer to a provider which will offer an annuity that is appropriate for the medical condition I'd disclosed.

I look forward to your comments and eagerly await your reply.

---

Do not mention no spouse. It's not relevant to the issue with them, which is solely the question of whether having been informed of a condition that affects life expectancy whether they should have told you that it was not being considered or declined to sell to you or required an IFA to look. So stick just to that key issue: informed of condition, expected to quote based on it, didn't, should have made that very clear or declined to sell based on knowing that their product was not appropriate given information supplied.

Do remember that there's no guarantee that this will produce a better outcome. I think that it may but I can't know that it will.