Prudential

Yetanotherfrancophile

HELP!! Needing money we decided to draw some money from pension pot only to be told we can't we have to pay a fiancial adviser. Anyone have experience of this? Terribly upset. We don't have the money to pay an adviser which is why we need some of our pension. Chicken and egg. The man from the Pru says rules is rules. 

TadleyBaggie

How old are you? What type of pension "pot" is it?

Linton

Pension companies may well have restrictions that go beyond what is legally required if it involves something that is not explicitly provided by the product.   This can be commercial reasons - In principle there is the risk that if your withdrawal proves to be the wrong thing to do you could sue Prudential.  If there is an advisor in the loop they take the blame.

You get round this by finding a pension provider who will let you do what you want and transfer the pension there. Most will these days.  Transfer of pensions is generally free.  It is carried out by the receiving provider much in the same way as with transfer of ISAs.

However there may be reasons why this is not possible depending on the details of your Prudential pension.

dunstonh

Anyone have experience of this?

Lots of people.

Terribly upset.

why are you upset?

We don't have the money to pay an adviser which is why we need some of our pension. Chicken and egg. The man from the Pru says rules is rules. 

An adviser may actually be cheaper than the pension you have, especially if it's an old legacy pension (which it will be if it doesn't support drawdown functionality - even Prus current offering is quite expensive).

We need to know exactly what was said as your wording could cover two scenarios.

1 - If your pension is over £30,000 and has safeguarded benefits then it is a legal requirement to have financial advice if you wish to access the pension in a flexible manner.   This is because most safeguarded benefits are better than taking it flexibly. e.g. a guaranteed annuity rate of 10%
2 - You are asking prudential to do a transaction that the existing pension does not facilitate.  So, it would need to transfer to a modern pension that does facilitate that.  Prudential only retail their products via their own sales team or via IFAs.  They do not retail direct to consumer.  That is not a legal requirement/rule but a commercial decision.

The fact it has referred to rules and they haven't tried putting you through to their own salesteam (who charge more than most IFAs) makes me think it is number 1.    However, over the years I have seen many insurers refer to something as "its the law" or "the rules" when it is not. Instead it was their requirements rather than rules/law.

In which case, what are the safeguarded benefits on your pension?   Why do you think accessing your pension flexibility is better than the safeguarded benefits?

Albermarle

Anyone have experience of this? 

We regularly see posts from PRU customers with similar issues ( and also complaining about the very poor customer service) 

Terribly upset.
I can see that it is frustrating, but it is not as if you have lost your pension in a scam. As Dunstonh says you need to find out the exact reason why they are saying what they are saying. Maybe will be helpful to look through any paperwork you have. 

Yetanotherfrancophile

Thanks to all for help. Much appreciated. We have booked a telephone consultation with Pension Wise, 

Albermarle

Yetanotherfrancophile said:

Thanks to all for help. Much appreciated. We have booked a telephone consultation with Pension Wise, 

That is good, but be aware they can not advise/comment on specifics, or recommend a course of action beyond general guidance.

tacpot12

PensionWise won't be able to tell you why the Pru won't let you withdraw the money. It will be for one of the two scenarios described by dunstonh. You already know if the plan is worth more that £30,000, so if it is less than this, you already know that it is a product restriction. 

Pru can refer you to a local (but tied) financial adviser who will sort out the advice you need for a price. 

dunstonh

Pru have their own in-house salesforce to handle people wanting to stay with Pru but use drawdown.   It's not cheap and they will only look at Pru plans (which is no good if you have multiple providers).

However, Pru do not have the authorisation to advise on flexible options where safeguarded benefits exist.