Best way to buy Scottish Widows annuity

DancingQueenHerself

I have a pension fund with Aviva and want to buy an annuity. Coming up to 75th birthday. Money Helper shows rate from Scottish Widows would be significantly more than Aviva direct rate.

But how to buy? Broker Hargreaves Lansdown quotes rate much lower then MH shows. Rate from RetirementLine is better less tan MH. I don't have an IFA. How long would it take typically to buy through an IFA?

ScottishWidows website says you can buy dirwect from them if you are a SW customer. So if I open an ISA with them, will I then get the MoneyHelper rate?

DRS1

I don't think that is how it works.  I have a pension with SW but last year when I tried to buy an annuity from SW with an Aviva pension they would not do it "direct".  I needed some sort of intermediary to do it.

DRS1

Oh and don't Retirement Line have some sort of "we won't be beaten" feature?  If you can get a better quote from elsewhere mention it to Retirement Line and see what they say.  Obviously make sure it is a like for like quote.

Albermarle

Be careful with the terms and conditions of the annuities you are looking at.
Do they offer:
An annual increase ? Linked to inflation or fixed ?
A spousal pension in case of you dying first ? ( 50% 66% ?)
A guarantee period, in case you die soon after taking it out?
Etc?
Each benefit you include reduces the annual income on offer. 

DancingQueenHerself

Thanks for this input. I am pretty sure I am comparing like for like, and still see either a lower rate or a fee.

DRS1

Whether you use HL, Retirement Line or an IFA you will pay something (a fee or commission).  Check the MoneyHelper site to see if there are any links to an insurer who will deal with you direct but bear in mind that it is the end result you care about not just avoiding paying a fee.

Personally I used Retirement Line but I may have been better off using HL.  People on here will tell you an IFA would be better than either of them but an IFA who will just do an annuity purchase is not easy to find.

dunstonh

I don't have an IFA. How long would it take typically to buy through an IFA?

Depends on how busy the IFA is.  Typically a couple of days to a week subject to diary.  Its a relatively quiet period coming up (in most years).

ScottishWidows website says you can buy dirwect from them if you are a SW customer. So if I open an ISA with them, will I then get the MoneyHelper rate?

Buying direct will see SW factor in a commission.  You don't get cheaper rates in most cases going direct.

Thanks for this input. I am pretty sure I am comparing like for like, and still see either a lower rate or a fee.

Is the fee lower than the commission?

DancingQueenHerself

So why does MH give rates that don't appear to be actually available?

dunstonh

DancingQueenHerself said:

So why does MH give rates that don't appear to be actually available?

The rates are or were available.   However, snapshot dates may vary.  
i.e. the snapshot of the data used by Moneyhelper may not be the live rates that IFAs have, but a snapshot on a given date may be updated less frequently.   

Moneyhelper is not a commercial site to tell you which annuity is best.   Scottish Widows were coming up well about a month ago but they are not at the moment (and I have three annuity cases on the go in the last week and that means we have to get a whole collection of comparison rates to price the different options.  SW didn't come top once but a month ago they were).  IFAs cannot use Moneyhelper, for example, as it's not good enough to rely on for the actual purchase.