why do pension transfers take SO long??

[CoatOfArms]

I am currently transferring two pensions - one small workplace pension from 20 odd years ago and one private one - to the same provider. The new pension SIPP was set up online, the details of the existing pensions were entered online. The existing personal pension required written authorisation for the transfer, fine. Paperwork went in the post on Monday. The other pension is with Scottish Widows and they said that transfer could be handled digitally which is great.

Received a text this morning from new provider saying the transfer has been started and right enough, when I log into my Halifax banking app I can no longer see any details of my Scottish Widows pension. But then it goes on to say it will take 8-10 WEEKS to complete the transfer! How is this possible, they have already received my money from Scottish Widows, so is it just sitting in their account for the next 8-10 weeks earning interest for them and not for me???

It really shouldn’t take long. My DS had 2 work pensions so decided to put money from old Aviva pension to new Phoenix pension, did it all online no problem. He then got a message to say they needed copy of his birth certificate in order to do it, the amount was £1,900. Of course I couldn’t find his BC so requested and paid for a new one. A few days later he checked his Phoenix pension online and saw that the money was already there.

One of my pensions is with Aviva, they took so long sorting out my pension, they put in a complaint themselves and I got awarded £200, their problem seems to be so many different departments not speaking to one another.

I am hoping it is like the queues at Disney when they tell you 30 minutes and you're on the ride in 10.

I consolidated 4 pensions several years ago and it took 2 years, and about 10 different forms totalling about a foot of paperwork. And that was moving to Scottish Widows! The whole process is quite ridiculous.

I think the average for electronic transfers is about 2 weeks, but they tell you much longer, because their pension transfer teams aren’t processing the actual transfers if they’re on the phone talking to people who are chasing them.

Then there are companies like Phoenix, ReAssure and Utmost, who make money by buying up old books of business (pensions/investments) and administering them as cheaply as possible. They arent actually open for new business, so they have no need to offer a decent level of service to attract new customers or maintain any reputation.

It's become so much easier to change bank accounts and direct debits over the last few years, maybe the pensions industry needs to be streamlined too. I understand there needs to be checks and balances and that there are some very dodgy companies out there, but it should really be instantaneous.

Ha like @Mindymomo Aviva took so long with my transfer I got reallllllllt ducked off with it all and ended up being compensated by them. About £250.

Recommend keeping notes of a named individual, which phone numbers and what you’ve been promised. Every time you chase them. AVIVA ended up losing my money for a while - this was after they released twice as much as I’d requested - to another provider. The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing!

Hopefully it won't take that long.

I've just moved pension bee & Scottish widows pensions to Vanguard and both done within 1-2 weeks. In fact I think Scottish widows was quicker

I filled out the transfer forms etc in May and I'm still waiting for the money to get to my NEST pension- transferred from Derbyshire CC. It's only a small.amount, but still!!

Okki sorry to say but NEST are absolutely shocking, my DH has been dealing with them for over a year (!) trying to get a transfer sorted ... fortunately it's a relatively small amount which has little impact on his overall pension but it's just so time consuming and frustrating ... their 'customer service' is non existent.

@47th Agree Aviva are shocking. I first contacted them when aged 60 as that was the agreed date to take pension, the rates offered me then were dreadful, so I left the pension alone until another one with them was due, they weren’t big pensions £76,000 in total and they want £500 to set up annuity. The problem I had was because I had 2 different policies, everything was sent out in duplicate and despite me asking for everything to be sent by email, I received 30 odd pages in the post exactly the same as I received 2 years ago, apart from front page figures.