Equitable Life with profits pension / takeover.

Scot_39

thatbrownie said:

So after the Equitable Life takeover by Utmost I received my Annual Statement dated 1st April 2020 today.    I do not understand how Utmost have devalued my Unit Linked fund by approx £1,000 when it is supposed to be in a secure cash investment account.

Fact Utmost's letter B sent in February 2020 stated at 1 January 2020 the Unit Linked Policy was valued at £3,369.84 and was supposed to be in a secure cash investment for 6 months according to page 5 of Utmost's PART 1:  KEY INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR INVESTMENT OPTIONS states "while in the secure cash investment the Unit price would be guaranteed not to decrease from the price at the initial investment" so why is this policy now worth £3,151.60 at 1st April 2020.

The total unit linked policy value at 1 January 2020 was £13,382.81 and if it was invested as they said they were going to in a secure cash investment it should still be that value at 1 April 2020 and not £12,230.36 as shown on the Annual Statement dated 1st April 2020

Have Utmost not invested this policy as they said they were going to or have they just taken my money because they can?  

Is there any chance your money was split between old EL Equity funds and the EL With Profits funds - given that you quote two figures - the £3369.84 and a total of £13382.81 ?  And your April losses based on the two new figures were approx £220 and £1150 overall - so something else doesn't add up.

Only money from the with profits fund (plus the uplift) was placed in the "Secure Cash fund". It should be there to end of June - if you did not submit an investment choices form pre Xmas or an investment change form after.  Others have reported secure cash has been slighlty positive when withdrawing in recent months.

Old EL equity based funds however stayed with the same equity funds - and markets are down significantly.

If your statement doesn't make the funds position clear - then I would phone them and ask them to explain - the old EL team were generally quite helpful.

IMPISH29

At least you have received a valuation which you can now challenge. I have my funds with a company scheme, and the trustees have been more than useless. No information from them at all since the proposed transfer to Utmost was announced last year, not even one letter, despite my requests in writing. Is it worth taking this up with the Pensions Regulator? 

Joey_Soap

IMPISH29 said:

At least you have received a valuation which you can now challenge. I have my funds with a company scheme, and the trustees have been more than useless. No information from them at all since the proposed transfer to Utmost was announced last year, not even one letter, despite my requests in writing. Is it worth taking this up with the Pensions Regulator? 

I suspect your scheme admin is Mercers. I have had to fight tooth and nail for months to get any information out of them. The only information I have succeeded in getting has been a transfer out form. That's good enough for me. I have completed the form and sent it to Interactive Investor to move the Utmost money into my II SIPP account. Good riddance Mercers, as long as the transfer does actually happen!

JS.

Joey_Soap

Joey_Soap said:

IMPISH29 said:

At least you have received a valuation which you can now challenge. I have my funds with a company scheme, and the trustees have been more than useless. No information from them at all since the proposed transfer to Utmost was announced last year, not even one letter, despite my requests in writing. Is it worth taking this up with the Pensions Regulator? 

I suspect your scheme admin is Mercers. I have had to fight tooth and nail for months to get any information out of them. The only information I have succeeded in getting has been a transfer out form. That's good enough for me. I have completed the form and sent it to Interactive Investor to move the Utmost money into my II SIPP account. Good riddance Mercers, as long as the transfer does actually happen!

JS.

I hope the end of the terrible Equitable Life/Utmost/Mercers saga is in sight for me. I asked for an update from Interactive Investor regarding the Mercers/Utmost > II transfer. II have sent the required documents to Mercers for them to instruct Utmost to pay across my Utmost AVC pot into my II SIPP. It has been a terrible journey. But now, it's a cash transfer. How simple can it be? I wait with baited breath for the day I can see the money in my II SIPP account. The only people I feel for is the ex Equitable staff now at Utmost who are seeing their reason for being there disapearing with every transfer out.
JS.

POPPYOSCAR

Does anyone know if funds in the secure  cash fund can be  kept  in there after June on request?

allgreek

POPPYOSCAR said:

Does anyone know if funds in the secure  cash fund can be  kept  in there after June on request?

I was told it's not possible. But it's best to ask yourself by telephoning them. If you leave a message they should call you back so you don't have to wait in a queue.

The adviser told me the funds would only gradually be moved out of the secure cash fund over a period of six months. When I said I wanted to go to the money market fund instead of one including equities, he asked if I wanted to move it all there immediately. I said I wanted to move it there over the six month period and he said that would require paperwork. Unfortunately the form is not listed on the website so I'm waiting to receive it. If I don't receive the form by about 22nd June I think I'll call again and ask to move all the money into the money market fund immediately.

POPPYOSCAR

allgreek said:

POPPYOSCAR said:

Does anyone know if funds in the secure  cash fund can be  kept  in there after June on request?

I was told it's not possible. But it's best to ask yourself by telephoning them. If you leave a message they should call you back so you don't have to wait in a queue.

The adviser told me the funds would only gradually be moved out of the secure cash fund over a period of six months. When I said I wanted to go to the money market fund instead of one including equities, he asked if I wanted to move it all there immediately. I said I wanted to move it there over the six month period and he said that would require paperwork. Unfortunately the form is not listed on the website so I'm waiting to receive it. If I don't receive the form by about 22nd June I think I'll call again and ask to move all the money into the money market fund immediately.

 Thank you
What made you decide on the Money Market Fund?.I read that with inteerst rates being so low once the fund charges are taken into account it might go negative?

allgreek

POPPYOSCAR said:

What made you decide on the Money Market Fund?.

My understanding is that the money market fund is the nearest thing to cash which is available. On the self-select funds page it has a risk rating of 2 (low risk). There are no others with that rating and only the secure cash fund has a rating of 1 (very low risk). The description is what I want for my money in the current market. I agree it might go down in value but I'm not looking for a long-term investment.

I'm 66, live abroad, have no taxable income in the UK and want to find the most tax efficient way to get the money out. Any withdrawals will be taxed in the UK because that's what the dual taxation treaty says. At present I'm waiting for a response to a  tax refund application for a withdrawal I made in March before deciding what to do next.

SoftCentaur

Just for general info     On Feb 14, I requested my Equitable/Utmost fund be transfered via the Vanguard website.  After a very frustrating 5 months, today it has arrived in my Vanguard SIPP.  The number of phone calls, emails and snail mail communications I have had in the period are very numerous. The delay in executing the original transfer plus other factors lost me a few grand as my investments were still with Utmost. After complaining to Utmost, they gave me a couple of grand to compensate for the !!!!!!-ups but the whole episode came as a shock of just how bad the service was.  This was my first experience of doing anything more involved than paying in once a month.  Maybe I was rather naive. Not now !

mistresspea

Can anyone advise on the quickest way to get my Equitable/Utmost pension away from Utmost before the end of June deadline?  I've left it til the last minute (Doh) but have been following this post and know there are some experienced people on here.  Many thanks