Pension Transfers to Royal London

penryuk

Hi,

I've been trying to transfer one of my frozen pension (with Aviva) into my larger Royal London (also frozen) pension pot. However, they seem to be making this incredibly difficult by refusing to do anything without an IFA being involved. Last year I transferred another frozen pension from Black Rock into my current active pension with L&G and it was a breeze, I just filled out a form and they did everything. Hence, I can't understand Royal London's position on this - is this normal in any way? These are all frozen pensions and therefore just pots of my own money and it's entirely up to me which fund I put it in surely?

If they carry on like this I'll just make the transfer to L&G and they can have my money instead!

Anyone had a similar experience? I'm really not going to pay an IFA to sort out the transfer, I can see no reason why I should have to. Or am I being naive?

zagfles

I think RL refuse to deal direct with the filthy public and insist on an IFA. Why not use L&G if that's your current active one?

dunstonh

I've been trying to transfer one of my frozen pension (with Aviva) into my larger Royal London (also frozen) pension pot.

I dont think any Aviva pension meets the definition of Frozen.  Their old Defined Benefit pension isn't.     A lot of people misuse the phrase frozen.  So, perhaps you dont really mean that?  

However, they seem to be making this incredibly difficult by refusing to do anything without an IFA being involved. 

There are two reasons this could be.

1 - It is a defined benefit scheme or a defined contribution scheme with safeguarded benefits with fund value over £30,000.  

2 - Royal London only retail their products via intemediaries and do not accept direct to consumer business.

These are all frozen pensions and therefore just pots of my own money and it's entirely up to me which fund I put it in surely?

No.  There are regulatory blockers with certain types of pension.

 I'm really not going to pay an IFA to sort out the transfer, I can see no reason why I should have to. Or am I being naive?

If you are transferring between legacy pensions pre-dating 2013 then you are probably paying an IFA anyway.   Top ups on legacy plans often releases a commission to the agent that set them up in the first place.

penryuk

The Aviva pension is a defined contribution scheme, frozen since 2010/11. However, my question about RL is answered I guess, I either pay an IFA to transfer it there, or I try and transfer it to my current L&G one myself.

Thanks

AnotherJoe

penryuk said:

The Aviva pension is a defined contribution scheme, frozen since 2010/11. However, my question about RL is answered I guess, I either pay an IFA to transfer it there, or I try and transfer it to my current L&G one myself.

Thanks

It's not frozen ! Probably you simply mean not receiving contributions. But the investments in it will still be changing. Frozen would imply they were not. Unless it's all cash in which case smack yourself in the head for leaving it for nearly  ten years. 

penryuk

AnotherJoe said:

penryuk said:

The Aviva pension is a defined contribution scheme, frozen since 2010/11. However, my question about RL is answered I guess, I either pay an IFA to transfer it there, or I try and transfer it to my current L&G one myself.

Thanks

It's not frozen ! Probably you simply mean not receiving contributions. But the investments in it will still be changing. Frozen would imply they were not. Unless it's all cash in which case smack yourself in the head for leaving it for nearly  ten years. 

Ok yes, it's not receiving contributions, I thought frozen was an easier way to describe it than writing all those words. And yes the investments in it are still changing so no smack required thankfully

Albermarle

penryuk said:

AnotherJoe said:

penryuk said:

The Aviva pension is a defined contribution scheme, frozen since 2010/11. However, my question about RL is answered I guess, I either pay an IFA to transfer it there, or I try and transfer it to my current L&G one myself.

Thanks

It's not frozen ! Probably you simply mean not receiving contributions. But the investments in it will still be changing. Frozen would imply they were not. Unless it's all cash in which case smack yourself in the head for leaving it for nearly  ten years. 

Ok yes, it's not receiving contributions, I thought frozen was an easier way to describe it than writing all those words. And yes the investments in it are still changing so no smack required thankfully

Probably you could sill contribute to the Aviva pension if you wanted to , so even less frozen.
Maybe you could think about transferring to a new provider altogether . Probably worth seeing what is available before sending it all to L& G .

penryuk

Albermarle said:

penryuk said:

AnotherJoe said:

penryuk said:

The Aviva pension is a defined contribution scheme, frozen since 2010/11. However, my question about RL is answered I guess, I either pay an IFA to transfer it there, or I try and transfer it to my current L&G one myself.

Thanks

It's not frozen ! Probably you simply mean not receiving contributions. But the investments in it will still be changing. Frozen would imply they were not. Unless it's all cash in which case smack yourself in the head for leaving it for nearly  ten years. 

Ok yes, it's not receiving contributions, I thought frozen was an easier way to describe it than writing all those words. And yes the investments in it are still changing so no smack required thankfully

Probably you could sill contribute to the Aviva pension if you wanted to , so even less frozen.
Maybe you could think about transferring to a new provider altogether . Probably worth seeing what is available before sending it all to L& G .

The RL and L&G ones are significantly larger than the comparatively small amount in the Aviva one. I know the L&G pension has lower charges than the Aviva one (as does RL). So it seemed to make sense to consolidate it into one of the main pots, then I have less paperwork to keep track of - if L&G are easier to deal with than RL, they'll get the gig.