Reassure no longer offering annuity

vilhelms

The company Reassure have informed me they have taken a decision to no longer offer annuities on my 2 policies and that if I wish to receive annuities I must transfer the policies to another company. The woman I talked to informed me that they can arrange a transfer to a company called LV (who ?) but that I might wish to arrange my own.
Q1. Is this a normal practice ?
Q2. Is transferring policies as simple as it was made to sound ? she sounded suspiciously glib.
Q3. Would trawling the money supplements for the best rates be the best way to proceed.
Q4. Anything else I might need to consider ?
:eek:

parcival

Had a similar thing recently with ReAssure.

Got annuity quotes from LV (Liverpool Victoria) and several other quotes from companies that search the whole of the market.

In the end I went with LV and they arranged the annuity with a company called Hodge Lifetime.

The process was painless and efficient.....

Linton

LV is Liverpool Victoria, a large insurance company. Pension transfers are straightforward assuming the pension is a simple DC one with no guarantees or other complications.

As to what you should do - it depends on the details such as how much money is involved, how old you are, whether you want to retire now and take an annuity,what other pensions you have.

dunstonh

The woman I talked to informed me that they can arrange a transfer to a company called LV (who ?) [/QUOTE

Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society is their original name.

Q1. Is this a normal practice ?
Q2. Is transferring policies as simple as it was made to sound ? she sounded suspiciously glib.
Q3. Would trawling the money supplements for the best rates be the best way to proceed.
Q4. Anything else I might need to consider ?

1 - Yes. There is no legal requirement to offer an annuity and with less people buying them, many providers have pulled out. Even before the pension freedoms, some providers didnt offer them in-house any more.

2 - yes

3 - yes (LV rates are rarely competitive but can fit certain scenarios)

4 - Yes. Alternative income options. Plus using an IFA (IFAs typically get higher rates than direct) if you plan to buy an annuity.