Transfer AVC process.

[Wullie10]

What is the process of transferring an AVC into a private pension ? Is it straight forward or difficult ( smallish amount ) and what's the time frame to completion? As i stated before I rang Sheffield and the advisor basically said I'd be mad to do so. Would an email be enough ? Just got my latest statement and it's just sitting until my 65 at the moment not really doing anything. Thanks.

[Jaggs]

What is the process of transferring an AVC into a private pension ? Is it straight forward or difficult ( smallish amount ) and what's the time frame to completion? As i stated before I rang Sheffield and the advisor basically said I'd be mad to do so. Would an email be enough ? Just got my latest statement and it's just sitting until my 65 at the moment not really doing anything. Thanks.

Slightly different to you as I transferred my RMDCP into a personal pension and not the AVCs from the RMPP but it was very straight forward. You need to initiate it from the pension that will receive the transfer and they will contact Scottish Widows. I transferred mine to Vanguard and it took about a month from when I first asked Vanguard to initiate the transfer.

One thing you need to consider though is that while still in the AVC of the RMPP you can use it to fund some or all of your tax free cash from the scheme so it might not be best to move it.

[Wullie10]

Thanks. I should have explained it is the rump end of the AVC left over from my 60th . Interesting to hear that it's my pension provider I need to get in touch with to set the ball rolling.

[RobertT]

Going by the question you asked here, you'll probably be able to take it all tax free with your Age65 benefits. But if you transfer it, only 25% will be guaranteed to be tax free with the rest classed as income.

I've transferred one of my AVC's to a personal pension and the RMPP in Sheffield was my contact point, and they dealt with both Scottish Widows and my pension provider.

I had to fill in a few forms and return them, as well as asking my pension provider to do the same.

I was told it would take 3-4 weeks but it actually took 4 months, and I'm convinced that if I hadn't complained, they wouldn't have done it at all. They were that incompetent!!!!

I may have been unlucky, but if my experience was anything to go by, don't expect it to be a quick or easy process if you go ahead and transfer.

[Wullie10]

Interesting thanks. I only thought about it again as I received the statement today. Its not a huge amount and probably less stressful just leaving it where it is.

[tpost]

I started my transfer of AVCs in Jan 25 . Scottish widow’s sold and transferred money to RMP in April, however my transfer of AVCs from standard life still hasn’t been completed. Twice I called the pension centre in Sheffield and twice they never returned my calls. I then complained and received an apology but still no transfer completion date. I spoke to standard life who would not deal with me as RMP are the administrator of the scheme, however they did indicate that the paperwork required had not been completed. I have now made an official complaint to RMP and are awaiting a call back from a manager. This process was supposed to take 6 weeks. My broker Hargreaves Lansdown to whom the transfer is going to has contacted RMP 6 times trying to get a transfer date. What a shambles

[RobertT]

That sounds very familiar!

They weren't interested in my transfer request until I made a fuss and put in a formal complaint. Up until then, they basically just ignored every one of my phone calls and emails!

Their excuse, when they did finally communicate with me, was they hadn't received the necessary paperwork from my pension provider and so they couldn't transfer the money. The only problem with that was my provider was copying me into the emails they sent to Sheffield, and I knew exactly what they'd received and when!

My advice would be to contact them via email, unless you're going to record your calls, and keep them as evidence. In my case, they couldn't really deny my gripes, as I had all their incompetence in black and white.

The person who dealt with my complaint assured me in writing they'd learnt from their mistakes, so it wouldn't happen to others. It seems they were just giving me lip service!

[Hyrrokkin]

Similar horror story here

I received the paperwork from RM and sent the appropriate forms back to RM & HL
AVC full Flexiplan & Bonusplan transfer to HL cash before investing
HL contacted saying the forms were not exactly as they should be - the pension name,type and address had to be exact at RM's request
HL also wanted an additional transfer form for them to be sent as well (weeks had passed by at this point)
Re-sent the forms then again issues with other information (home address) meant several weeks went by and no further forward.
I just gave up because could not be bothered going through the hassle of being bounced around between RM & HL not knowing really who was at fault for any delays etc etc.

However restarted the process a couple of weeks ago and got my ducks in order beforehand so they cannot have any excuse...so we will see.
As always the the whole process is convoluted,time consuming and a pain in the ass.

To add i think it was RM that was causing the delays - after all HL want my business so they have an incentive to get the money transferred.
I get the feeling that RM & SW do what they can to slow it down by being pedantic and generally incompetent.

[RobertT]

To add i think it was RM that was causing the delays

In my case it was definitely Sheffield causing all the delays!
And to be fair to the person who dealt with my complaint, they not only admitted it but pointed out mistakes and maladministration I wasn't fully aware of.

There was no blame on SW or my pension provider whatsoever. Infact the receiving scheme were very proactive and contacted me off their own back, wanting to know what was going on. Whereas Sheffield didn't even have the decency to reply to my emails requesting an update.

I've had a few run ins with the PSC over the years and they've proved themselves to be incompetent on a number of occasions. I accept that sometimes things don't go as they're supposed to, but for me not only do they seem incapable of doing the jobs they get paid to do, they don't seem able to learn from their own mistakes either.

The worrying thing for me is I expect to have an excess amount of my remaining AVC left over when I take my Age60 benefits and plan to transfer that out sometime afterwards.
It's not something I'm particularly looking forward to!

[Jaggs]

To add i think it was RM that was causing the delays

In my case it was definitely Sheffield causing all the delays!
And to be fair to the person who dealt with my complaint, they not only admitted it but pointed out mistakes and maladministration I wasn't fully aware of.

There was no blame on SW or my pension provider whatsoever. Infact the receiving scheme were very proactive and contacted me off their own back, wanting to know what was going on. Whereas Sheffield didn't even have the decency to reply to my emails requesting an update.

I've had a few run ins with the PSC over the years and they've proved themselves to be incompetent on a number of occasions. I accept that sometimes things don't go as they're supposed to, but for me not only do they seem incapable of doing the jobs they get paid to do, they don't seem able to learn from their own mistakes either.

The worrying thing for me is I expect to have an excess amount of my remaining AVC left over when I take my Age60 benefits and plan to transfer that out sometime afterwards.
It's not something I'm particularly looking forward to!

Robert, I see you make a comment about having had run ins with the PSC and I would say I've also had them with people at the RMDCP and the new RMCPP. Part of the problem is I've often found the responses are quite condescending in that they can't possibly think that a postman can have an understanding of investments or pensions and is this what you've come up against?

[Hyrrokkin]

To add i think it was RM that was causing the delays

In my case it was definitely Sheffield causing all the delays!
And to be fair to the person who dealt with my complaint, they not only admitted it but pointed out mistakes and maladministration I wasn't fully aware of.

There was no blame on SW or my pension provider whatsoever. Infact the receiving scheme were very proactive and contacted me off their own back, wanting to know what was going on. Whereas Sheffield didn't even have the decency to reply to my emails requesting an update.

I've had a few run ins with the PSC over the years and they've proved themselves to be incompetent on a number of occasions. I accept that sometimes things don't go as they're supposed to, but for me not only do they seem incapable of doing the jobs they get paid to do, they don't seem able to learn from their own mistakes either.

The worrying thing for me is I expect to have an excess amount of my remaining AVC left over when I take my Age60 benefits and plan to transfer that out sometime afterwards.
It's not something I'm particularly looking forward to!

Considering the issue(s) you and others have had you have to wonder is it just incompetence or deliberate or both in nature.
Maybe most go through without any problems and you only hear about the ones that go wrong kind of thing.

As always RM pensions are a pain in the ass as a whole

[RobertT]

Robert, I see you make a comment about having had run ins with the PSC and I would say I've also had them with people at the RMDCP and the new RMCPP. Part of the problem is I've often found the responses are quite condescending in that they can't possibly think that a postman can have an understanding of investments or pensions and is this what you've come up against?

I have experienced that, but the main reason is they're simply not very good at doing their jobs!

1. When you phone up, it's pot luck whether you get someone who knows what they're talking about, and you can have conflicting answers from different 'advisors'.
2. I've twice had my personal information sent to other people.
3. They have at least two departments, the helpline and additional benefits team, who don't seem capable of talking to one another.
4. They've sent me documents that I haven't requested for no logical reason.
5. They seem to do everything the old fashioned way with pen and paper, meaning things take much longer than they should.
6. I've had to formally complain twice when they simply didn't do as requested and I couldn't get anywhere via the 'helpline'.

Considering the issue(s) you and others have had you have to wonder is it just incompetence or deliberate or both in nature.
Maybe most go through without any problems and you only hear about the ones that go wrong kind of thing.

As always RM pensions are a pain in the ass as a whole

I don't see any logical reason why they'd do it deliberately!
Everyone makes mistakes and maybe I've been unlucky to have so many issues with them, or maybe they're over worked and under paid, etc.
But in my experience, they're probably the most incompetent organisation I've ever had dealings with.

[Hyrrokkin]

Robert, I see you make a comment about having had run ins with the PSC and I would say I've also had them with people at the RMDCP and the new RMCPP. Part of the problem is I've often found the responses are quite condescending in that they can't possibly think that a postman can have an understanding of investments or pensions and is this what you've come up against?

I have experienced that, but the main reason is they're simply not very good at doing their jobs!

1. When you phone up, it's pot luck whether you get someone who knows what they're talking about, and you can have conflicting answers from different 'advisors'.
2. I've twice had my personal information sent to other people.
3. They have at least two departments, the helpline and additional benefits team, who don't seem capable of talking to one another.
4. They've sent me documents that I haven't requested for no logical reason.
5. They seem to do everything the old fashioned way with pen and paper, meaning things take much longer than they should.
6. I've had to formally complain twice when they simply didn't do as requested and I couldn't get anywhere via the 'helpline'.

Considering the issue(s) you and others have had you have to wonder is it just incompetence or deliberate or both in nature.
Maybe most go through without any problems and you only hear about the ones that go wrong kind of thing.

As always RM pensions are a pain in the ass as a whole

I don't see any logical reason why they'd do it deliberately!
Everyone makes mistakes and maybe I've been unlucky to have so many issues with them, or maybe they're over worked and under paid, etc.
But in my experience, they're probably the most incompetent organisation I've ever had dealings with.

I guess i was being overly critical on that point but the rest still stands.

[Dexydog]

I've just received, finally, my benefits from the new pension scheme..
I left the business on 4th April and started the process the week before.
You have to cash in your AVC pot at the same time, and that was what seemed to cause the most problems as they were waiting for them to be sold.
I had a great handler at Sheffield who really kept me in the loop when I finally decided to contact them for updates, and was all sorted a couple of weeks after
Endless forms and red tape-I cashed in a serps and 2 private pensions which took 2 weeks in total, no forms or anything.
Tbh I thought the way Sheffield administered what little I had in a way I expected of the bigger pots and companies from a legislative perspective.
I would go so far as to say one of them was negligent in their checks, but as I got the money quickly couldn't be bothered with a complaint.
Scottish Widows rmcdp was relatively fuss free.
Anyway, all's well that ends well, got my tax free pot and a nice amount in drawdown- just need to decide where to invest that or leave safely in cash
So glad to be out of the daily grind.
Reading posts in blue shirts actually makes me laugh as they're all so pathetic with the back biting and name calling- I would say you only see it once you're out, so happy to just look in now and again without posting.