OVERPAID FOR 8YRS OUT OF 10 Apparently

[stuckinarut]

Evening people. got a bombshell of a letter today. 8/6/17. to the tune of £11kplus. the guy that sent the letter says we appreciate you may find it difficult to pay it back all at once (must have went to uni this guy) but if you can send the dosh to blah blah. please fone us to confirm you received the letter and to discuss a repayment plan. or e-mail us etc etc.
i know this error they made will have to be made good. However i need it to be as painless as possible cos i also have an unenforceable fund to save for. so think i will e-mail over the weekend to tell them i will write to them in due course. So any thoughts on how to approach this would be much appreciated. thanks in advance guys

[cymruambyth]

Re: OVERPAID FOR 8YRS OUT OF 10 Apparently

Hi, that sounds like a bad letter to receive, but before we can give advice we need more information on what is owed.

[Joanna Connolly Solicitors]

Re: OVERPAID FOR 8YRS OUT OF 10 Apparently

Since this thread is in the Annuities sub forum I'm assuming it's a possible miscalculation by your pension provider.

You can refer this issue to The Pensions Ombudsman to resolve.

Here's a link to their website where you'll find loads of information and case studies > https://www.pensions-ombudsman.org.u.../overpayments/

Without knowing the facts it's difficult to comment but I like this statement on their website :

"As a starting point the law says that a mistake doesn’t create an entitlement for the future and that money received in error has to be repaid. But there may be reasons that some or all of it need not be."

Di

[stuckinarut]

Re: OVERPAID FOR 8YRS OUT OF 10 Apparently

thanks for the reply cym. much appreciated.

[stuckinarut]

Re: OVERPAID FOR 8YRS OUT OF 10 Apparently

Hi Diana
Thanks for the link. much appreciated. well the story is this. i had 2 personal pension plans. i took one out in 2007 and i am fairly certain the other in 2009. the letter they sent to me says i owe them £11500. (ouch) the reason they gave is they say in there letter that the 2009 one was paid out in 2007? i had 2 plans. one was taken in 2007. and with my best memory of events the other in 2009.
they say the information i received in 2009 was duplicate information. as it was already paid out in 2007. and as they paid it out in 2007. i was overpaid to the tune of £11500. i dont have any of the letters that go back and forth during the process but am fairly certain they were taken out two yrs apart. they must think they were combined or whatever in 2007. (i dont think thats the case as two plans are independant of each other surley.) i dont have any bank statements from the time. as i dont keep them normally. and i changed my bank in 2008. so it may be a starting point to get in touch with the bank and pay the tenner to get the historical data. that would show if i was still paying into the 2nd plan. as i am sure i was. in the meantime how do i deal with the pension company? dont want to fall out with them cos at the end of this i will still be dealing with them. any pointers on how to approach them would be fantastic.
Thanks again for your reply . stuckinarut

[Joanna Connolly Solicitors]

Re: OVERPAID FOR 8YRS OUT OF 10 Apparently

I would send a SAR to the pension company which will give you all the historical information including the payment history. You can then see for yourself what was paid out and when.

There's no need to fall out with your pension provider (yet ) but if they want you to pay them back £11.5k then it's only reasonable for you to ask how this situation came about.

I assume they're charging you for managing the pension(s) so no need to tip-toe around them if you've had poor service (you say they've admitted it was their error). Calculate what they have deducted in fees since they messed up.

Have you checked the FCA Register to see if they're authorised?

There's also some info on the FCA website about pensions here > https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/pen...irement-income

Di

[stuckinarut]

Re: OVERPAID FOR 8YRS OUT OF 10 Apparently

I would send a SAR to the pension company which will give you all the historical information including the payment history. You can then see for yourself what was paid out and when.

There's no need to fall out with your pension provider (yet ) but if they want you to pay them back £11.5k then it's only reasonable for you to ask how this situation came about.

I assume they're charging you for managing the pension(s) so no need to tip-toe around them if you've had poor service (you say they've admitted it was their error). Calculate what they have deducted in fees since they messed up.

Have you checked the FCA Register to see if they're authorised?

There's also some info on the FCA website about pensions here > https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/pen...irement-income

Di

Hi Dianna thanks again for your input. (which has just saved me a tenner by the way) cheers for that. silly me was gona sar the two banks . as i changed banks. never occured to sar the pension peeps (although quite obvious ) the provider is Liverpool Victoria. will pop off the sar template to them and see what i get back. Thanks again Di

[stuckinarut]

Re: OVERPAID FOR 8YRS OUT OF 10 Apparently

Hi Diana
Thanks for the link. much appreciated. well the story is this. i had 2 personal pension plans. i took one out in 2007 and i am fairly certain the other in 2009. the letter they sent to me says i owe them £11500. (ouch) the reason they gave is they say in there letter that the 2009 one was paid out in 2007? i had 2 plans. one was taken in 2007. and with my best memory of events the other in 2009.
they say the information i received in 2009 was duplicate information. as it was already paid out in 2007. and as they paid it out in 2007. i was overpaid to the tune of £11500. i dont have any of the letters that go back and forth during the process but am fairly certain they were taken out two yrs apart. they must think they were combined or whatever in 2007. (i dont think thats the case as two plans are independant of each other surley.) i dont have any bank statements from the time. as i dont keep them normally. and i changed my bank in 2008. so it may be a starting point to get in touch with the bank and pay the tenner to get the historical data. that would show if i was still paying into the 2nd plan. as i am sure i was. in the meantime how do i deal with the pension company? dont want to fall out with them cos at the end of this i will still be dealing with them. any pointers on how to approach them would be fantastic.
Thanks again for your reply . stuckinarut

well phoned the pension peeps on Thursday to get the lowdown on things. once i got a human The lady i spoke with was adamant they were taken out at the same time. and i told her once the first one was taken the d/d mandate was canceled and another set up . so she put me on hold and went to read the notes? (speak to someone no doubt) when she came back she said (in a sinister type of voice) we will have to look at all of these figures very carefully and me or one of my team will phone you back today. Well no one phoned. so looks like another letter instead in the near future. Hope its not blooming worse than the last one. (just my luck)

[Joanna Connolly Solicitors]

Re: OVERPAID FOR 8YRS OUT OF 10 Apparently

well phoned the pension peeps on Thursday to get the lowdown on things. once i got a human The lady i spoke with was adamant they were taken out at the same time. and i told her once the first one was taken the d/d mandate was canceled and another set up . so she put me on hold and went to read the notes? (speak to someone no doubt) when she came back she said (in a sinister type of voice) we will have to look at all of these figures very carefully and me or one of my team will phone you back today. Well no one phoned. so looks like another letter instead in the near future. Hope its not blooming worse than the last one. (just my luck)

You phoned them?

Why would you do that?

I suggested that you should send them a Subject Access Request to get the facts not the pension provider's spin on things.

You need a paper trail and you need the facts.

I would send a SAR to the pension company which will give you all the historical information including the payment history. You can then see for yourself what was paid out and when.

There's no need to fall out with your pension provider (yet ) but if they want you to pay them back £11.5k then it's only reasonable for you to ask how this situation came about.

I assume they're charging you for managing the pension(s) so no need to tip-toe around them if you've had poor service (you say they've admitted it was their error). Calculate what they have deducted in fees since they messed up.

From what you say they want you to repay them £11.5k for an error which they appear to admitted to have made, so is it not time to play hardball?

Di

[stuckinarut]

Re: OVERPAID FOR 8YRS OUT OF 10 Apparently

You phoned them?

Why would you do that?

I suggested that you should send them a Subject Access Request to get the facts not the pension provider's spin on things.

You need a paper trail and you need the facts.




From what you say they want you to repay them £11.5k for an error which they appear to admitted to have made, so is it not time to play hardball?

Di

Hi Diana well i thought it could be remedied with a short call. obviously not So you are 100% correct sar off to them at the start of the week.
Thanks again Diana

[stuckinarut]

Re: OVERPAID FOR 8YRS OUT OF 10 Apparently

Hi Diana well i thought it could be remedied with a short call. obviously not So you are 100% correct sar off to them at the start of the week.
Thanks again Diana

Well got the SAR sent off today 1st class signed for wait on response now (fingers crossed)

[cardiac arrest]

Re: OVERPAID FOR 8YRS OUT OF 10 Apparently

Hi Diana
Thanks for the link. much appreciated. well the story is this. i had 2 personal pension plans. i took one out in 2007 and i am fairly certain the other in 2009. the letter they sent to me says i owe them £11500. (ouch) the reason they gave is they say in there letter that the 2009 one was paid out in 2007? i had 2 plans. one was taken in 2007. and with my best memory of events the other in 2009.
they say the information i received in 2009 was duplicate information. as it was already paid out in 2007. and as they paid it out in 2007. i was overpaid to the tune of £11500. i dont have any of the letters that go back and forth during the process but am fairly certain they were taken out two yrs apart. they must think they were combined or whatever in 2007. (i dont think thats the case as two plans are independant of each other surley.) i dont have any bank statements from the time. as i dont keep them normally. and i changed my bank in 2008. so it may be a starting point to get in touch with the bank and pay the tenner to get the historical data. that would show if i was still paying into the 2nd plan. as i am sure i was. in the meantime how do i deal with the pension company? dont want to fall out with them cos at the end of this i will still be dealing with them. any pointers on how to approach them would be fantastic.
Thanks again for your reply . stuckinarut

Hi stuckinarut. what a mess up ! Just for clarification, when you said you took one out in 2007 and maybe another in 2009, do you mean you actually started to draw a pension from them on the those years, and that you had actually been paying in for some time before that ? Was 2007 your 'normal retirement date' ?

[stuckinarut]

Hi stuckinarut. what a mess up ! Just for clarification, when you said you took one out in 2007 and maybe another in 2009, do you mean you actually started to draw a pension from them on the those years, and that you had actually been paying in for some time before that ? Was 2007 your 'normal retirement date' ?

Hi cardiac arrest. yes i paid in for a number of years before that. it wasnt my normal retirement date they were taken out early. two years apart. However some errors have been made somewhere. (thanks for taking a look see)

[Joanna Connolly Solicitors]

Re: OVERPAID FOR 8YRS OUT OF 10 Apparently

when she came back she said (in a sinister type of voice) we will have to look at all of these figures very carefully and me or one of my team will phone you back today. Well no one phoned. so looks like another letter instead in the near future. Hope its not blooming worse than the last one. (just my luck)

Are you making any headway with this?

Di

[cardiac arrest]

Hi cardiac arrest. yes i paid in for a number of years before that. it wasnt my normal retirement date they were taken out early. two years apart. However some errors have been made somewhere. (thanks for taking a look see)

Ok, so they started paying the first policy in 2007, then when the 2nd policy started to pay out they mistakenly included the the 1st policy with 2nd policy...while continuing to pay the 1st policy..Sounds about right ! So for 8 years they've paid £11,500 twice...that's about £1,400 a year. I'm just thinking about any income tax you might have paid in any of the these years (combining any other pensions you might have , like OAP...) The Tax thresholds in the early years were quite low..for example .2007/8 £5,225, 2008/9 £6,035 2009/10 £6,475 (aged under 65).....so you might have paid tax on some of this 'extra' income which you may be able to claim back either from the tax office or argue with your pension company that you've paid tax which is now out of the reclaim period from HMRC so they should compensate you or rather only demand the net amount for that period ? The tax allowance rates for over 65's were quite a bit higher, 2007/8 was £9,030 so a lot depends on when you reached 65. Worth having a look in any case ?