House Of Fraser Pension

[Heatherbegg]

I have received a letter from house of fraser to say I have a pension with them I only payed in £460 the whole time I was there they are now saying I could take a lump sum of£16'000 should this be right I feel as though it is a scam HELP PLEASE

[factor-fiction]

Someone here also got a letter
http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Business-and-Finance/Question1274750.html

Sounds very odd to me

[factor-fiction]

But if you were in the scheme and the letter does come from the trustees it could be genuine. Do they give any details such as years of membership, employer, amounts paid in? Maybe the employer paid in a huge amount.
I think you may have misread it -the £16000 figure is a general figure for taking 'trivial' pension values as cash lump sums if your total of all schemes is below that and you meet age criteria. This may not mean yours is worth that much

[Heatherbegg]

I have just read the other person's views on the house of frasers pension I have also found out that it was one of those gold plated pensions which they have stopped since 2002 so I am happy I am only 45 got another pension so I will just cash this one in thanks

[bednobs]

can you take your pension when you are 45?

[Peter Pedant]

if it is too good to be true - - - - it probably is

stinks scam

I would contact H o F - it sounds as tho someone has hacked their pension contributor list.

[Peter Pedant]

oh come on -

no one contributes 30p and gets a pension lump sum of £5k.

[factor-fiction]

How long were you in the scheme? Is this one of those cases where you left within 2 years and you are effectively getting your contributions back (less tax). If so, unless you paid your £460 in the 1950s I can't see it being worth £16000 now.

[EcclesCake]

It is a remarkable successful pension plan, I agree.

I doubt it is a scam if the pension company has been able to contact Heather by post.

Assuming they have provided a legit postal address, a landline telephone number and can give details of the period of your employment I would pursue the letter.

[Heatherbegg]

Ihave just got through to house of fraser and it is ok as it was a gold plated pension that is why it is so high any one know about those kind of pensions as they don't do them any more as it costs the employer too much.

[factor-fiction]

I don't know what you mean by 'gold plated pension' but all you can get back is your contributions less some tax- you can't get back yet as a lump sum anything the employer contributed. Does it give an exact value? I am certain the £16000 is not the value of yours. But good luck if it is

[factor-fiction]

Are you sure it was House of Fraser you spoke to. Is it the number on the letter? Have you checked it's a genuine HofF number?

[Heatherbegg]

Have checked and double checked it is right the pension they are talking about was in the telegraph and another paper. My letter has both numbers one for capita who are the trustees and another one for house of frasers

[factor-fiction]

Hi- can you tell me how long you were in the scheme for?

[Heatherbegg]

I was in the pension for 3 years

[factor-fiction]

Thanks.
I don't see how you can take it then.

This is from the HMRC website:


If all your pension savings in all the pension schemes you belong to are worth no more than £18,000 you may be able to take all your pension pots as a lump sum. You can do this even if one or more of your pension pots is worth more than £2,000 or if you've already started to take one of your pensions.
This type of lump sum is called a 'trivial commutation' or 'trivial' lump sum. To be paid this type of lump sum you must:
take all the savings in all of your pension pots within the same pension scheme as a lump sum
have your pension savings in all your pension schemes valued on the same date which must be no more than three months before you take your first trivial commutation lump sum
If you belong to more than one pension scheme you don't have to take a lump sum from all your schemes. For example, if you're a member of two pension schemes you can take a trivial lump sum from one scheme and a pension from the other scheme.
If you are taking a trivial lump sum from more than one of your pension schemes you must take all the trivial lump sums within 12 months of the first lump sum payment.
Valuing your total pension pots
The rules for valuing your pension pots depends on:
whether or not your pension has started to be paid
when your pension started
the type of pension scheme you belong to
The valuation that you get for a trivial commutation lump sum payment will often be different to the valuation for taking a pension.
Valuing your pension pot before your pension has started
The value of pension savings held under a money purchase or cash balance arrangement is the value of savings held in your pension pot. Your pension scheme administrator can tell you how much your pension pot is worth.
The value of your pension pot in a defined benefits arrangement is your promised pension multiplied by 20. If your pension scheme gives you a lump sum without having to give up ('commute') your pension you also need to add on the value of this separate lump sum.
For example if you've built up a pension of £500 a year and your scheme also gives you a lump sum of your pension multiplied by 3, your lump sum will be £1,500. Your pension pot is valued as £11,500.
(£500 x 20) + £1,500 = £11,500.

[ubasses]

As you are under 55 the excerpt from Inland Revenue web site below will be of interest to you. I believe the tax is circa 50%.


Things to remember about accessing your pension pot early

Before you decide to take some or all of your pension early, remember:

pension savings are intended to provide for your retirement so there are rules as to when you can take money out of a pension scheme before you're 55
if you transfer and take some or all of your pension savings early there will be a substantial tax charge to pay and it will be charged on money you get and any fees paid
you will pay the tax not the company and it isn't covered by the fees
loans are not a loophole or a way round the tax charges
any money you have left in your pension scheme may be at risk

Top
HMRC are tough on pension liberation activity

HMRC works extremely closely with partner agencies and other regulatory bodies to detect, disrupt and deter pension liberation activity. Action in this area has taken many forms and we have an active compliance team and programme.

Also as you are so close to the limit for all pensions pots added together you need to check that they do not all come to more than £18,000 which is the maximum permittable, to take any as a lump sum.

[Heatherbegg]

My letter states that £4153'12 is free from tax the remainder will be taxed 20%.

[DJHawkes]

I know mine is right because the reference they have used on my letter is the same one on the annual updates i have been getting for the past 32 years. I only paid in around £75 over 6 months heather and they say i get just over 2k back after tax.

[DJHawkes]

which HOF did you work in heather? i was in Howells

[Heatherbegg]

I worked in house of frasers in aberdeen