Pension transfer fee

AcerBenAcerBen Posts: 21,265
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I'm 29 and already have 4 different pensions. The combined total is about £7,000.

I want to transfer the 3 old ones into my current one because I move house a lot and it's a pain having to update my contact details all the time, I want to get rid of a load of old paperwork and it'd just be nice to have one balance.

Been looking at the paperwork and Googling it and just getting confused. It's not as easy as I thought it would be!

But the main question I need to know is that if I have to pay an exit/transfer fee, what sort of figure would we be talking - £200 max? And more importantly, would it just be deducted from my pension balance, rather than having to pay now.

Thanks!

Comments

  • killjoykilljoy Posts: 7,896
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    No one here can answer, you will have to ask the different pension providers.
  • AcerBenAcerBen Posts: 21,265
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    killjoy wrote: »
    No one here can answer, you will have to ask the different pension providers.

    I'm sure someone on here has transferred a pension before and can give me a rough idea of what to expect.
  • MartinPickeringMartinPickering Posts: 3,711
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    It's quite a few years since I did this so I really don't recall the cost - if I ever knew. But I'm fairly sure that I simply wrote to my pension company with details of the older pensions and asked them to collect them together. They did all the work and sent me a couple of forms to sign. I didn't pay anything myself. So ask your current pension company.

    Bear in mind, however, the old phrase "eggs in one basket". I didn't gather mine until I was ready to buy an annuity.
  • davidsevendavidseven Posts: 3,336
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    Killjoy is correct. Its down to the terms of each of the providers if you can consolidate a pension pot or face any penalty. An old occupational pension I had wanted to add to a final salary scheme would have cost me 50% of the value, while an old personal pension was no problem and zero cost.
  • KennedyCKennedyC Posts: 1,289
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    I'm in the same boat but as said above, putting them all with one company can be risky. My updates this year show only small amounts of growth on two. The other one made a loss. Last year I was thinking of moving it all to one provider, you guessed, the one who made a loss. I'm glad I didn't.
  • LostFoolLostFool Posts: 90,623
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    AcerBen wrote: »
    I'm sure someone on here has transferred a pension before and can give me a rough idea of what to expect.

    It totally depends on the type of pension. If they are "Stakeholder" then they should be free but other schemes may have fees. I recently merged 3 Stakeholder pensions and it was just a matter of filling in a few forms. Thee actual transfers were very quick.

    Even if you move all of your money to one provider you can still split your investments between different funds to balance your risk.
  • walterwhitewalterwhite Posts: 56,451
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    You probably need to take financial advice depending on what sort of pensions they are. If any are defined benefit schemes you should probably leave them well alone.
  • Charlie_the_catCharlie_the_cat Posts: 1,089
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    AcerBen wrote: »
    I'm sure someone on here has transferred a pension before and can give me a rough idea of what to expect.
    The costs can vary hugely depending on a lot of factors. What you will be able to get from each provider is a 'transfer value' that will take into account any fees that will apply. If you have online access to your current plans you would be able to find that immediately.
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