226 pension age with Aviva

topfmine

After trying to draw out my small 226 pension pot with Aviva (see my other thread), i finally got the letter i requested, today in the post which i asked for at the start of August. It reads ' Aviva has made a business decision to keep the minimum retirement age for section 226 policies as age 60'.
So can this business decision overrule the 55 year rule for drawing out a 226 policy. If Aviva are in the right then all 226 policy holders with Aviva will have to wait till they are 60 so it looks.
They said it's in your original contract which i have asked them to provide, which i am still waiting for, as i am sure i had to wait till i was 65 years of age in the original contract. How far back does the 60 years of age rule go back, did this apply with original 226 policies.

dunstonh

So can this business decision overrule the 55 year rule for drawing out a 226 policy.

yes.

If Aviva are in the right then all 226 policy holders with Aviva will have to wait till they are 60 so it looks.

No. They may not allow crystallisation until 60 but transfer is not an issue.

They said it's in your original contract which i have asked them to provide, as i am sure i had to wait till i was 65 years of age in the original contract.

S226 RACs had a minimum age of 60 by law until 2006. The 2006 changes aligned the terms with PPPs. Making them age 50 rising to 55 in 2010 (other changes included the ability to take 25% TFC which RACs did not have. Previously, they got 3 times the annual as TFC). So, your policy documentation will state 60.

This is the first case I have heard of any provider of RACs enforcing the pre 2006 age rule. Possibly due to the fact that any Aviva RACs I would have come across would have been transferred unless GARs and most GARs dont kick into until after age 60.

Maybe that is the issue. Most RACs will likely be taken at 60+ or transferred out. Not many would be taken before age 60. The systems running these old fashioned contracts will almost certainly be hard coded and maybe Aviva dont feel the significant cost of changing it is worth it for the very tiny number of cases that would use it.

Anyway, your solution is to transfer it.