Pension Booster

annedonnelly

I have just had a call from a company offering a review of my pensions. I have agreed to give them information which they will pass to an FSA-regulated financial advisor. They claim that all advice will be free and without obligation.

I didn't catch the name of the company but checking the phone number it's Pension Booster - they do seem to be up front about how they make their money - from commission on any sales the financial advisor.

I have recently been checking whether my pension provision is adequate and would appreciate advice. Am I making a big mistake in giving these people my information? I haven't provided any info yet so I could cancel the appointment.

Thanks

Anne

xylophone

I would be wary of cold callers.
If I felt I needed advice I would prefer to research an independent financial adviser myself .http://www.unbiased.co.uk/find-an-adviser?gclid=CJTpldOjxbUCFaTMtAodRjoAUw

I would also check on my state pension. https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-statement

richardg_ifa

annedonnelly wrote: »

I didn't catch the name of the company but checking the phone number it's Pension Booster - they do seem to be up front about how they make their money - from commission on any sales the financial advisor.

Be wary. Commission is effectively banned wef 31/12/2012 due to the implementation of the Retail Distribution Review. All FSA regulated advisers can now only make their money by way of fees for independent advice.

dunstonh

I have just had a call from a company offering a review of my pensions. I have agreed to give them information which they will pass to an FSA-regulated financial advisor. They claim that all advice will be free and without obligation.

That makes it a breach of FSA regulations following the changes that came in January 2013. However, more likely is that it is a lie.

they do seem to be up front about how they make their money - from commission on any sales the financial advisor.

There is no commission. That has been banned. So, not very up front after all. They are telling you lies.

Am I making a big mistake in giving these people my information?

Very much so. What actually happens is that the cold caller is paid for supplying the lead and the adviser will factor that into the charges that they deduct from your pension fund.

There are also a large number of pension cold calling scams going on at this time (as there are in many areas). It is actually against FSA rules for investment advisers to cold call. So, if you get cold called on an investment product you should always consider it a scam or dodgy. Chances are it is.

If you want a review, then get a local IFA of your choosing to do it. https://www.unbiased.co.uk is the main database. This will list local Independent advisers and restricted advisers. You should select independent.

GhIFA

Be very careful - This company is not regulated. It's also often the case with these types of calls that once you've been given a recommendation to transfer, you're "invited" to invest in some kind of specialist investment with a guaranteed return.

There's nothing wrong with having your pension reviewed, but if you want that done, find a good local IFA to do it - speak to friends, family and colleagues to get some recommendations. Don't use a company who cold-call and then refer you on to someone else.

Their website also mentions that should a transfer be recommended and you decide not to proceed there would be no fee to pay - This is unlikely to be the case as more and more IFA's are now charging a minimum fee for advice given (i.e. where the relationship continues beyond the initial consultation meeting, and a recommendation is actually given) even if that advice is not implemented (This should be detailed in the documentation you would be given in the initial consultation and then agreed before any work is carried out).

annedonnelly

Thanks everyone. I'll cancel the appointment when they call to confirm.

I used the Pensions Advisory Service website a few weeks ago and thought the call was a follow-up from that.

dunstonh

I used the Pensions Advisory Service website a few weeks ago and thought the call was a follow-up from that.

No. Its just a random spam call. We all get these. Sometimes multiple times a day. These scam phone calls are so frequent in volume now I am surprised there is not heavy media and regulatory coverage to warn people.

stevebooster

Hi, I’m the Managing Director of Pension Booster and have noticed the thread above and would like to reply to some of the points raised.


Firstly, I agree with many of the comments made by the IFA representatives. There are some companies that are cold calling and offering pension reviews or transfer that may not be in the best interests of people, for example transferring into unregulated investments, and it is right for people to be careful.


However, we are not one of these companies, the way we work is:
1. We buy leads of people who have given permission to be contacted and in many cases have completed a survey to say they have a pension they would like reviewing;
2. We offer free Pension Reviews completed by IFAs authorised and regulated by the FSA (there is absolutely no charge for the review);
3. The IFAs assess information about existing pensions and use financial software to compare the existing pensions with others that are available in the market and produce a review report which is sent to the client;
4. If there is a financial case for a pension to transfer then the IFA provides fully regulated advice over the telephone to this affect, only recommending regulated funds from large financial organisations;
5. If the person decides to transfer then we have fee sharing arrangements with the IFA (our website also mentions commission as we offer life insurance as well which still offers commission).


Our service is open to anyone with a personal pension or group personal pension with a pension fund above £10,000. We believe this service fills an important gap in the market as Banks are largely withdrawing from offering advice to anyone who has less than £100,000 to invest and many IFAs are focusing only on High Net Worth people. Therefore it can be difficult for those with smaller pension funds to get regulated advice.


We have tried to include a lot of this information on our website, including full details about our people and the way we work, to give people confidence to use our service as we understand there is naturally some concern about who to trust for advice about important subjects such as pensions.


I would just like to finish by saying that we are a commercial business, but we do feel very strongly that it is important people review their pensions as many are in over charged and often poorly performing arrangements and can only benefit from a free review with a regulated IFA.

dunstonh

2. We offer free Pension Reviews completed by IFAs authorised and regulated by the FSA (there is absolutely no charge for the review);

So, how come you are not on the FSA register as an introducer?

stevebooster

We are not an Appointed Representative which would require us to be on the FSA Register. Our business is not regulated - we offer introductions to IFAs who carry-out free pension reviews. All our IFA's are on the FSA Register.

Velcro_Hotdog

So you're yet another middleman wanting a slice of peoples pension fund....great

Folks either see an IFA direct or go DIY why pay for an introducer when Google is free to use