MSE News: Pension tracing service to shed light on long-lost savings – check online i

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Legacy_user
Legacy_user Posts: 0 Newbie
in Pensions, annuities & retirement planning
Millions of people who’ve lost track of private pension savings can now be reunited with their hard-earned cash...
Read the full story:
'Pension tracing service to shed light on long-lost savings – check online if you've mislaid £1,000s'
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  • dunstonh
    dunstonh Posts: 116,375 Forumite
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    How do you know it was hard earned?
    I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.
  • greenglide
    greenglide Posts: 3,301 Forumite
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    But it doesn't really fit the need, does it?

    Two of my previous employers are not on the list. I know one of them went bankrupt many years ago and the other either went bankrupt or closed down. I know that I transferred my benefits out of their schemes many years ago and the benefits are now safely in the LGPS, so their is no worry, for me.

    What about people who didnt transfer out in the past?

    The tracing service out to let people know what schemes they had been a member of. HMRC has the information in NIRS2, why doesnt tracing use that, rather than just give the contact details for schemes?
  • Pincher
    Pincher Posts: 6,552 Forumite
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    I have always wondered how on earth they expect you to have the original policy certificate after forty years. I have had my car broken into, my safe ripped out, and lost certificates of all sorts left right and centre.


    I had US$1,000 worth of American pension contribution.
    God knows whether they have been sending mail to the old address, and whether a letter from England is believable or not.


    Some poor sod taught in Kenya for years, so had a state teacher pension. He came back to England, carried on working for another twenty years or so. Comes retirement, he writes to Kenya, and they say sorry, no records of you. Obviously he tried to chase it, but they just ignored him.


    We should have a blood DNA ID record with every policy, so you don't have some interloper claiming to be me and getting the lost pension. I can just send a vial of blood, and they will have to release the money, after 30 years.
  • dunstonh
    dunstonh Posts: 116,375 Forumite
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    I have always wondered how on earth they expect you to have the original policy certificate after forty years. I have had my car broken into, my safe ripped out, and lost certificates of all sorts left right and centre.

    Up until the mid 90s, that was the expectation. However, nowadays, there are only a handful that still ask for the policy document. Even then they have a form to get around it. Most use account number style basis nowadays.
    I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.
  • cheesetoast
    cheesetoast Posts: 258 Forumite
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    The article makes it sound like you put in your NI number and it spits out a list of pensions you've got, rather than you having to search by hand.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0 Newbie
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    I'd paid into a pension many years ago that had gone through many changes I used the tracing service and was gob smacked to find it was worth £12k
  • greenglide
    greenglide Posts: 3,301 Forumite
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    The article makes it sound like you put in your NI number and it spits out a list of pensions you've got, rather than you having to search by hand.
    That is precisely what is needed and precisely what it doesn't do!


    HMRC holds a lot of the required information in the NPS (used to be NIRS2 ) system but there doesn't appear to be an easy way to find out.
  • buglawton
    buglawton Posts: 9,235 Forumite
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    HMRC probably thought about making the service more in depth, but that could give fraudsters an 'in'. Even so, the MSE article gives a misleading impression.
  • gadgetmind
    gadgetmind Posts: 11,130 Forumite
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    They could stick it on their shiny new pension gateway, which is so secure many people struggle to access it.
    I am not a financial adviser and neither do I play one on television. I might occasionally give bad advice but at least it's free.

    Like all religions, the Faith of the Invisible Pink Unicorns is based upon both logic and faith. We have faith that they are pink; we logically know that they are invisible because we can't see them.
  • Pincher
    Pincher Posts: 6,552 Forumite
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    gadgetmind wrote: »
    They could stick it on their shiny new pension gateway, which is so secure many people struggle to access it.


    What Pension Gateway?


    URL?


    Maybe I have to be the right age, otherwise I can't get into Diagon Alley.


    Got a GOV.UK Verify account. Self-Assessment only, I expect, despite the claim:


    "Verify your identity and get access to GOV.UK services as quickly as possible."
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