NOW Pensions: bad news? Stay away?

Not_Me_Officer

I am in my company workplace pension through NOW Pensions. I haven't been in the pension scheme that long but already my pot seems way below what has been paid in.


A co-worker mentioned to me about some negative press they'd read on NOW Pensions so I did a bit of goggling myself & constant negative feedback after negative feedback.


One that was concerning was feedback from an employer who complained that NOW Pensions hadn't taken money from them (the employer) so their employees pots were incorrect.


This took me back to thinking about how my pot seemed quite low for what has been paid in so far at the last time I checked.


I emailed NOW Pensions a couple week ago & got no response. I searched for a contact but either I'm being blind (probably) or it's well hidden.


Are these people bad news?


By the way, I've been paying in for about 5 months or so now. I have paid in around £60 in compulsory payments as part of my 1% contribution, I understand that my employer needs to pay in a minimum of 1% so that means they will have paid in the same £60 & I have also paid in around £150 in voluntary contributions


For a total of £270.


I've just logged on to my account now & it's showing just shy of £140. It's been well down ever since day 1.

xylophone

https://www.lovemoney.com/news/17465/auto-enrolment-the-alternatives-to-nest

http://www.nowpensions.com/contact?role=

There is a telephone number 0 330 100 3334

Not_Me_Officer

I'd read the first link some time ago actually.
The 2nd link is what I tried a couple weeks ago (no response so far & I'm not holding my breath). I saw the phone number shortly after posting the thread actually.


I understand investments can go down as well as up, and it's not impossible that they've been down since day 1, but from the moment the first payment went in, the pot was to me, considerably down. I think payment month 2 was the first time I could see in my online account & approx. £50 had been placed in in total whereas my pot had a value of about £15. Not impossible I know, but it made me wonder after what I'd read if what that employer was complaining about on their review was happening with my employers.

mania112

Not_Me_Officer wrote: »

By the way, I've been paying in for about 5 months or so now. I have paid in around £60 in compulsory payments as part of my 1% contribution, I understand that my employer needs to pay in a minimum of 1% so that means they will have paid in the same £60 & I have also paid in around £150 in voluntary contributions


For a total of £270.


I've just logged on to my account now & it's showing just shy of £140. It's been well down ever since day 1.

Can you just clarify your contributions - are you say £60 per month for 5 months plus £150?

is the 60 what is taken from your pay?

mania112

better still can you state your salary and the staging date of the scheme

Not_Me_Officer

The £60 was total compulsory contributions.
For compulsory contributions I am averaging a tad over £10 per month.
I only did the bare minimum for the first 3 months, for the 2 after that I paid in voluntary contributions also.


But yes, these figures are from my pay. They're the numbers I'm pulling from my payslip.


I can't state my salary unfortunately as it totally varies. It could be as low as say £16k or as high as £20k-£21k thereabouts. Each week varies completely.
Although November was the first month I paid in.


Hope this helps.

mania112

Ok so your contribution is grossed up to £72 and matched by your employer (currently, that'll change in the future - you'll end up paying more, by default)

£144 paid in, approximately.

The voluntary contributions seem not to have been added to your account. When were they made?

mania112

£75 sorry, sums are hard.

Not_Me_Officer

If it'd help (& this is honestly without sarcasm) I can photo or scan my payslip to show my contributions?

I say this only because my slips don't amount to £72 or £144.

And the voluntary contributions would've been made at the same time as the last 2 compulsory contributions I imagine since there are 2 entries on my payslip - compulsory & voluntary & they both are taken from that particular months pay & is then displayed on the payslip.

mania112

if you're paying your contributions the way I think you are, you will notice that the employee and employer contribution amounts are different??

If that's right, this is because your contribution is topped up with tax relief to match the employer contribution - so a bit more goes in than you realise/see on the payslip.

Anyway, it just seems like the most recent contributions haven't been paid to NOW yet. Pretty normal, but keep an eye.

Investment wise, there shouldn't be any big loss in value since November. The FTSE100 (as a guide) was about the same in November as it is now.

Bazofts_Revenge

My companies scheme gets the money about 20 days after it is taken from our payslips and is invest a day or so later. So bear in mind that you could have a similar delay too. Check the charges for the funds you are voluntarily paying into. You may be able to get similar funds for less cost in a private pension. Only put the maximum you can in a company pension upto the amount the company will match unless it is the cheapest option.