What a Pension mess ... any help?

Mym0ney2020

Long story shortened - in 1993, just had children decided to set up a pension plan as I had left the armed forces.  Set it up with Nat West in 1993 and opted out of SERPS.  At the end of 1995, received a letter  stating that I had been given wrong information and that the policy wouldn't reach what they said it would achieve by my retirement and so Nat West froze it.  I moved around a few years with the forces and finally settled down  and bought my house 16 years ago.  In 2019, received a letter from Aviva saying they had traced me using Capita and they had taken over my pension.  This is where it all goes wrong,  they confirmed the pension had stayed with Nat West for 22 years and in all that time, Nat West charged me an annual fee of £100, never sent out any statements nor did they try  tried to contact me apart from 1 attempt.

The single attempt of contact was made  in 2003, Nat West sent a letter to an address that I moved away from in 1996 ... an address I had never given them so  they could only have received  that address by trying to trace me (we are trying to get to the bottom of this at the moment).  When the letter was returned, Nat West  then sat on my pension for  another 12 years without attempting to contact me again, just  applying admin fees  to the dwindling until it was taken over by Aviva in July 2015 ...

Aviva, didn't inform me they had taken my pension over from Nat West either, they just  "pended" the file for another 4 years, deciding to trace me in 2019  and found me at the address I'd lived in since 2005.  I asked Aviva why they hadn't tried to trace me for the 4 years my file sat in "pending" and what  had changed for them to decide to trace me in 2019 ... they advised that their legal obligations to clients means that cases cannot be "pending" for longer than 3 years and yet they waited 4 years.   

Aviva  then discovered that my voluntary payments were missing from the Pension pot and that only my SERPS monies were in it.  After a lengthy search of archives by Aviva, they managed to trace my missing payments, blaming the transfer of the file and the Policy being an old one from 1993.  It was confirmed that paid around £1000 into the policy when it was "live" which today is worth ....... a grand total of £409 after nearly 27 years after taking it out.  Aviva and Nat West both advised I had a mis-selling and mis-handling claim against them both but I have no idea where to even start.  I have raised internal complaints with them both but surely they will be looking to cover their backs ....    I do understand that policies can go up and down but surely £1,000 should be worth more and £400 after 27 years ??  Where do I even start  with a claim against who,  to  try and claw back any of my money? 

Thanks :-)  

dunstonh

 Aviva and Nat West both advised I had a mis-selling and mis-handling claim against them both but I have no idea where to even start.
If they said that, as you have said it, then its an upheld complaint with no work required from you.  I suspect its more like they didnt say exactly that but suggested a complaint was made as you may have a case.

 have raised internal complaints with them both but surely they will be looking to cover their backs ...
Highly unlikely they would do that.  Especially on such a small amount.

 I do understand that policies can go up and down but surely £1,000 should be worth more and £400 after 27 years ?
No. Not for policies back then which saw the first few years payments go in charges.     often you didnt build a value until years 2-5.  

Where do I even start  with a claim against who,  to  try and claw back any of my money? 
You do nothing.  You have already raised a complaint and that is all you need to do. You just wait now.

Andrew31

When they take out one hundred pound a year i am surprise it is worth anything,
It is really your responsibility to keep companies informed of your whereabouts, if you had, they are obliged to send you statements. 
How did Natwest write to you at an address you lived at, but never gave them, was this a lucky guess?
What are you claiming for? You have to shoulder most of the blame here. 

Mym0ney2020

Thanks :-) 

Aviva stated that there were 4 points where they had failed - the handling of the file, not sending statements, leaving it 4 years to trace and their charges - and logged it as a complaint.  Nat West agreed that they hadn't done anything for at least 12 years and they logged the complaint and in the 22 years they had the policy, they only sent out two letters - one to freeze the pot and the other 8 years later to the wrong address.    
If there should have been growth in years 2-5 - and we are talking 27 years later, surely  it should be worth more than £400?  
So there's nothing more for me to do then?  

Mym0ney2020

Andrew31 said:

When they take out one hundred pound a year i am surprise it is worth anything,
It is really your responsibility to keep companies informed of your whereabouts, if you had, they are obliged to send you statements. 
How did Natwest write to you at an address you lived at, but never gave them, was this a lucky guess?
What are you claiming for? You have to shoulder most of the blame here. 

I think that's rather a harsh response and not helpful in the slightest ...

If Nat West had sent out annual statements, as they are duty bound to do ... I would have been on top of this.  You are forgetting in 1993, we were NOT pension savvy!  I only took out the plan because the Bank Manager advised that I needed to protect my retirement when I left the military.   

IvanOpinion

I would suggest trying taking it to the ombudsman.  A couple of years ago I finally managed to settle on a small pension that had been just about wiped out due to fees.  I had asked on multiple occasions to receive a statement but they never sent it out so I was not capable of monitoring or managing the pension.  The real killer though was that on a recorded telephone call, after passing their security questions, they told me that they could not discuss my pension with me due to data protection.  Nor could they tell me who I should talk to to get information about my pension ... because of data protection.  The ombudsman made mincemeat out of them.

It was settled in may favour but the thing that annoys me most is that the company never apologised to me.  Their payment letter did contain 'sorry' but it was 'Sorry that you felt you had to take this to the ombudsman' - they were the ones that told me to if I was not happy with the adjudication of their internal complaints team (who said I had no case).

dunstonh

Aviva stated that there were 4 points where they had failed - the handling of the file, not sending statements, leaving it 4 years to trace and their charges - and logged it as a complaint.  
They mean may have failed.
1 - they may well have tried sending statements but if they did not have a current address, they couldnt send them
2 - most firms will not trace until you are close to retirement.  its a very expensive thing to do.  So, 4 years is not long at all.
3 - you dissatisfaction over charges and your comments would lead them to raise a complaint. 
None of that actually means you have been missold.  You may have done but no-one can tell until the complaint has been investigated.   Some of the things you mention are not missale reasons but admin issues post sale.    And some of them are a consequence of not having the right address.  If you moved and didnt tell them the new address then that is your fault. Not theirs.

Nat West agreed that they hadn't done anything for at least 12 years and they logged the complaint and in the 22 years they had the policy, they only sent out two letters - one to freeze the pot and the other 8 years later to the wrong address.    
If the address was wrong then mail would be surpressed until you notify them of the correct address.   So, not doing anything would be quite normal.

If there should have been growth in years 2-5 - and we are talking 27 years later, surely  it should be worth more than £400?  
It depends on how much was invested.  You may have only invested a couple of hundred, if that.    

So there's nothing more for me to do then?  
no.  You just wait.

Dox

dunstonh said:

Aviva stated that there were 4 points where they had failed - the handling of the file, not sending statements, leaving it 4 years to trace and their charges - and logged it as a complaint.  
They mean may have failed.
1 - they may well have tried sending statements but if they did not have a current address, they couldnt send them
2 - most firms will not trace until you are close to retirement.  its a very expensive thing to do.  So, 4 years is not long at all.

DWP charge for using the tracing service is currently £3.55 + VAT of £0.71 = £4.26. The real 'cost' is completing their forms, unless the software being used by the pension provider can produce a report in the required format, and many can, so a bulk trace really is pretty much a 'push a button' exercise.

ffacoffipawb

If the regular premiums were invested in capital units that may explain the drop in value. Probably hefty monthly policy fees too.

dunstonh

Dox said:

dunstonh said:

Aviva stated that there were 4 points where they had failed - the handling of the file, not sending statements, leaving it 4 years to trace and their charges - and logged it as a complaint.  
They mean may have failed.
1 - they may well have tried sending statements but if they did not have a current address, they couldnt send them
2 - most firms will not trace until you are close to retirement.  its a very expensive thing to do.  So, 4 years is not long at all.

DWP charge for using the tracing service is currently £3.55 + VAT of £0.71 = £4.26. The real 'cost' is completing their forms, unless the software being used by the pension provider can produce a report in the required format, and many can, so a bulk trace really is pretty much a 'push a button' exercise.

A lot of them use third party companies which can involve private investigators.