Friends life new generation pension plan

paul2468

Hi I will be 59 this year and i decided that i would like to take 25% of my pension tax free..got in touch with friends life and they were not helpful at all...they said that they dont do 25% and i would have to take all or nothing...i thought by law i could take 25% tax free...The total value of my plan is aprox £55,000....Anyone shed any light on this please

dunstonh

got in touch with friends life and they were not helpful at all.

I generally find the old FP side of friends life are pretty good at supplying info. Of course, their contracts are no good as most of them dont support drawdown. However, they are usually fine at everything else.

.they said that they dont do 25% and i would have to take all or nothing...i thought by law i could take 25% tax free..

You can go into drawdown. However, you need a contract that supports drawdown. That means transferring the pension to one that does support it.

Linton

paul2468 wrote: »

Hi I will be 59 this year and i decided that i would like to take 25% of my pension tax free..got in touch with friends life and they were not helpful at all...they said that they dont do 25% and i would have to take all or nothing...i thought by law i could take 25% tax free...The total value of my plan is aprox £55,000....Anyone shed any light on this please

The law allows pension companies to provide cash payments from DC pensions., It doesnt compel them to offer that service. The main reason they choose not to is that old pension policies are typically run by old procedures and old software possibly on old computers. It is difficult and so probably not economically justifiable to modify the old software to provide a major new facility.

Your problem is easily solved, just transfer the pension elsewhere which supports the 25% drawdown. A SIPP will do the job or perhaps Friends Life have another product which would be suitable.

mazzy

We were in the same position so last week we transferred to Hargreaves and Landsdown, easy process and they at least answer their phone straightaway unlike FL who take up to 30 minutes. HL paperwork came in next days post we were very impressed by their service so far.

westv

So FP's "new generation" is more like "my grandfather's generation"

dunstonh

westv wrote: »

So FP's "new generation" is more like "my grandfather's generation"

They are over a decade old and were the perfect basic contract for people wanting basic options at low cost. Indeed, they still are.

paul2468

mazzy wrote: »

We were in the same position so last week we transferred to Hargreaves and Landsdown, easy process and they at least answer their phone straightaway unlike FL who take up to 30 minutes. HL paperwork came in next days post we were very impressed by their service so far.

Any idea of costs / fees ?

xylophone

Any idea of costs / fees ?

http://www.hl.co.uk/partners/search/sipp?theSource=PCHLS&Override=0&adg=G+HLBS+HPN&gclid=CIXql9PowswCFfAy0wod4GQJiQ