Anyone used mypensionexpert.com

MPD

I don't think anyone is criticising your grammar, rather the grammar on the mypensionexpert website. I think the overall message is if they can't get the grammar right would you trust them with 118K?

coyrls

peteprods wrote: »

I'm sorry if my grammar was incorrect, but I am looking for advice, not an English lesson, which most of the replies to this thread are about.

My question was simple. Has anyone had any dealings with this site and their so called IFA's.

They offer 4 choices : Invested Annuity, Lifetime Annuity, Fixed Term Annuity and Flexi-Access Drawdown. I believe their quotes include their charges, but will have to check again on this.

They claim that they get higher quotes for people because of their market volume.

So I hope that helps. As for me I have a pot of about 118K, sitting in an Aviva Deposit S6 account, which I am being charged on, so the fund isn't growing just shrinking, I was advised to do this by an IFA.

So please I am looking for advice and an answer.

As MPD said, the criticism was directed at the mypensionexpert Website and is not totally irrelevant, as their lack of attention to detail and the actual content of their “Consumer Prompt” undermine their credibility. So the advice would be not to deal with them to answer your original question.

What advice were you given by an IFA? I can be pretty certain that it wasn’t to go to mypensionexpert or that, if it was, the person giving the advice was not an IFA.

dunstonh

My question was simple. Has anyone had any dealings with this site and their so called IFA's.

They are not IFAs.

They offer 4 choices : Invested Annuity, Lifetime Annuity, Fixed Term Annuity and Flexi-Access Drawdown. I believe their quotes include their charges, but will have to check again on this.

If they are not giving advice, its likely they will be on commission. Commission lowers the annuity rate. Just as a fee would. A lot of the online annuity sites take more in commission than an IFA does on a fee.

They claim that they get higher quotes for people because of their market volume.

There is an element of truth to that. Some (but not all) annuity providers do price on economies of scale. However, many IFAs are treated as being members of groups (either by affiliation to a compliance company or being a network company). And those IFAs are likely to be doing more business than a website. I've quoted against a certain "major" online comparison site for annuities that also claims to be the biggest and beaten their annuity rate. So, you should take marketing speak with a pinch of salt.

So I hope that helps. As for me I have a pot of about 118K, sitting in an Aviva Deposit S6 account, which I am being charged on, so the fund isn't growing just shrinking, I was advised to do this by an IFA.

Why havent you asked that IFA to do the annuity? They seem to have given you the correct advice on the fund.

So please I am looking for advice and an answer.

What does your adviser say?

I would be more concerned about using a non-advised site biased toward annuities. If you want advice, use an adviser.

jayjays

Hi Pete,

I used them recently and was VERY impressed, the IFA costs are already factored in the quote.
I played around with the numbers for quite a while and decided on a "5 fixed term annuity" which I was delighted with, I think the IFA cost was £1700ish, but as I say, that was already factored in to the quote
I suggest you have a shop around, but I will be suprised if you get better
I was well impressed with the IFA,friendly, no nonsense and no BS,but to be honest at that stage I didn't need advice,I just had to satisfy the regulation.
Make sure you have all your medical history available, as you probably realise this may have a significant impact on the quotes
Good luck

jayjays

Just seen , your pot is identical to what I had

jamesd

jayjays wrote: »

Just seen , your pot is identical to what I had

That's expensive, then, unless you were also doing a transfer out of a defined benefit pension like final salary.

dunstonh

I used them recently and was VERY impressed, the IFA costs are already factored in the quote.

Why are you referring to them as IFAs? Nowhere on their site does it say they are IFAs. Nowhere on their site does it say they do the same thing as an IFA.

IFAs have to be fee based. Non-advised sales can still be commission based and factor the commission into the annuity rate. IFAs can only deduct the fee from the pot. it is not factored into the annuity rate (can lead to a similar outcome as the IFA annuity rate will be higher but the pot will be lower).

jayjays

Thanks James, so the actual figure was £1725 which may well be expensive, however the overall quote was more money in my pocket each year , I was not concerned if one cost element seemed high, clearly other cost factors must have been low.

Thanks Dunston, , they use their own IFA's regardless of what is says on the Site, I have a bill to prove it. Yes the fee is clearly taken out of the pot, but like I have said, the only figure of interest to me was "how much dollar in my pocket each year"

jayjays

Sorry James forgot to say, my pot was held in cash with HL, who only charged me £25 admin

dunstonh

Thanks Dunston, , they use their own IFA's regardless of what is says on the Site, I have a bill to prove it. Yes the fee is clearly taken out of the pot, but like I have said, the only figure of interest to me was "how much dollar in my pocket each year"

It is funny that they do not make any reference to being independent on the website. It is one of the key differentials in quality.

Did they complete a factfind, budget analysis and cover off the various drawdown options? Or did they limit themselves to effectively do what you wanted them to arrange?

I am wary on the basis that their site is clearly biased to annuities. IFAs should be free of any bias and recommend the options that suitable. My experience is that people that come to be me pre-conceived ideas tend to end up with a different outcome under advice to what they thought was right for them. Usually, because they were not fully aware of all the options available.

Certainly for annuities, using an IFA is no-brainer giving the level of haggling that goes on between providers and the IFA can play on that whereas the online comparison sites tend not to. Plus, time and again it has been said that individuals filling in their own medical form tend to leave off information that IFAs are more likely to obtain. As information can only improve the annuity rate and not reduce it, that is important. Plus, the commission rates often taken by the online sites is around 3%. So, any fee that equates to less than 3% means the outcome should be better.