L&G refusing me my pension due to the bank that I use.

[Deleted User]

I have recently moved a pension to Legal and General. I did this specifically because I needed to take the tax free drawdown to pay for urgent repairs to my house.  After several failed attempts to apply for a drawdown online they are telling me that they can only transfer my money to an account on their accepted list of banks (my bank is not on this list).

This 'accepted' list is not referred to in the terms and conditions for the pension, not is is referred to anywhere online. Before transferring my money to this pension I telephoned L&G twice and on neither occasion was this mentioned.

I telephoned them yesterday and they said that they would pass this through to a manager and that I would be contacted before 12pm today. I didn't hear anything. I called them again today and was told that it might take a day or two for the manager to get back to me. They have now put me through to a manager who acknowledges the problem and is working on a solution for the immediate issue re being able to take the drawdown. But there is also a longer term problem in that I will need to take a regular pension at some point.

Is this legal. I have two concerns here:
1. L&G, a major UK investment company, are dictating to people where they can and cannot bank feels extremely unethical at best - if a bank is legally recognised and regulated who are L&G to cite this as a reason not to give me my own money?
2. Not including the list of accepted banks in the T&Cs, or anywhere else on their website, surely puts them in breach of contract?

Does anyone else have experience of knowledge of this kind of issue?

marcia_

 Which bank is it? Is it actually a regulated bank? 

[Deleted User]

I would rather not give this kind of detail online. Sorry I thought I made it clear in the post, yes is is 'actually' a regulated bank.

Emmia

Can you open an account with a bank on their approved list?

Is your account with a high street bricks and mortar type place e.g. Lloyds, HSBC, Natwest etc.

Or a newer fintech bank e.g. Monzo, Starling...

Hopefully answering that isn't too personal??

Steve_666_

Not then the bank of Ant and Dec?

[Deleted User]

Emmia said:

Can you open an account with a bank on their approved list?

Is your account with a high street bricks and mortar type place e.g. Lloyds, HSBC, Natwest etc. Or a newer fintech bank e.g. Monzo, Starling...

Why should I have to open a new bank account? It is a fully licensed and regulated UK bank. Whether it adheres to an outdated stereotype of a 'bricks and mortar' bank isn't relevant.

[Deleted User]

said:

Not then the bank of Ant and Dec?

   

Emmia

Deleted_User said:

Emmia said:

Can you open an account with a bank on their approved list?

Is your account with a high street bricks and mortar type place e.g. Lloyds, HSBC, Natwest etc. Or a newer fintech bank e.g. Monzo, Starling...

Why should I have to open a new bank account? It is a fully licensed and regulated UK bank. Whether it adheres to an outdated stereotype of a 'bricks and mortar' bank isn't relevant.

Ok, looks like you're at an impasse then - you want the money, L&G don't like the people you bank with, so won't pay out.

Not sure where that leaves your renovation plans though.

marcia_

Deleted_User said:

Emmia said:

Can you open an account with a bank on their approved list?

Is your account with a high street bricks and mortar type place e.g. Lloyds, HSBC, Natwest etc. Or a newer fintech bank e.g. Monzo, Starling...

Why should I have to open a new bank account? It is a fully licensed and regulated UK bank. Whether it adheres to an outdated stereotype of a 'bricks and mortar' bank isn't relevant.

 Stereotype or not if they don't want to deal with online only banks there is nothing you can do bar open an account with a bank in their list 

dunstonh

Deleted_User said:

I would rather not give this kind of detail online. Sorry I thought I made it clear in the post, yes is is 'actually' a regulated bank.

Are you sure its a bank and not a payment service?

Providers will pay to banks but they often refuse to pay to payment services.  Many consumers don't understand that there is a difference.

Why should I have to open a new bank account? It is a fully licensed and regulated UK bank. Whether it adheres to an outdated stereotype of a 'bricks and mortar' bank isn't relevant.

Give us the name of the bank or payment service.

It has nothing to do with whether it's a bricks and mortar bank or electronic.  It has all to do with their regulatory permissions and whether they really are a bank or not.

[Deleted User]

Please can I respectfully ask people not to ask me who I bank with. I will not answer this online. It's a well-established UK licensed and regulated bank.

The question was does anyone else have experience of this? Or know anything about the legality of it? 

Thank you.