L&G proposed transfer to ReAssure

Nullboris

Beyond the cheerleading for re-assure , What is the general opinion of Them. I have an L+G SH pension and I also had a pension with ALbA-->windsor life-->Re-assure. I invested in L+G so as not too have too many eggs in one basket!. I have started another SIPP with HL and Think I will put any future contribs into that.
In my mind diversification is best. Got the new docs thru today (Re LG--> RA) and it appears they will NOT be backed by swiss-re but will have their funds spun out into a seperate co. Suspicious , imho . ?
My problems with this is . what incentive have they got to keep charges low?
what incentive have they got to get good returns ?

Or am I being too Harsh ..

Linton

Nullboris wrote: »

Beyond the cheerleading for re-assure , What is the general opinion of Them. I have an L+G SH pension and I also had a pension with ALbA-->windsor life-->Re-assure. I invested in L+G so as not too have too many eggs in one basket!. I have started another SIPP with HL and Think I will put any future contribs into that.
In my mind diversification is best. Got the new docs thru today (Re LG--> RA) and it appears they will NOT be backed by swiss-re but will have their funds spun out into a seperate co. Suspicious , imho . ?
My problems with this is . what incentive have they got to keep charges low?
what incentive have they got to get good returns ?
Or am I being too Harsh ..

Companies like Re-Assure are just responsible for admin. They take over the aged software, aged hardware, aged staff and procedures of old closed pension schemes that the original owners no longer wish to bother with. Everything remains much the same, except as Xylophone said last year, the heading on letters and possibly from my experience with Phoenix, a similar company, improved customer support.

SonOf

Beyond the cheerleading for re-assure

What cheerleading?

What is the general opinion of Them

no better or worse than L&G. L&G have been behind the times for many years now and many of their pension contracts are easily beaten by modern plans. They were ripe for the likes of Reassure or Phoenix to come in and buy the book.

I have an L+G SH pension and I also had a pension with ALbA-->windsor life-->Re-assure. I invested in L+G so as not too have too many eggs in one basket!.

Why would having multiple pension providers aid you in that respect? (clue - it wouldnt)

I have started another SIPP with HL and Think I will put any future contribs into that.

SIPPs get lower FSCS protection than personal pensions. So, if this "not in one basket" approach is a concern for you then using a SIPP doesn't seem to match that objective.

My problems with this is . what incentive have they got to keep charges low?

You entered into a contract with them. Everything carries on as before.

what incentive have they got to get good returns ?

They certainly are not going to attract star managers. But L&G were not either. These are basic pension contracts with middle of the road funds. They will continue to be just that.

They_are_muppets

Just come across this post and clearly i would advise anybody to avoid reassure
Having only dealt with them on 2 occasions i have found them to be clueless and useless ant that includes the managers.
The number of mistakes and errors they have made is unbelievable
At one point i did ask them if the had drafted in or farmed out the work to 5 year olds  or a primary school.
Dunstonh  Beyond reading some reviews on the internet from people who are probably not really knowledgeable enough to write the reviews and probably didnt identify the original insurer (which is where most issues would have come from), what issues do you have a relatively wealthy regulated company running acting as administrator for your pension? 
Clearly as an IFA you dont think very much of people who question or criticise your profession or reassure
By the way it should read    "probably did not identify" and not didnt (poor gramma) 

garmeg

They_are_muppets said:

Just come across this post and clearly i would advise anybody to avoid reassure
Having only dealt with them on 2 occasions i have found them to be clueless and useless ant that includes the managers.
The number of mistakes and errors they have made is unbelievable
At one point i did ask them if the had drafted in or farmed out the work to 5 year olds  or a primary school.
Dunstonh  Beyond reading some reviews on the internet from people who are probably not really knowledgeable enough to write the reviews and probably didnt identify the original insurer (which is where most issues would have come from), what issues do you have a relatively wealthy regulated company running acting as administrator for your pension? 
Clearly as an IFA you dont think very much of people who question or criticise your profession or reassure
By the way it should read    "probably did not identify" and not didnt (poor gramma) 

Grammar?

dunstonh

Just come across this post and clearly i would advise anybody to avoid reassure

That isn't a problem as they run closed books.  Plus, their name is going to be gone in a year or two when phoenix completes the purchase of them.

Having only dealt with them on 2 occasions i have found them to be clueless and useless ant that includes the managers.

Which ReAssure did you deal with?  ReAssure buy dead and unwanted insurance company books.   The quality of service will largely depend on which of the old companies it came from and at what stage consolidation is at.

Dunstonh  Beyond reading some reviews on the internet from people who are probably not really knowledgeable enough to write the reviews and probably didnt identify the original insurer (which is where most issues would have come from), what issues do you have a relatively wealthy regulated company running acting as administrator for your pension? 
Clearly as an IFA you dont think very much of people who question or criticise your profession or reassure
By the way it should read    "probably did not identify" and not didnt (poor gramma) 

If you are going to bring grammar up in a post, then you better make sure your post is spot on otherwise you just look silly.

My profession and ReAssure are very very different things.   To try and link them just confirms exactly everything I have said about people who dont know what they are talking about leaving reviews.    

The comments in this thread are in response to both the product and the part of business L&G were selling to ReAssure.   Something that had not happened at the time as this is a 2018 thread.   I have had plenty of issues with ReAssure over the years and some of them they repeat time and again and I could rant and rave about them but it wouldn't serve any purpose as they had nothing to do with ReAssure on the L&G side.  And no matter how poor they are on admin at times, the OP was looking to opt out of the pension because of the change. And the product they have is not an area that ReAssure are known to have issues with.   They are nowhere near bad enough to throw away free money from the employer.

Landmarc

In my experience, on 6/12/2020 I received a letter that my personal pension fund was transferred from Legal & General to ReAssure without my authorisation.

On 28/6/2021 I contacted Donna Hildreth, Customer Services at ReAssure complaining that I didn't have control over my fund, and she confirmed that I would have to wait "indefinitely" for a service called 'ReAssure Now'.

On 2/7/2021 I was informed by email from Service First ReAssure that I would be not currently able to access 'ReAssure Now'.
ReAssure also stated that I could not directly claim any of my penson and if I wanted to transfer it to another pension provider, it would result in my paying emergency tax on it, but I only plan to claim 25 per cent tax free and put the rest in Drawdown with another pension provider of my choice.
I have heard in the news of many vulnerable people unable to access their pension for Covid emergencies etc.
I have made an official complaint through resolver, which is set to escalate it to the Financial Ombudsman Service in two months.

dunstonh

In my experience, on 6/12/2020 I received a letter that my personal pension fund was transferred from Legal & General to ReAssure without my authorisation.

You don't need to give your authorisation.  It's not your choice.   However, you are free to move your pension to another provider if you want.

ReAssure also stated that I could not directly claim any of my penson and if I wanted to transfer it to another pension provider, it would result in my paying emergency tax on it, but I only plan to claim 25 per cent tax free and put the rest in Drawdown with another pension provider of my choice.

Which is the same as it would have been under L&G.

I have heard in the news of many vulnerable people unable to access their pension for Covid emergencies etc.

There is no reason that should be an issue.   One provider is known to have issues with their new software but across the other providers, there are no issues.

I have made an official complaint through resolver, which is set to escalate it to the Financial Ombudsman Service in two months.

Hopefully you have told them what your complaint is because you haven't on this post.

Landmarc

I was complaining about the standard of customer service being rather lower than it should be, but hey ho, it comes as no surprise under the current circumstances.

dunstonh

Landmarc said:

I was complaining about the standard of customer service being rather lower than it should be, but hey ho, it comes as no surprise under the current circumstances.

How was the service lower?  I generally found the service with L&G to be rather poor and their product range highly dated.  ReAssure are generally not much different at the moment.  Neither worse or better but more a reflection of the out-of-date product range they took over built on out-of-date systems that ReAssure had to move off.