Just received a cold call about claim for SERPS opt outs in past...?

BlondeHeadOn

Has anyone had any experience of claims companies for SERPS opting in/out in the past?

I've just had a phone call from someone telling me to ring a government helpline to ask about my history of pensions and opting in/out. I rang the number they agve me (having checked it out first that it wasn't just a neat way of getting lots of personal info from me!) I am now waiting for the original claims company person to ring me back.

Is this for real, or is this a 'we can claim for you but we will take 75% of the compensation' type of scenario? I don't know whether this should just be alerting me to something I should be doing myself.

Anyone?

PS Please bear in mind that I am a pension numpty, so be gentle with me ....

dunstonh

We get a post like this every few weeks. Its a scam to get money out of you.

The FSA recently undertook a review of contracting out and found no evidence of widespread mis-selling. It did find under 2% of cases contracted out outside of the suggested ages. These could be potential mis-sales but unless you were over 50 when you contracted out, you wont be in that area.

here is a couple of threads on it:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=455563&highlight=morgan+green

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=430646&highlight=morgan+green

BlondeHeadOn

Ah, thought it sounded dodgy. I did a search on this forum but couldn't find the links you posted so thank you for that. I will file any info this company send me in the appropriate recycling recepticle.

Many thanks for the quick response!

:T :T :T

EdInvestor

BlondeHeadOn wrote: »

I don't know whether this should just be alerting me to something I should be doing myself.

It might be. Obviously firms who cold call and demand money upfront should be avoided like the proverbial, but there certainly were SERPS mis-sales.

The FSA reckons about 120,000, Which? thinks more like 4-5 million.More info from Which?:

http://www.which.co.uk/reports_and_campaigns/money/campaigns/pensions/Contracting%20out/Contracting_out_559_54866.jsp


It looks like Which? is revising its guidance on the issue, so suggest you wait keep an eye on it at present until it becomes clearer how to tell if you have made a loss/been missold and how to claim if so.

dunstonh

Which don't have access to the data. Plus that link contains woefully out-of-date information that is inaccurate and misleading (the factsheets in particular). Most of it is pre A day when contracting out had improved benefits.

Had a financial services firm still been displaying information like that, the FSA could fine them. A consumer group does not have the stringent rules applied to them so they are allowed to get away with giving inaccurate information.

jamesd

The FSA has just published a booklet on this. I suggest that you read The State Second Pension (formerly SERPS) - were you wrongly advised to contract out? before doing anything else.

If you were a woman aged under 40 or a man aged under 45 it's not likely that you were wrongly advised to contract out.