Pension Contracting Out

It is sometimes easy to forget decisions made some years ago, especially when they are to do with your retirement, which always seemed such a long way off. One of the key areas regarding pensions that many people forget about is, Contracting Out of the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme (SERPS) now known as the Second State Pension (S2P).

The State Pension is based upon the National Insurance payments an individual makes and leaving it is called ‘Contracting out’. This was a very popular thing to do 20 or so years ago, when individuals joined a company or personal pension scheme.

As people have made changes to their pension planning in recent years, sometimes the Contracting Out pot of money has been forgotten and not been transferred along with their main pension pot. We came across just this situation with one of our clients recently and discovered that he had accumulated over £60,000 of Contracted Out pension. We were able to advise him to transfer this money into his Transact account along with his main pension, so they can be managed together in one place.

If you think you may have a Contracting Out pot sitting with another pension provider and not with your Transact Pension, please give Argyle a call to investigate for you.

Northern Rock Mortgages

Since last month's newsletter, the Government has decided to nationalise Northern Rock and it is back to business as usual for the Bank. The long-term aim is that it is sold back to the private sector with "every single penny" being returned to the taxpayer - with interest. That is some way off and there are some immediate worries for people with Northern Rock mortgages who are on a fixed rate or discounted deal which is shortly coming to an end.

At this time they will be shifted to Northern Rock's standard variable rate as they would have been previously, however the troubled Bank has been writing to customers and telling them rival lenders will offer them a better rate for re-mortgaging. The move is part of a deliberate strategy to scale down the mortgage business of what was Britain's fifth-biggest lender by offering uncompetitive rates. This is where we can help you to find the best deal, as simply rolling over into a new Northern Rock mortgage will not be in your best interests.

Please contact Argyle on 01704 540575 to take advantage of our Mortgage Team's skills in finding you the right deal.

If you are not paying an adviser a fee, the advice he gives you will be worthless. Someone is paying him and, if it isn't you, it's the person whose product he is persuading you to buy!