Which company has a good user interface and transparency for pension drawdown.

[Deleted User]

Aviva's pension drawdown user interface is driving me absolutely crazy - I can see nothing  whenever I initiate a withdrawal and end up having to call them up repeatedly and even then they can't always see what's going on either - as an ex IT professional this is not acceptable in this day & age.

So which companies user interface for self-managed pension drawdown is transparent?
I want to see confirmation of any transactions I have requested immediately or at least get an email to confirm things.

Many thanks for any information or suggestions ...

ETA - I did try to search but without finding anything useful 🙏

Linton

In my experience on 3 different SIPP/ISA platforms is that they are very similar in this respect.  They have good transparency (as you use the term) for buy and sell transactions but less so for withdrawals until after the event.  Generally you fill in and send an online form or in the case of BestInvest send them a text e-mail.  Withdrawals are not really integrated into the user interface.

Albermarle

One issue with Aviva is that they have absorbed many other pension companies, so there are many different legacy systems operating at the same time.

As Linton says even with a less complicated provider, a lot of the withdrawal systems still need to improve.
The good news is that this seems to be happening in stages but I could not vouch for any one provider.

aldershot

I've been using Hargreaves for years and find their IT and customer service has been excellent. 

gm0

I find Fidelity and find it adequate (it is often described as a bit meh here). 

I prefer to use a web browser on a PC and not a phone and want transactional form filling and access to the data.  Not flashy graphics or something designed for a phone screen. 

The web design is basic and clunky by the latest standards but the information is there.  For sell/buy, dividends, fees etc. 

When setting up I found the telephone service and guidance checks were all timely and well organised.  If I had to fault them it would be telephone channel.  There are too many different bits of fidelity with different phone numbers and opening times which are responsible for different customer groups and activities.  Everyone I have spoken to so far has been professional, friendly and helpful

I have not really seen any platform where request to workflow to action process data is exposed to view.  There is a lack of visibility between request and action on all the sites that I use.

I can't talk to how well the ad hoc payment request/payments stuff is integrated as i haven't used that.  But I would set it to monthly and leave it anyway - so I would be watching it arrive at the bank and not departing Fidelity.

Albermarle

I find Fidelity and find it adequate (it is often described as a bit meh here). 

I think the negative comments have mainly emanated from our resident IFA, as historically the advised side had rather clunky systems/websites. Maybe also the Workplace pensions were not the best.

However after some upgrades in the last couple of years, the Fidelity retail site ( Fidelity Personal Investing) seems to perform in a similar way to its competitors. In fact it is a little bit faster than HL. Also they are introducing a facility to start withdrawing tax free cash and income on line, rather than go through a retirement advisor, although this facility is still available.