Pension transfers / ReAssure

CambridgeMart

I have several pension schemes from previous employments plus a personal pension taken out with L&G which was transferred to ReAssure. I am now planning to consolidate my pensions with a view to taking a 25% lump sum to purchase a property. ReAssure have already proven to be difficult to deal with, only replying to enquiries via Royal Mail and taking a long time to do so, typically 2 weeks from contacting them. I have also been given incorrect information by them as they have told me my PP2 scheme does not accept transfers in, which contradicts what the transfer form and my Ts & Cs in the transfer paperwork from L&G states. Having done some further research into ReAssure, the reviews are almost entirely bad, not something that I find reassuring at all!

I am now looking into transferring my pension pot from ReAssure to another company and transferring the funds from my other schemes into the new scheme; I've found that Penfold are getting very good reviews and their charges are very low.

Has anyone had experience with moving funds from ReAssure, and if so, would you recommend doing so? Has anyone dealt with Penfold?

Albermarle

The main drawback with Penfold is a very restricted range of investment options - only six I think .
This may be fine for you but would not suit most investors on this forum .
Their charge of 0.75% is not that cheap for simple funds, but it drops to 0.4% if you have more than £100K , which is more competitive .

dunstonh

Having done some further research into ReAssure, the reviews are almost entirely bad, not something that I find reassuring at all!

As has been said many times before, ReAssure are not particularly bad.  Like other consolidators, they buy unwanted life and pension books from other insurers.  The quality of service varies significantly based on the source of the original book.  Often the service during the handover period gets worse before it gets better.  Although frequently, the service of the original provider was typically poor as well.   The unwanted L&G book has suffered some servicing issues but appears to be settling down now.

A lot of the negative reviews are more down to a lack of understanding by the individual rather than a failure at ReAssure.

I have also been given incorrect information by them as they have told me my PP2 scheme does not accept transfers in, which contradicts what the transfer form and my Ts & Cs in the transfer paperwork from L&G states.

I haven't checked but its possible ReAssure have closed that plan for new business and top ups.   Even if it does, you would have to question why you would want to do that when you consider its default terms are not on par with modern options.

I am now looking into transferring my pension pot from ReAssure to another company and transferring the funds from my other schemes into the new scheme; I've found that Penfold are getting very good reviews and their charges are very low.

Any provider that has only been running a short time and has no legacy issues will not have many poor reviews.  It won't have legacy products and won't have been around long enough for problems to develop.   Plus, many of these new providers actively encourage people to review them when they are new customer.     Pretty much every provider out there handles new business perfectly and would get a positive review at that point.  Even from those that suffer buyers remorse.       This applies to most areas of retail.  You can often spot these by the volume of people posting reviews referring to the new customer process.

Has anyone had experience with moving funds from ReAssure, and if so, would you recommend doing so?

Plenty of times.  I have recommended it when it has been suitable. I have also recommended people stay when it is suitable.  There is no one-size-fits-all position to take on this as it depends on the contract terms.

Has anyone dealt with Penfold?

I haven't and I wouldn't. However, that doesn't mean that offers wouldn't.  For me, the charges are too expensive for what it is offering.  0.75-0.88% p.a. for a non-advised basic solution is high.    You can get 0.3x% for similar style investing.   

Generically, robo-providers tend to cater for the bottom end of the market in terms of value.  That generally means they have more low-value customers than high ones.     Plus, most have not been running for a long time and don't have the assets under management yet to be able to reduce the charges in the same way others with larger AUM have.

Robo- providers are very similar in what they and tend to price in a similar range but they are not the cheapest options.   They do a good job of filling the gap where it is not cost effective to use an adviser (or and adviser wont offer services) as your pension values are too low but you are not confident to be able to pick investment funds via a whole of market option (which is usually where the cheapest options are).   They are great for very small values or young people just starting off with tiny contributions.

Cost is not the only driver.    If you have a small value, little understanding of investments and want an app rather than a website then a robo-provider could be the best option for you.

OldScientist

CambridgeMart said:

Has anyone had experience with moving funds from ReAssure, and if so, would you recommend doing so? Has anyone dealt with Penfold?

Yes - a few years ago I moved a DC pension from ReAssure - I found the transfer process to be fairly straightforward, although I triggered it from the the receiving company and, yes, everything was done by post (I recommend making copies and only sending anything with proof of delivery). The very old funds I was in (from the early 1990s) had 5% upfront charges and ~1% fund charges (fairly normal for those days, but very expensive now) so the transfer was worth it from the cost point of view.

grimsalve

CambridgeMart said:

Has anyone had experience with moving funds from ReAssure, and if so, would you recommend doing so? Has anyone dealt with Penfold?

I was in a similar position to you, I had a few pensions scattered about including one with L&G that was transferred to ReAssure. Over the summer I consolidated all of these into one. I've never been happy with ReAssure but thankfully I didn't have any problems with transferring the money out and closing the account down. It took a few weeks to complete though.