PENSION TRANSFER DELAYS 8 March at 9:57AM in Pensions, annuities & retirement planning 7 replies 258 views

OVOcomputersaysno

I wonder wether anyone within the industry can help ? I decided to transfer my existing pension pot from Aviva to LV due to the fact I wished to take a time limited pension over 12 years instead of the only option available from Aviva which was a lifetime annuity, due in part to a small part of the pension pot having a guaranteed annuity which meant by law I needed professional advice in order for Aviva to release the monies . I knew already what we wanted as together me and my wife teachers pension , buy to lets , other AVC pensions meant at 70 we would have far more money and at 57 we would receive less in retirement until state pension age  . LV obtained a quote from Canada Life which was valid for, I think, 40 days ( although they forgot to confirm this ) and promised they would take charge of the transfer with Aviva since I was paying them £4000 . they gave me a figure of four weeks from beginning of October 2022 and had done very little between themselves up-to end December 2022 . I took charge myself of chasing both Companies and made a formal complaint to Aviva , so by the end of January 2023 , Aviva had completed quotation , agreed transfer , signed off LV advisor requirements , upheld my complaint and paid compensation  ( shame it took a complaint to get any action ) . Now LV it appears has forgotten to reapply for a Canada life quote when , due to their own inaction the old one expired and I worry the annuity rates have dropped since October ; what can I do ? also Canada Life has had my £180,000 for 10 working days and still no quote : can I claim interest ?

xylophone

I wished to take a time limited pension over 12 years 

Do you mean that you want a fixed term annuity?

Is there a reason why you wish to take the pension in this way rather than drawdown over the time between now and SPA?

How do you know that CL still provide the best rate?

Will LV not search the market again?

OVOcomputersaysno

thanks . yes my terminology not good;I chose a fixed term annuity because I will get a guaranteed payment each month over the next 12 years and together with our other investment and AVS pensions ( investment based ) this provided the security we wanted . so we are happy with that choice .   
I think you've hit the nail on the head ; I dont know CL still provides the best rate but they've been given my £180,000 so do I have any choice?  and even if LV search the market and CL came out on top if the annuity rate is poorer than 4 months ago because they forgot to renew my quote what can I do ?

Marcon

OVOcomputersaysno said:

thanks . yes my terminology not good;I chose a fixed term annuity because I will get a guaranteed payment each month over the next 12 years and together with our other investment and AVS pensions ( investment based ) this provided the security we wanted . so we are happy with that choice .   
I think you've hit the nail on the head ; I dont know CL still provides the best rate but they've been given my £180,000 so do I have any choice?  and even if LV search the market and CL came out on top if the annuity rate is poorer than 4 months ago because they forgot to renew my quote what can I do ?

Insurers have complaints procedures for a reason. You've already used Aviva's with success, so now make a formal complaint to LV (procedure will be on their website), setting out clearly what you are complaining about and what you want them to do to put matters right.

dunstonh

I wonder wether anyone within the industry can help ? I decided to transfer my existing pension pot from Aviva to LV due to the fact I wished to take a time limited pension over 12 years instead of the only option available from Aviva which was a lifetime annuity, due in part to a small part of the pension pot having a guaranteed annuity which meant by law I needed professional advice in order for Aviva to release the monies 

For the benefit of others reading, in summary, you decided to purchase a fixed term annuity instead of using the guaranteed annuity rate on the existing plan.   You decided to employ LV to buy you restricted financial advice.

 LV obtained a quote from Canada Life which was valid for, I think, 40 days ( although they forgot to confirm this ) and promised they would take charge of the transfer with Aviva since I was paying them £4000 .

That is expensive.   You could have got almost half that by shopping around.

 I took charge myself of chasing both Companies and made a formal complaint to Aviva , so by the end of January 2023 , Aviva had completed quotation , agreed transfer , signed off LV advisor requirements , upheld my complaint and paid compensation  ( shame it took a complaint to get any action ) .

Aviva are normally very quick to transfer normally.  Typically within 3 days with most plans.    It would be a bit longer as LV would need to sign to accept liability for advising you to give up a, potentially valuable GAR for flexible benefits.  

On the plus side, investment values are around 10% up from October.

 Now LV it appears has forgotten to reapply for a Canada life quote when , due to their own inaction the old one expired and I worry the annuity rates have dropped since October ; what can I do ?

Depending on when in October, annuity rates are currently higher.

also Canada Life has had my £180,000 for 10 working days and still no quote : can I claim interest ?

No.   Normally the commencement date is backdated until the funds have been received.  

thanks . yes my terminology not good;I chose a fixed term annuity because I will get a guaranteed payment each month over the next 12 years and together with our other investment and AVS pensions ( investment based ) this provided the security we wanted . so we are happy with that choice . 

That is unusual.  Most GARs are valuable and higher than current market rates.    There are some duff GARs out there but usually Aviva plans tend to have GARs that cannot be beaten with current annuity rates.  Often double digits.

What was the GAR on the Aviva plan?

; I dont know CL still provides the best rate but they've been given my £180,000 so do I have any choice?

There is a small window you can cancel it.   Aviva are unlikely to take it back as it was a legacy plan. So, it would need a new home very quickly.

  and even if LV search the market and CL came out on top if the annuity rate is poorer than 4 months ago because they forgot to renew my quote what can I do ?

You paid LV a lot of money to provide you advice.  What has been their advice when you ask them this question?

OVOcomputersaysno

thanks dunstonh 
firstly for correctly summarising my poorly worded original post !

the 3% charge on 75% of the £180,000 appears industry norm as I spent 10 hours researching over 100 companies and when I spoke to half a dozen and mentioned the guarantee annuity part of Aviva legacy plan they want from quoting a brokerage % to a financial advice  % and always 3%

Canada Life rates may well be higher since October but not all guaranteed and we are adverse to risk  ( all our buy to lets are on 5 year fixed at 2% although the mortgage companies thought us mad  2years ago and  thanks to Martin Lewis we fixed our energy prices 18 months ago for 2 years : so you see risk adverse! )

 Aviva did offer an improved GAR but as it was on part only of this 3 part unsplitable  policy so  it didn't have enough of an effect to persuade me away from the fixed term annuity : LV did do something right they did compare this part of the policy with the open market for me .

So , as a ( cautious ) lay person I'm waiting for the final LATE quote from CL and if better , no case to answer ,but if worse because LV forgot to requote ( I did remind/enquire twice by email but no reply ) I can calculate my loss over 12 years and ask for recompense can I ???   when I spoke to LV last week chasing and expressing ,just this ,quotation expiry concern they said
they couldn't find the expiry date and did I know it ? : well no as that the question I just asked them !

maybe not surprisingly LV have not responded on the outdated quotation ( expired 1/12/2022 ) ,maybe they too have their fingers crossed that rates have improved .  ( not sure pensions companies should be working on a fingers crossed basis )

apologises unable to cut and paste on this apple ! 

OVOcomputersaysno

thanks dunstonh

I've today received without any prior notification my first pension payment from Canada Life and also letter confirming monthly amount and its 2% worse in terms of annuity rate quoted end of January by LV but it appears LV did not formalise this quote with Canada Life so not valid at this rate ?   ( already worse than the October annuity rate quoted by them ) . For clarity I'm talking about annuity rate and not the value of transfer fund as this couldn't have been known until transfer date .
Ive worked out over the 12 years of this policy LV's mistake will cost me £2250 whilst I'm paying them £4000 for the privilege !

dunstonh

but it appears LV did not formalise this quote with Canada Life so not valid at this rate ? 

The receiving scheme would send the figures to the intermediary.

 For clarity I'm talking about annuity rate and not the value of transfer fund as this couldn't have been known until transfer date .
Ive worked out over the 12 years of this policy LV's mistake will cost me £2250 whilst I'm paying them £4000 for the privilege !

Whilst you are focusing on the annuity rate, the value does come into play.   The overall position is what matters.  Not just one bit of it.     (in case you are thinking of going down the complaint route).