Paying an IFA (firm) for final salary pension transfer advice

Mick70

basically as transfer was above £30k we had to take out an IFA .  Charge was £3600, even if recommendation was do not transfer.
We wanted to transfer , however IFA and more importantly his superior overruled and said No , then mid/late march Covid-19 meant lockdown so we never got to transfer (deadline had been mid May) .  Final salary pension was triggered in May.
Anyway , letter came today (july) with the recommendation report (report dated 24 april?)  and obviously we owe £3600.
Can I dispute it seeing as we never received a formal report prior to the deadline for transferring .
What would your take on the matter be ?   I am about to sit down and read it now, and it is quite hefty , just feel we should have had this months ago. as it is irrelevant now.
Mick

dunstonh

We wanted to transfer , however IFA and more importantly his superior overruled and said No , 

Unlikely to be superior.  More likely to be a senior.

Can I dispute it seeing as we never received a formal report prior to the deadline for transferring .

Unlikely as it wouldn't have made any difference when you got it.

just feel we should have had this months ago. as it is irrelevant now.

As long as you get it before the transaction takes place, then it meets the regulatory requirements.   As the transaction hasn't taken place, it has not failed any guidelines.  With DB pension transfers largely delayed or put on hold due to lockdown, things slowed right up.

In this scenario, its likely the report and file was submitted for inspection by the third party compliance company.  They took their time reviewing it and giving the outcome due to lockdown and it was issued once it passed the file check.   

you can ask the question but you have effectively got what you agreed to pay for.

Mick70

 i didnt get it before the transaction took place , it only arrived today , the transfer took place back in May

bigadaj

Would it have been possible for you to delay or defer taking the fs pension? If not, and you made the IFA aware of the dates and timelines then I think you can argue that it is of no use and you shouldn't have to pay. This is dependent on the IFA being aware that a time is of the essence scenario existed.

enthusiasticsaver

I would question it as the report is obviously useless now.  When you said  the pension was triggered in May was the IFA aware of this and were you in a position to delay or defer it?  Was the IFA not working from home during the lockdown?  

Marcon

Mick70 said:

basically as transfer was above £30k we had to take out an IFA .  Charge was £3600, even if recommendation was do not transfer.
We wanted to transfer , however IFA and more importantly his superior overruled and said No , then mid/late march Covid-19 meant lockdown so we never got to transfer (deadline had been mid May) .  Final salary pension was triggered in May.
Anyway , letter came today (july) with the recommendation report (report dated 24 april?)  and obviously we owe £3600.
Can I dispute it seeing as we never received a formal report prior to the deadline for transferring .
What would your take on the matter be ?   I am about to sit down and read it now, and it is quite hefty , just feel we should have had this months ago. as it is irrelevant now.
Mick

Looking at your other posts, you do seem to have a history of running things up to the wire - and this is no exception. Your previous CETV expired, you paid for a new one a couple of months before your pension was due to come into payment in May, giving your IFA little time to do the necessary work, even if the world had been normal.

If you were determined to transfer, you could have done so against the advice of your IFA - the ceding scheme only needs confirmation that you have received advice, not that you have followed it, so it would have been quite possible to tell your DB scheme you were transferring and then stagger through the paperwork once you'd told them. This point was made many times to you in another of your threads in February this year, so you can't claim you were unaware of it.

'Taking out' the IFA by way of revenge seems a bit extreme!

dunstonh

i didnt get it before the transaction took place , it only arrived today , the transfer took place back in May

You didnt say it was transferred in your first post.  You said the "Final salary pension was triggered in May".  Can you clarify if you have transferred or have taken the final salary pension?   (the responses so far are on the basis of you starting the DB scheme and not transferring)

Mick70

dunstonh said:

i didnt get it before the transaction took place , it only arrived today , the transfer took place back in May

You didnt say it was transferred in your first post.  You said the "Final salary pension was triggered in May".  Can you clarify if you have transferred or have taken the final salary pension?   (the responses so far are on the basis of you starting the DB scheme and not transferring)

there was no transfer out, the final salary was triggered in May as that was the deadline , the IFA had supported our claim to transfer however his senior blocked it stating  a number of reasons, however it was all just emails , no report or anything .
The detailed report only arrived yesterday (07 july) and a mention of the monies now owed. 
The report is dated April strangely but i'm not convinced by that .
Anyway, just thought worth a mention , nevermind.

Albermarle

I would try and negotiate a lower fee due to the circumstances. 

wjr4

So you’re receiving the income then? That’s what I’m assuming triggered means. 

Marcon

Mick70 said:

dunstonh said:

i didnt get it before the transaction took place , it only arrived today , the transfer took place back in May

You didnt say it was transferred in your first post.  You said the "Final salary pension was triggered in May".  Can you clarify if you have transferred or have taken the final salary pension?   (the responses so far are on the basis of you starting the DB scheme and not transferring)

there was no transfer out, the final salary was triggered in May as that was the deadline , the IFA had supported our claim to transfer however his senior blocked it stating  a number of reasons, however it was all just emails , no report or anything .
The detailed report only arrived yesterday (07 july) and a mention of the monies now owed. 
The report is dated April strangely but i'm not convinced by that .
Anyway, just thought worth a mention , nevermind.

Your other posts indicate that this was a pension with a protected pension age (50) and no early reduction factor. It could not have come into payment automatically - you need to agree to early retirement - so saying it was 'triggered' doesn't make any sense.