St James Place retirement account issue

Smartfinance

Hello all,

I am a newbie and apologies for the long email. I wanted to know if anyone is facing issues with delays in getting their pension transferred out of this provider, St James Place Wealth Management. Following the scary news and fall in their share prices this year, I became extremely concerned about the long term safety of my pension pot. I acted quickly to minimise damage to my retirement account and began the transfer process to a reputable provider in early March. SJP promised the transfer would be complete by 10th May. I have been on the telephone regularly to track progress of my transfer out request. SJP’s Administration centre is a call centre. They simply take messages. On the same day I received a slow mail ( dated 3rd May and received on 10th May) from their Client Services Director saying that he needs more information from me before he approves my transfer request. I consolidated all my previous workplace pensions with them a few years ago. They made it easy but getting out seems to be more difficult.  All documents have been completed, both by me and the new provider ( Pru). SJP’s Director of Clients Services is now asking for a letter from my employers, 3 month pay slips, 3 month bank account statements, how much I will pay into the new transferred pension pot every month and a lot more. Apparently, he is acting in my interests to avoid me getting scammed. Annoyed with SJP blocking my transfer I have lodged a complaint with them and refused to provide information that I feel is GDPR sensitive. They informed me that the complaint process will take up to 8 weeks. I am long in tooth and don’t have faith in internal company complaint investigation processes. Annoyingly, I am standing to lose over £30,000 if I leave SJP. I am at my pre- retirement stage and this is a huge amount of money to loose due to the exorbitant annual charges and fees they impose on current pension accounts. Does anyone have guidance about how I can move my fund to safety quickly. In the meantime, I am stuck with their excessively high management fees, annual charges, fund underperformance and inept financial advisory services. So far they have done their level best to keep me stuck in this position. My only remedy is to take this matter to the financial ombudsman once their internal processes are complete. All of this will take more time and cost me more money. Any guidance and help appreciated. Thank you for reading. 

eskbanker

Smartfinance said:

Annoyingly, I am standing to lose over £30,000 if I leave SJP. I am at my pre- retirement stage and this is a huge amount of money to loose due to the exorbitant annual charges and fees they impose on current pension accounts.

£30K over what period and based on what calculation?  SJP are renowned for their high costs and exit charges, but you may be cutting off your nose to spite your face if you're refusing to provide ID verification data (despite your not unreasonable view that it appears excessive) and thereby delaying the transfer....

katejo

Smartfinance said:

Hello all,

I am a newbie and apologies for the long email. I wanted to know if anyone is facing issues with delays in getting their pension transferred out of this provider, St James Place Wealth Management. Following the scary news and fall in their share prices this year, I became extremely concerned about the long term safety of my pension pot. I acted quickly to minimise damage to my retirement account and began the transfer process to a reputable provider in early March. SJP promised the transfer would be complete by 10th May. I have been on the telephone regularly to track progress of my transfer out request. SJP’s Administration centre is a call centre. They simply take messages. On the same day I received a slow mail ( dated 3rd May and received on 10th May) from their Client Services Director saying that he needs more information from me before he approves my transfer request. I consolidated all my previous workplace pensions with them a few years ago. They made it easy but getting out seems to be more difficult.  All documents have been completed, both by me and the new provider ( Pru). SJP’s Director of Clients Services is now asking for a letter from my employers, 3 month pay slips, 3 month bank account statements, how much I will pay into the new transferred pension pot every month and a lot more. Apparently, he is acting in my interests to avoid me getting scammed. Annoyed with SJP blocking my transfer I have lodged a complaint with them and refused to provide information that I feel is GDPR sensitive. They informed me that the complaint process will take up to 8 weeks. I am long in tooth and don’t have faith in internal company complaint investigation processes. Annoyingly, I am standing to lose over £30,000 if I leave SJP. I am at my pre- retirement stage and this is a huge amount of money to loose due to the exorbitant annual charges and fees they impose on current pension accounts. Does anyone have guidance about how I can move my fund to safety quickly. In the meantime, I am stuck with their excessively high management fees, annual charges, fund underperformance and inept financial advisory services. So far they have done their level best to keep me stuck in this position. My only remedy is to take this matter to the financial ombudsman once their internal processes are complete. All of this will take more time and cost me more money. Any guidance and help appreciated. Thank you for reading. 

Out of interest, do you have a SJP adviser who has been giving you Annual reviews? Can they help you with this? I have investments with SJA (not my pension) but have found my contact very professional and helpful. I had an hour chat with him online today (to do with preparing for retirement). 

wmb194

Smartfinance said:

...St James Place Wealth Management. Following the scary news and fall in their share prices this year, I became extremely concerned about the long term safety of my pension pot. 

Paragraphs would have made that easier to read; you're worrying about nothing, it's all ringfenced and otherwise covered by the FSCS. Worst case, if St James' Place gets into trouble your pension will be transferred to another pension provider.

Voyager2002

As others have said, your pension is safe, the fall in the SJP share price is not going to affect you. Yes: their charges are too high, but the extortionate exit charge is probably far greater than the charges you are likely to face if you do nothing.

Smartfinance

Thank you all for your feedback. It is invaluable.

Malthusian

Voyager2002 said:

Yes: their charges are too high, but the extortionate exit charge is probably far greater than the charges you are likely to face if you do nothing.

I wouldn't be as quick to say that without knowing the charges OP is paying under SJP, the charges they will pay under Pru, and what % of the fund the transfer penalty is.

In some cases the transfer penalty simply reflects the extra annual charges OP would pay SJP anyway if they stay.

However Pru is not known for being a low cost provider, so it may well be cutting off their nose to spite their face.

dunstonh

 Following the scary news and fall in their share prices this year, I became extremely concerned about the long term safety of my pension pot.

Your pension is not linked to SJP's share price.  And its not SJP that is taking the financial hit from their issues.  It will be the member firms.  If the member firm defaults, then SJP takes the hit but member firms need to be solvent to trade.

On the same day I received a slow mail ( dated 3rd May and received on 10th May) from their Client Services Director saying that he needs more information from me before he approves my transfer request

This sounds like an Amber or Red flag has been triggered under the transfer process. 

They made it easy but getting out seems to be more difficult.

The relatively new rules (about 18 months old) apply to all pension providers.

All documents have been completed, both by me and the new provider ( Pru).

oh dear.  Out of the frying pan, into the fire.  How much are Pru charging you?    Why are they not helping you?
However, Pru shouldn't trigger an amber or red flag.  So, something else has.

 Annoyed with SJP blocking my transfer I have lodged a complaint with them and refused to provide information that I feel is GDPR sensitive. 

Digging your heals in with a mandatory requirement won't speed things up.

Annoyingly, I am standing to lose over £30,000 if I leave SJP. I am at my pre- retirement stage and this is a huge amount of money to loose due to the exorbitant annual charges and fees they impose on current pension accounts.

Pru isn't exactly a low cost option and their administration is awful.   I am repeatedly having problems with them.  

If you are using the Pru in-house sales team to do the transfer, they typically cost more than using an IFA (the last one I saw was a 2.7% initial charge, and the person was put in funds that were over 1% p.a. for the fund alone)

 Does anyone have guidance about how I can move my fund to safety quickly.

Do as they ask. 

My only remedy is to take this matter to the financial ombudsman once their internal processes are complete. 

The FOS will not rule in your favour as the checks are a regulatory requirement.   

If you are flagged for enhanced checks, it is frustrating.   However, digging your heels in and becoming difficult will actually trigger further checks and even result in a Moneyhelper appointment on scams being required before they will transfer.

Smartfinance

This is fantastic advice. Many thanks.