The Pension Guys

robotbella

I've recently been contacted by a company called The Pension Guys, who are offering me a free pension review. They seem legitimate but just wanted to check if anyone else had experience of using them?

On the paperwork they sent me it says:
The Pension Guys is a trading style of ACL Consultancy Ltd (Company No 07865881)

They have asked me to sign some forms giving them permission to contact my pension providers for information about my pensions and I want to check they are not a dodgy company before I send the forms. Hope someone can help! Thanks

atush

How did they contact you? By Phone?

If so, it is a scam as reputable companies are NOT allowed to cold call. So right there, is a BIG RED FLAG they are not legit.

Then have you googled the company (both names)? have you checked to see if they are registered to give advice?

What kind of pension have you got? DB or DC (money purchase)? Why aren't you happy with them as they are?

Jack_Griffin

Plus they are a new company only incorporated earlier this year. No track record.

http://www.companiesintheuk.co.uk/ltd/the-pension-guys
Incorporation Date: 24 Jan 2013 8 Months old

dunstonh

I've recently been contacted by a company called The Pension Guys, who are offering me a free pension review.

There is no company of that name (or trading style) on the FSA register. That means they are not regulated in the UK and not allowed to carry out regulated activities in the UK. The post code does not match a regulated firm either.

If you were cold called then that is a breach if it was a regulated company. The regulator does not allow cold calling on investments (and pensions are investments)

So, you have an unregulated firm offering to do something they are not authorised under law to do and if it was a cold call then its a breach of regulations (but if the are not regulated and breaking rules then cold calling is not going to bother them).

There are plenty of scams going on at the moment with pension cold calling. A common one is a "free" review of a pension. What typically happens is that regardless of the quality of the pension, they will tell you its rubbish and tell you to transfer to unregulated investments (alternative energy, woodland, offshore property, carbon credits etc). All of which are dodgy as hell, have no consumer protection and usually involve big fees/commissions to those involved. All taken from your pension. They will often make out it is regulated or protected by perhaps mentioning HMRC regulations or using a regulated firm purely for the setting up of the SIPP (but not the assets within it). Lulling you into false security.

edit: I just checked their website and they are not a regulated company who is allowed to carry out the activity they are offering. What they are really doing is attempting to put in a mis-sale complaint against the adviser/agent that set up your pension. It may well go into the unregulated areas but the website is a claims company. The website contains inaccurate information and misrepresentation. i.e. it is telling lies. For example, it says:

Unfortunately a large number of pension providers used when opting out of SERPS did so unlawfully.

1 - there are no large numbers. The FSA did a review of contracting out of SERPs and found a potential failure rate of just 1.5%. The FOS complaints upheld rate on contracting out of SERPS is just 1%. ie. 99% of complaints it deals with are rejected. Most of these put in are by dodgy claims companies
2 - there has been no unlawful action. There has been no court case or legal action taken with contracting out. It is a lie.

If you use this company, you are just being scammed.

FatherAbraham

[QUOTE=robotbella;63425923They_seem_legitimate_but_just_wanted_to_check_if_anyone_else_had_experience_of_using_them?[/QUOTE]

Con men who don't appear legitimate have short, unsuccessful careers.

Warmest regards,
FA

jamesd

Forget them. Any financial services company that contacts you unprompted should not be used, because regulated firms are in general prohibited from doing so. So you know automatically that either they are ignoring regulations and hence not a firm you should be doing business with, or not regulated and hence not a firm you should be doing business with. As a bonus some will be outright scammers and crooks, not just acting poorly.

Don't respond, don't use such firms and tell others to act in the same way, for their protection and yours.

mania112

It may sound odd, but looking at their website gives a good impression of the people behind it (in my opinion):

1) There's no notice at the bottom to identify them as a regulated firm (an FCA requirement) - so they're not (people who are, tend to be proud to show it off).

2) The overall quality of the website is poor. It has not been produced with the help of a web designer.

3) There is no 'about us' or 'meet the team' - why are they hiding from us? Who are these 'guys'!

4) No Privacy Policy or Terms of Use.

5) The content is very low grade: "Have you opted out of SERPS and wonder how much your money could earn?" - which is poor English and a poor question considering the current state of play RE: Contracting-Out.

tell_it_how_it_is

The only person who has ever got any business out of me thanks to cold calling was a gardener. I'd personally suggest you follow similar principles.

robotbella

Thank you all for your detailed replies - that is really helpful and has helped me to decide not to give them my details! They did contact me by phone. Just for info, I think Thomas Cook airlines sold my details to a load of companies after I filled in their in-flight feedback questionnaire. I won't be doing that again!

bigmatt1174

There have been a few comments on here that state cold calling for investments is prohibited under the regulations. This is not entirely true.

The following is taken from the FCA Handbook:

A firm must not make a cold call unless:
(1) the recipient has an established existing client relationship with the firm and the relationship is such that the recipient envisages receiving cold calls; or
(2) the cold call relates to a generally marketable packaged product which is not:
(a) a higher volatility fund; or
(b) a life policy with a link (including a potential link) to a higher volatility fund; or
(3) the cold call relates to a controlled activity to be carried on by an authorised person or exempt person and the only controlled investments involved or which reasonably could be involved are:
(a) readily realisable securities (other than warrants); and
(b) generally marketable non-geared packaged products.

A pension (Stakeholder or Personal Pension) falls under the packaged product category, so this can be "cold called".

However I would always take a firm that does cold call you with a large pinch of sale - what Dunstonh has done is the correct process - check the FCA register, check the websites and see if they are genuine!

dunstonh

A pension (Stakeholder or Personal Pension) falls under the packaged product category, so this can be "cold called".

Whilst they are packaged products, you find most of the scams use SIPPs or other non-packaged products. Also, most pensions nowadays (including stakeholder and most PPPs) have a link to higher volatility funds.

The rules could do with being updated as modern investment products are not the same as the ones that existed when the rules were first written. For example, it was very common for pensions just to have 1-5 funds. Now you see hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands. It is rare to see the likes of the old CIS, Pearl, Pru etc pensions with just one low volatility fund.

However, you just dont find genuine FCA regulated companies cold calling people on pensions and investments. So, working on the basis of the call being dodgy unless proven otherwise is the right basis to take.