Pension Fund "cashing It In"

[madonna-fan]

Is it possible to cash in or release your pension fund before retirement date.

[Tilly2]

You can 'draw down' 25%of your pension fund, I believe.

[EDDIE51]

You can release 25% of the fund as a cash sum. You need to be at least 55 years old to do it. The rest of the fund will be used for a pension.
If you do want to do this just write to the pension company , do not use one of the 'pension release' places that you see advertised , all they do is take a cut out of the payment for themselves so you get less.
I have done it with my 2 pensions.

[tonyav]

55 years old and over if you have a private pension.

[madonna-fan]

i heard about the 55 thing ,but im 43 and need all of my pension fund - desperate for money, the usual thing.
Thanks for your help, everybody.

[Hymie]

With a money purchase scheme, from age 55 onwards you can take 25% of the fund value as a tax free amount; buying an annuity with the remaining 75%.

The rules of a final salary scheme will determine whether you can access the money early, but normally they will allow you to take a tax free amount and reduced pension from age 55 – subject to the agreement of the pension trustees.

[factor-fiction]

madonna-fan
You can't do it.
There are some companies who offer to cash it in for you but by the time they have taken a huge chunk and you get an unexpected tax bill that they don't tell you about, there's little left for them to give you.

[factor-fiction]

Read this:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21387070

[factor-fiction]

Signing up can often be disastrous. If someone has a pension pot of £20,000, schemes may offer them access to half of that.

The scheme will take a commission of around £4,000 - 20% - leaving the victim £6,000 in their pension fund.

That is often invested in offshore vehicles and might never be seen again.

The individual will also be obliged to pay tax of between 55% and 70% on the money released.

The Pensions Regulator is about to launch a publicity drive to warn people of the dangers.

Bill Galvin said it is taking strong action against rogue firms.

"We have shut down over the last 18 months a number of vehicles which have been used for 'pension liberation' schemes, we have installed independent trustees," he said.