What do you understand by mis-sold pensions?
Pension mis-selling is presently one of hottest topics in the financial world.
It was brought into the spotlight by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in 2014 when it was recognised that thousands of UK pension savers had lost millions of pounds due to pension scams involving unregulated investments.
However, pension mis-selling covers a wide range of circumstances ranging from the extreme of pension scams where clients have lost their entire pension savings to regulated financial advisers simply making poor decisions which have ultimately led to their clients losing some or all of their pension savings.
It can sometime be difficult to identify whether you have been a victim of pension mis-selling, in fact some people can live through their entire retirement without realising they were mis-sold.
Why should you investigate now?
There is a statute of limitations when it comes to financial advice which is generally either 6 years from the time of the advice or 2 years from when you found out you could make a claim, so if in doubt, it’s best to investigate as soon as possible.
Book a free no-obligation assessment with one of our Manchester based pensions experts today!
Our experts can quickly identify whether you may have grounds to make a claim or complaint.
Even financial advisers from the most well-known and respected wealth management companies in the UK have been found guilty of misleading their clients.
Your pension represents your hard earned savings and there is no shame in seeking help or guidance. If you have any concerns around your pension then you owe it to yourself to find out if you may be due compensation or financial redress.
Following our investigations you could be due anything from £500 to £400,000 in compensation or financial redress but if not, then you will at least have peace of mind that you have fully investigated the circumstances.
Are you also a victim of pension mis-selling?
There are so many different grounds for complaint when it comes to pension advice and pension transfers.
Here are some common trends we have encountered when dealing with pension claims and pension complaints.
Cold Calling
Were you called out of the blue by somebody offering you a free pension review?
This may indicate the presence of an unregulated marketing company who are often connected to pension scams.
Pension Switching & Pension Transfers
Were you advised to move an existing personal pension or workplace pension (or pensions) into a new pension scheme?
Some workplace pensions such as defined benefit or final salary schemes are considered the gold standard when it comes to pension schemes and are far superior to the personal pension products available.
However, any advice to move any pension could be unsuitable or unnecessary and could at least have incurred unnecessary fees and costs which you may be entitled to claim back.
Reporter Fiona Phillips and pensions expert Alan Higham watch as First Review Pension Services consultant Bruce Nicholas offers advice to undercover reporter.
Promised of High Returns or Fixed Returns
Were you convinced to transfer your pensions on the promise of higher returns or fixed returns on your pension savings?
Many UK pension savers were convinced to invest into high risk schemes on the promise of higher or even fixed returns. Some as high as 50% per annum!
On the whole these types of investments are high risk and unsuitable and could have resulted in people losing significant sums of money from their pension savings.
However, there is often recourse action that can be taken against the regulated parties involved to reclaim the pension losses you may have incurred.
Access to Pension Savings from Age 55
Were you convinced to access access to your pension savings earlier?
Following the Pension Freedoms Act implemented in April 2015, all pension savers were entitled to access their pensions from age 55 however not all pension schemes allowed it. This led to opportunistic financial advisers using earlier access to money (Quick cash) as a means of attracting new clients. However, often this advice was inappropriate and expensive. If the advice was inappropriate and the fees incurred unjustified then you should be in a position to make a claim or raise a complaint to get the compensation or financial redress due to put you back in the financial position you would have been in for your retirement.
Pressure Tactics
Did you feel undue pressure to either:
- Engage in a free pension review?
- Take financial advice?
- Sign up for a pension investment?
- Transfer existing pensions to a new scheme?
- Sign letters or documents which you didn’t fully understand?
- Have multiple visits from ‘Agents’ to your home putting pressure on you to sign paperwork?
Pressure is like a sporting injury, you know it when you feel it.
Many of the agents who visited clients homes, representing financial advisers were not qualified and were heavily incentivised to promote specific products in return for commission regardless of whether they were suitable for the customer.
IFinancial Advisers who allowed these pressure tactics to take place on their behalf have not acted in the best interests of their clients however often it’s hard to even identify whether there was a financial adviser involved and if so who they were.
Fortunately, if you choose to engage with us our team can assist in finding out who were the regulated parties involved as part of our investigations we carry out on your behalf and if after everything we can not find grounds to recover your money, it won’t cost you a penny.
Lack of Suitablity
Did your advisers at any point in the pension advice process tell you what your attitude to risk is?
As part of the regulated advice process all Financial Advisers are required to carry out a risk assessment. There are hundreds of risk profile tools available to them which usually involve answering between 10 and 20 questions at the end of which you are given a risk rating from Cautious to Balanced to Aggressive dependent on your capacity for loss, which means how much loss you are prepared to tolerate in order to benefit from poetically higher gains.
The vast majority of pension savers are classed as balanced therefore they should not have too many of their assets in volatile investments which can fluctuate more and equally should not have too much of their savings sat in cash where it can not grow.
If you do not recall a risk profile being carried out, or if you feel the portfolio you were given was not suitable for you then you may have grounds to claim for compensation or financial redress on any losses you may have suffered on your pension savings.
Lack of Servicing
Did you engage in pension advice with a financial adviser and then not hear from them for more than a year?
For over 12 years financial advisers no longer earned commission for the sale of pensions. This was part of a major clamp down from the regulator at the time (The Financial Services Authority) where they insisted that all regulated financial advisers must move to fee charging model and clearly disclose all fees to their pension and investment customers.
The majority of financial advisers build their business by charging ongoing fees which are usually a percentage per annum on the money which they manage for you. The fees tend to range between 0.3% and 1% per annum with most advisers charging higher percentages to their clients who have smaller savings pots.
However these fees are for ongoing services, the basic level of which is an annual review with your financial adviser to confirm whether there have been any changes in your circumstances and attitude to risk to ensure that the financial planning they have put in place for you is still suitable.
Sadly, many financial advisers have charged without providing the service which means:
- If you have been charged each year but have not been receiving your annual reviews then you shoudl be entitled to reclaim your fees.
- The impact on your pension may be more than the fees charged due to the loss in interest on that money too which can mean you are due more money.
- If you were charged a fee for moving your pensions without there being clear justification for moving them in the first place then you could be entitled to reclaim those fees too.
Recognising whether you have a claim may seem daunting if you are not a financial expert which is why companies like us exist.
Our Manchester based Pension Experts are happy to answer any questions you may have.
We offer a free claim assessment over phone or video call at the end of which we will be able to give an indication as to whether you may have grounds for a claim.
If you choose to engage with us, our team can write to all the parties involved in the advice and gather all the information needed to value how much a your claim could be worth.
HT Legal Claims work offer a no-win no-fee service meaning if for any reason we are unable to proceed with a claim or your claim is unsuccessful it will not cost you a penny.
Book an appointment here or call us today on 01618401560
1. SIPP Claims
Do you or does somebody you know have a SIPP?
Self Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs) are a type of personal pension which were created to allow pension savers more control over where their pension savings are invested.
For example, many SIPP holders use their pension funds as a tax efficient way to invest into commercial property or other holdings which meet the criteria for pension investment.
There is nothing fundamentally wrong with SIPPs however sadly some SIPP providers have made bad choices when it comes to the investments they approved into their schemes. These decisions were usually led by greed on the promise of a high volume of clients being introduced to SIPP company from the companies behind the Investments.
Put simply, people were packaging and presenting their very high risk investments such as overseas property, storage pods, renewable energy investment and unproven investment funds as safe established investments and targeting unsophisticated investors (retail clients), with existing pensions they could transfer, who could not tell the difference.
Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether the investments inside your SIPP have failed or not as often the information provided to the SIPP provider us not up to date.
As SIPPs are regulated by the FCA, if you were sold a SIPP and you do not consider yourself a high net worth customer or a sophisticated investor then it is worth investigating whether the SIPP you have and the investments within it are suitable for you.
If following our investigations we establish that your investments have lost money or are illiquid (you can’t cash them in), then you will likely have grounds to claim for financial compensation or redress.
2. Pension Switching and Pension Transfers
Did you engage in any kind of pension transfer in the last 10 years?
If you did, it may not be a bad thing.
There are lots of good reasons why you may have transferred your pensions for example:
- Did you build up a lot of different pension pots and wanted to consolidate them into one place?
- Did the pensions you were holding have high fees and there were cheaper options available to you?
- Did somebody help you trace lost pensions and you were so grateful that they found them that you just followed the advice to transfer?
- Did you want to access your pension funds earlier than your old schemes allowed?
- Did you need a lump sum of cash for something important?
If you were advised to move your pensions it can be hard to tell whether the advice was sound unless you have a thorough understanding of the pension advice process.
Often people don’t realise there may be a problem with their pension until they reach retirement by which stage so much time may have passed that they are unable to make a claim.
This is why we encourage everybody who has any doubts to take advantage of our no obligation pension claim assessment with one of our Manchester based experts.
We can quickly identify whether you any cause for concern following which if you engage with us we take care of the entire process.
The more information that you can provide the better however as a minimum all we need from you is the details of the current pension. We can the write to the provider and identify
- Are there any issues?
- Who was involved?
- Do you have grounds to claim if you do, approximately how much could you be due.
To Book your free pension assessment or speak to one of our Manchester based experts by clicking on below button.
3. SSAS (Small Self-Administere Scheme)
Do you have a SSAS (Small Self Administered Scheme)?
SSAS is an Occupational Pension Scheme which predates SIPP.
A SSAS requires a sponsoring employer and therefore they are usually set up by business owners, directors and senior managers to allow them more control over their pension money.
One popular feature of SSAS’s was and is the ability to lend money to the sponsoring employer. Many small businesses have used this as an tax efficient, alternative financing solution allowing the company to pay interest into their pensions rather than to a bank or finance house.
However, like many pension schemes SSAS’s have been abused by investment companies looking to raise money into high risk funds and in some cases have been used for pension liberation which is the illegal withdrawal of pension money prior to reaching 55 years of age.
If you are not a business owner and have been given a SSAS it could be a red flag that you have received bad advice.
As SSAS’s are occupational pension schemes they do not fall under the protection of the FCA and the FSCS however if you have lost money as a result of being moved to a SSAS, dependent on the circumstances, following our investigations there may still be grounds to claim.
Some of our most successful client case studies have involved SSAS pensions. We are experts in SSAS and SIPP and our team are fully trained to recognise all potential grounds to claim.
It costs nothing to investigate, HT Legal Claims work on a No-Win No-Fee basis, so if following our investigation we can not find grounds to claim, or if your claim is rejected, there is no financial a risk to you.
So, why not schedule a call with one of our SSAS experts today!
Wherever you are in the world, Book here or call 01618401560 to speak to one of our Manchester based pension experts or click on below button.
4. Annuities
Annuities are considered the safest way to draw income from your pension savings.
An annuity is a life insurance however rather than trading insurance where you pay a monthly premium in return for a lump sum on death annuities work the other way around.
You pay a one off premium in return for a guaranteed monthly income.
The amount of income you receive is determined based on your personal circumstances taking into account, age, health and other factors.
Put simply, the longer the annuity provider expects you to live, the less income your are likely to receive each year.
Annuities, like pensions have nothing fundamentally wrong with them however there are other ways to draw income from your pension which can mean:
- You benefit from a higher income.
- You have more flexibility with your pension savings in retirement.
- You are able to leave more of your pension savings to your family if anything were to happen to you.
For clients determined to have a fixed income in retirement an annuity can be the best choice however if you were sold an annuity without being made aware of any other options then it is possible you may have been mis-sold.
If you instruct us to act for you we will demand all the documentation from the time of sale and investigate fully the circumstances surrounding the annuity advice.
If we feel there is a case for poor advice or negligence then we will be able to asses the potently damaged for you and manage the entire claims process for you.
We work on a strictly no-win no-fee basis, so if you do not have grounds to claim or if your claim for any reason is not upheld, you will not be charged.
You can book a free annuity advice assessment with one of our team over phone or video here or call 01618401560 to speak directly to our Financial Services Experts.
Speak to our EXPERTS!
In most cases, financial advisers and managers will convince you that you are eligible to get a refund. But, even in this situation, we would recommend that you connect with HT Legal Claims for once. Our qualified professional will closely examine your situation and update you with all the necessary information.
We will inform you whether you can seek compensation or not. In case you do, you can select our services that will work the best for you.
Find out how much you could be due..
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SIPP Claims
Self invested personal pensions fall under the category of very high risk pension plans. They undoubtedly provide high returns, but chances of losing money are also high. Hence, they are the best option only for experienced professionals who are well-versed at investing.
Pension Transfer
Due to various factors, people prefer investing in different pension plans. This increases the rate of return and reduces the overall risk. Transferring all the pensions into one single is an easy process. However, this might not be suitable for some individuals.
FSAVC Compensation
Free standing additional voluntary contribution is a pension plan in which the employer does not deduct the pension amount. Instead, your contribution is directly collected personally from your.
This pension scheme falls under the category of occupational pension scheme.
Annuities
Annuities are one of the safest pension plans that provide fixed and reliable returns on a regular basis. They are the best choice for people looking to boost their retirement savings while also creating a reliable future income source.
What do our customers say?
A financial advisor at (the Company name) informed me that I was not eligible for a claim. But that’s when I found out about HT Legal Claims. One of their team members told me that I was eligible for a compensatory amount. They further helped to get £ 2900 from (the Company name).
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Lisa Lisa
It was HT Legal Claims who informed me that I qualified for a claim. Instead, they even helped me to get a claim of £1487 from St James’s Place.
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Mike Ronaldo
When I started investing with a very well-known wealth management brand (the Company name), they asked me to pay for online advice fees. I was associated with them for eight years and was regularly paying the specified amount. However, they never conducted any advice sessions or provided guidance. I told an expert at HT Legal Claims about all this. They helped me reclaim that advice fee without any hassle.
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