Aviva Find and Combine service

GDaines

I'm curious on Martin's opinion of this service which claims to find your pensions for free with no pressure to transfer them afterwards. Search "Aviva Find and Combine".

poseidon1

I have had a quick look at Aviva's promotional blurb on their new service, and if it is as detailed and thorough as they suggest, it looks to be a decent option for those who have lost track of their pension pots and past employer schemes over the years.

It certainly seems worthwhile exploring rather than waiting for the much lauded  ( but much delayed!) Government pensions dashboard.

Only issue, is how effective Aviva will be in publicising the availability of their offering , and what kind of take up they can expect from a generally apathetic general populace.

The investment platform A J Bell, purports to also offer a pension search and consolidation service ( they have partnered with Raindrop on the search side of things). However AJB are looking for the customer to transfer their lost pension funds to them, so not quite as appealing as Aviva's no obligation service.

In the absence of the Government making the Pension dashboard a reality, theses commercial search services seem better than nothing.

Marcon

poseidon1 said:

I have had a quick look at Aviva's promotional blurb on their new service, and if it is as detailed and thorough as they suggest, it looks to be a decent option for those who have lost track of their pension pots and past employer schemes over the years.

It certainly seems worthwhile exploring rather than waiting for the much lauded  ( but much delayed!) Government pensions dashboard.

Only issue, is how effective Aviva will be in publicising the availability of their offering , and what kind of take up they can expect from a generally apathetic general populace.

The investment platform A J Bell, purports to also offer a pension search and consolidation service ( they have partnered with Raindrop on the search side of things). However AJB are looking for the customer to transfer their lost pension funds to them, so not quite as appealing as Aviva's no obligation service.

In the absence of the Government making the Pension dashboard a reality, theses commercial search services seem better than nothing.

'With Aviva’s free Find and Combine service you can ask us to trace any UK workplace pensions or personal ones where you know the provider.' 

So you could easily contact the provider yourself...

poseidon1

Marcon said:

poseidon1 said:

I have had a quick look at Aviva's promotional blurb on their new service, and if it is as detailed and thorough as they suggest, it looks to be a decent option for those who have lost track of their pension pots and past employer schemes over the years.

It certainly seems worthwhile exploring rather than waiting for the much lauded  ( but much delayed!) Government pensions dashboard.

Only issue, is how effective Aviva will be in publicising the availability of their offering , and what kind of take up they can expect from a generally apathetic general populace.

The investment platform A J Bell, purports to also offer a pension search and consolidation service ( they have partnered with Raindrop on the search side of things). However AJB are looking for the customer to transfer their lost pension funds to them, so not quite as appealing as Aviva's no obligation service.

In the absence of the Government making the Pension dashboard a reality, theses commercial search services seem better than nothing.

'With Aviva’s free Find and Combine service you can ask us to trace any UK workplace pensions or personal ones where you know the provider.' 

So you could easily contact the provider yourself...

True enough, but Aviva apparently goes a stage further and delves into such arcane matters such as guranteed annuity rates, waiver of contribution, protected tax free lump sums and other valuable DC scheme benefits which could be lost if the policy holder transfers out without due consideration.

As you know ( from this forum )  many of those who lost track of their old schemes will have little or no understanding of such benefits even if they could be bothered to contact the schemes themselves. Aviva will also advise if the ex employer scheme is DB, but of course cannot advise beyond its exsistence. I would think this is quite a lot of 'value', for no charge. 

Certainly if I were in the market for such a service, I would be more than happy to let Aviva do this heavy lifting for me.

Marcon

poseidon1 said:

Marcon said:

poseidon1 said:

I have had a quick look at Aviva's promotional blurb on their new service, and if it is as detailed and thorough as they suggest, it looks to be a decent option for those who have lost track of their pension pots and past employer schemes over the years.

It certainly seems worthwhile exploring rather than waiting for the much lauded  ( but much delayed!) Government pensions dashboard.

Only issue, is how effective Aviva will be in publicising the availability of their offering , and what kind of take up they can expect from a generally apathetic general populace.

The investment platform A J Bell, purports to also offer a pension search and consolidation service ( they have partnered with Raindrop on the search side of things). However AJB are looking for the customer to transfer their lost pension funds to them, so not quite as appealing as Aviva's no obligation service.

In the absence of the Government making the Pension dashboard a reality, theses commercial search services seem better than nothing.

'With Aviva’s free Find and Combine service you can ask us to trace any UK workplace pensions or personal ones where you know the provider.' 

So you could easily contact the provider yourself...

True enough, but Aviva apparently goes a stage further and delves into such arcane matters such as guranteed annuity rates, waiver of contribution, protected tax free lump sums and other valuable DC scheme benefits which could be lost if the policy holder transfers out without due consideration.

As you know ( from this forum )  many of those who lost track of their old schemes will have little or no understanding of such benefits even if they could be bothered to contact the schemes themselves. Aviva will also advise if the ex employer scheme is DB, but of course cannot advise beyond its exsistence. I would think this is quite a lot of 'value', for no charge. 

Certainly if I were in the market for such a service, I would be more than happy to let Aviva do this heavy lifting for me.

I take your point! Here's the link for anyone interested: https://www.aviva.co.uk/retirement/pensions/find-and-combine/