experts fear it's the tip of an iceberg

Britain’s biggest insurer has launched an in-depth review after discovering hundreds of its customers have been mis-sold pension deals. In a watershed case, Aviva admitted that an internal review of the way it sold annuities had uncovered 250 cases where savers were not given the right type. The savers were never aware that they had been sold the wrong pension. This raises the prospect that thousands of pensioners who took annuities with other insurers — who have not conducted internal reviews — may also have lost out. Savers have missed out on up to an eye-watering £230million a year by being locked into rotten annuity deals, official figures show. The sick have unwittingly bypassed payouts that could boost their pensions by up to 40 per cent more. And widows have been left penniless because their husbands did not realise they needed to ask specifically for the deals to cover their wives after their death. Ros Altmann, government-appointed champion for older people, says: ‘What Aviva has discovered has got to be the tip of the iceberg. If it found 250 cases without really looking, what else is going on in the industry? ‘If a firm sells a mortgage, it must make all kinds of checks; the same goes for every financial product. Why is it so different for annuities — especially because once someone buys one, it is irreversible?’ It is time for every pensioner to ask: was I mis‑sold an annuity?....Read more here