We all understand the importance of having a pension and making sure putting money aside for retirement is something that we do as soon as we can. The sad truth however, is that many thousands of people have had their pension put at risk because of advisors who persuaded them to move their money from the safer funds that they were in, where the growth was small but steady and put them instead into investments that were riskier and often not regulated with promise that they would get more money in their pension pot. 

If you believe that you have been mis-sold a pension and want to see what you can do about it then read our bite sized guide. 

The guide is meant for information purposes only if you have concerns regarding your pension it is a good idea to seek advice from an independent Financial Advisor (IFA) who will be able to look at your case properly for you and give you the best advice.

The signs you may have been mis-sold a pension

There are a number of signs that may indicate that you were mis-sold your pension:

• You were offered a “free pension review” following a cold call –  A good financial advisor would not just call you up out of the blue to introduce themselves and discuss your pension unless you had made the first contact. 

• You had a pension review call that began with “Will you be able to afford to live when you retire?” or “Could your pension be doing better?” – these type of calls usually originated from a call centre where the staff were being paid to get leads. They would have been reading from a cold call script and would not have been qualified to give you any financial advice or answer your questions.

The cold calls from a call centre will have been made with one purpose only and that would have been to gather information from you regarding your current circumstances, which company you had a pension with and even how much you might have paid in. This information would then have been used to either arrange for a second call from one of their Financial advisors or a home visit from an expert in pension. These people would have made promises to you that they would be able to get you a better return on your pension if you moved it and followed their advice.

Was I mis-sold a pension?

There are several reasons why you might have been mis-sold a pension, especially if you were subject to a financial loss. These include:

• You were not completely advised about the risks involved.
• You were sold a pension that did not fit with your attitude to risk. I.e., one that was riskier
• You were not fully advised about how your pension money would be invested.
• Your advisor advised you to opt-out of your occupational pension scheme.
• You were told to transfer out of your occupational pension scheme.
• Your advisor did inform you regarding the commissions they were being paid to transfer your pension.