releasing pension early

lookingaftermumanddad

hello everybody new here so i hope you can help me, my father got a cold call to release his pension early now he filled in the paperwork sent it back blah blah and they found out how much his pension is worth its with british gas if that helps? and said they can release £63000 of it now my mother is no help just thinking of money and my father has no money sense at all really where these things are concerned now he got another call the otherday from a different company called omcon or somthing like that apparently a french company ?? saying the other one allience wealth have gone under and they will offer him £57000 now im very concerned cause im not that wise on pensions but this just screams scam to me but im wondering if allience wealth are also a scam and if he does get the money its my belief he may have the pay our wonderful hmrc a loverly tax bill now if anybody can shed light or as im sure you all are wise on this subject can help please its driving me crazy !!!!! thank you

le_loup

It's all scam.
Read the sticky thread at the top of this page.
I hope they haven't gone too far.

xylophone

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-2278634/Crackdown-pension-unlocking-fraudsters-leads-tax-bill.html

lookingaftermumanddad

thank for your reply wheres the sticky thread im sorry not very tech wise :rotfl:

sandsy

This is the sticky:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3447527

dunstonh

Once you get on a victim list, then all sorts of scams come your way as you are seen as an easy mark.

These dodgy scams start up, rip people off and shut down before the regulators and authorities can catch them.

Its a scam.

GhIFA

Get them to stop this now. They may well get some cash in their pockets, but it is an unauthorised payment and they will get heavily penalised by HMRC on it. He will have lost his British Gas pension (final salary) and any money taken by the scam artists into whatever "guaranteed return" crackpot investment they are offering will also more than likely disappear.

Your parents will be faced with a heavy tax charge on the whole amount (not just their "cut" that is released) and will be faced with no income in retirement other than the meagre amount provided by the state.

jamesd

Your father should contact British Gas and tell them that he has given his details to scammers and they should not accept any transfer requests without contacting him personally to confirm that it is a genuine request authorised by him, regardless of what paperwork the third party sends them.

A lump sum doesn't come free. It's provided by reducing the value of the ongoing pension income. The cold calling companies are likely to do this in ways that are against the law, in part because it's against he rules to cold call about this, so you know as soon as you hear from them that they are illegitimate.

If he has a dire need for a lump sum he can ask British Gas what his pension income would be if he took it at the normal date and what lump sum is available by reducing that pension. He can also ask them about taking it now, when there will be a reduction in all values from taking it early.

xylophone

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/p...-tax-bill.html "TPR chief executive Bill Galvin said: 'The pensions industry needs to do what it can to protect members from these offers. There can be a huge sting in the tail for those that are tempted by the sales patter.
'Before considering any transfer requests, we want trustees, providers and administrators to consider whether members’ savings are being transferred into a liberation scheme.
'Providers who don’t carry out due diligence before processing a transfer may be placing members at high risk - and also exposing themselves to significant reputational damage.'
Warning leaflets - called Don't Let Your Pensions Become Prey, complete with the image of a scorpion - describe the risks of such schemes and will be handed to the UK's pension providers.
They in turn will be charged with passing them on to customers who are considering transferring their pension pot.
Those offering pension unlocking, early release or a pension loan tend to work alongside 'introducers' or 'advisers' who use cold calls, spam text messages or website promotions to entice the unsuspecting public into transferring their pensions so they can release a portion as cash before the age of 55."

One would hope that the Pension Trustees are aware of these scams.