Royal London transfers out - be aware of timescales!

dunstonh

I'm also in the middle of transferring from RL to II - a simple cash transfer and I was also told "they are currently looking at a 40/41 day timeframe to look at the request" Pretty poor show I think.

Its weird, I keyed in a transfer from RL to Fundment last week and RL have transferred the money inside a week. (again, that is an RL individual scheme built on the Scottish Life software.  Not ex CIS, workplace or RL legacy).

MisterT

dunstonh said:

I'm also in the middle of transferring from RL to II - a simple cash transfer and I was also told "they are currently looking at a 40/41 day timeframe to look at the request" Pretty poor show I think.

Its weird, I keyed in a transfer from RL to Fundment last week and RL have transferred the money inside a week. (again, that is an RL individual scheme built on the Scottish Life software.  Not ex CIS, workplace or RL legacy).

My thoughts too, I've emailed RL and asked for an explanation/comment. 

BoxerfanUK

Albermarle said:

BoxerfanUK said:

dunstonh said:

Maybe we are naive, but 41 days!  Is that usual?

Royal London are normally very quick.  I did one last month and it was about 5 days (using Origo).  Ex CIS plans are notoriously slow as they still run the old CIS office, staff and software but the Alderley side is normally very good.

However, most providers will send resources to end of tax year work as a priority over transfers at this time of the year.

Thanks dunstonh.  RL confirmed that they received a request for 'in-specie' transfer on 28/2 but told ii they could not do in-specie so we had to re-submit as a cash transfer (330K), which was done on 05/3.
To be honest its more about the terrible customer service attitude and leaving clients in the dark by not informing of the timescales!
PS what is 'CIS'?

You can not transfer out in Specie from a traditional insurer like Royal London ( or Scottish Widows, Standard Life etc) because their funds are in house insured funds. So it always has to be a cash transfer, so requesting in specie probably delayed things.

RL like many companies are a mix of older legacy companies from mergers, takeovers etc . So behind the scenes there will be different historical systems operating, sometimes from different offices.

Thanks Albermarle, tbh prior to instigating this transfer we didn't even know what 'in-specie' was, but i guess ii should have

BoxerfanUK

UPDATE.  Had no e-mail update that was promised by RL on Wednesday, so yesterday OH went onto her Royal London app and no information was available to display!  Called RL and they said her account was now closed as the transfer had been made!

They then went on to confirm the total amount transferred, which was all fine, but when she asked why she wasn't notified of this the answer was.....''oh a letter will be produced and sent by post''.

BoxerfanUK

MisterT said:

dunstonh said:

I'm also in the middle of transferring from RL to II - a simple cash transfer and I was also told "they are currently looking at a 40/41 day timeframe to look at the request" Pretty poor show I think.

Its weird, I keyed in a transfer from RL to Fundment last week and RL have transferred the money inside a week. (again, that is an RL individual scheme built on the Scottish Life software.  Not ex CIS, workplace or RL legacy).

My thoughts too, I've emailed RL and asked for an explanation/comment. 

If I was you I'd phone them up and have a little kick off and ask to register a complaint!  It worked for us as their stated 41 working day turnaround suddenly changed to 2 days.  Just goes to show sitting there silently leads to getting put at the bottom of the pile.

Albermarle

BoxerfanUK said:

UPDATE.  Had no e-mail update that was promised by RL on Wednesday, so yesterday OH went onto her Royal London app and no information was available to display!  Called RL and they said her account was now closed as the transfer had been made!

They then went on to confirm the total amount transferred, which was all fine, but when she asked why she wasn't notified of this the answer was.....''oh a letter will be produced and sent by post''.

I have done a few transfers of pensions and S&S ISA's, and you are right you do not get much in the way of updates even when the process goes smoothly.
Normally you are only aware the transfer has actually happened when you check your accounts. Then maybe a letter in the post but not always that even.
Seems a bit casual considering significant amounts of money can be involved from a personal perspective. 

BoxerfanUK

Albermarle said:

BoxerfanUK said:

UPDATE.  Had no e-mail update that was promised by RL on Wednesday, so yesterday OH went onto her Royal London app and no information was available to display!  Called RL and they said her account was now closed as the transfer had been made!

They then went on to confirm the total amount transferred, which was all fine, but when she asked why she wasn't notified of this the answer was.....''oh a letter will be produced and sent by post''.

I have done a few transfers of pensions and S&S ISA's, and you are right you do not get much in the way of updates even when the process goes smoothly.
Normally you are only aware the transfer has actually happened when you check your accounts. Then maybe a letter in the post but not always that even.
Seems a bit casual considering significant amounts of money can be involved from a personal perspective. 

Completely agree. I would have thought that at the very least some sort of email statement or phone call should be made listing details of the transfer such as when, how much and who to!  It’s not as if they don’t have a myriad of ways of communicating with us!

Its funny, you almost have to give your inside leg measurement to get through security to speak to someone and yet they can transfer out hundreds of thousands of pounds of your money and not a word!!!

MisterT

I finally got round to calling RL after my email sent to Customer Services went unanswered, there's a recorded message saying in essence "if you're calling about a transfer out and it's been less than 21 days since since it was initiated hang up now cos we're not going to talk to you"!

hootabarat

I initiated a transfer from a individual Royal London pension to AJ Bell on 31 st March as their investment performance over a 3 year period was abysmal, while their charges were considerable. Having jumped through their multiple verification e mails and dissuasion attempts eventually received cash in AJ Bell on Monday 14th April.

However Royal London failed to pass on information of crystalized / un crystalised funds to AJ Bell so I can do nothing with the funds until Royal London get off their backsides and process the transfer in a professional manner.
If I could do life again I would not invest with royal London, it seems to me they make things difficult at evert step of the process.

dunstonh

I initiated a transfer from a individual Royal London pension to AJ Bell on 31 st March as their investment performance over a 3 year period was abysmal, while their charges were considerable.

I assume that you are referring to Royal London ex CIS rather then Royal London (ex Scottish Life) as the Scot Life based contracts are quite good value.  Not the cheapest but frequently fall in the  0.40-0.50% range all in.

Having jumped through their multiple verification e mails and dissuasion attempts eventually received cash in AJ Bell on Monday 14th April.

RL don't have any dissuasion attempts unless there are safeguarded benefits.

If I could do life again I would not invest with royal London, it seems to me they make things difficult at evert step of the process.

I have transferred countless RL plans and never have any problem with the ex Scot Life plans or RL originals.   Only the ex CIS plans sometimes give a bit of delay (the ex CIS plans still operate out of the CIS office with ex CIS staff on ex CIS processes and have yet to be integrated into RL).    Which was yours?