cash for pension

davydolittle

i have been contacted by ipi services with regards to transferring my pensions to them for a cash insentive. i am wary as i have looked on their website and they are not regulated by the financia.l services authority, would like the cash at the moment as i am only 48 and cannot take my pensions out until 55. has anyone heard of this company? what advice can you give me please. they pay you a lump sum of 8% of the value

Annisele

No, you can't cash in your pension.

I can't find an address for IPI Services on their website, which makes me suspicious. I agree with this guy - sounds like a scam.

Even if they were entirely legitimate, why would you give somebody 100% of your pension in order to get 8% back?

Aegis

davydolittle wrote: »

i have been contacted by ipi services with regards to transferring my pensions to them for a cash insentive. i am wary as i have looked on their website and they are not regulated by the financia.l services authority, would like the cash at the moment as i am only 48 and cannot take my pensions out until 55. has anyone heard of this company? what advice can you give me please. they pay you a lump sum of 8% of the value

Wait until 55. Pretty much anything other than that is illegal.

jamesd

The test is easy: if a financial company phones you, that indicates that they are a firm that you should not do business with. Its' the approach used by fraudsters and unethical companies more than any legitimate company would use it. So hanging up and ignoring them is the best approach to take.

Why do you need the cash? Chances are that we can come up with some better approach.

davydolittle

what better approach? any suggestions!

jamesd

First we need to have some idea of what it's for. If it's for debt repayment things like 0% card deals can be a better idea, same if it's for a car or something of that sort.

dunstonh

what better approach? any suggestions!

Bottom line, you cannot access your pension before age 55 (ill health excluded). Any scheme that does this is doing so unlawfully. The High Court just ruled on similar schemes as being illegal. HMRC treat any payment back to you as an unauthorised payment which hits you for a significant tax penalty as well as allowing HMRC to take a closer look at you.

CannySaver_2

As other people have said:

1. Probably illegal
2. Probably a scam
3. They will do much better than you
4. They cold called you, sure sign you should avoid them
5. They are not FSA regulated, who do you complain to when it goes wrong
6. The pensions are there for your retirement, not when you are 48

Out of interest why do you want the money now?

If you give more info on your financial circumstances other people on this board may be able to help with alternative solutions.

The Canny Saver