Let’s check now to see if you’ve been mis-sold a pension Annuity?
An annuity is a policy provided by insurance companies that provides you with an income for either a set period of time or the remainder of your life.
When you are approaching retirement, an annuity can be purchased with the funds within your pension.
You may be entitled to claim compensation if your pension company failed to tell you that you had the right to shop around before selling you an annuity, or if it failed to tell you that you qualified for an enhanced annuity.
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How to know if you've been mis-sold
You weren’t made aware.
Sometimes the quote you were initially provided with is different to the amount that you actually receive in your bank account, this should never happen and you may be able to claim for the difference.
Your health wasn’t taken into account.
A customer’s life expectancy is taken into account by annuity providers when creating pension products. If you have a health condition that may affect your life expectancy, this needs to be taken into account. You could receive less money each month than you deserve if you fail to consider this when choosing your annuity. This is because the annuity will spread the money you have saved for retirement over a longer period than you are likely to live.
Your personal circumstances.
As often the case with the mis-selling of financial products, the provider may not have taken into account your personal circumstances.
You weren’t provided with a range of options.
Providers sometimes just offer clients to purchase an in-house annuity when they are approaching retirement. However, the client may have got a better deal if they shopped around. It was the duty of the provider to ensure that the client was aware of this.
There are different ways in which an annuity can be mis-sold to a client. The most common ways are:
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You were not encouraged to shop around the whole market,
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You were not asked sufficient questions about your medical history or lifestyle,
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You were sold a single-life annuity when a joint annuity product was more suitable,
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There were insufficient discussions regarding what happens to the annuity upon death,
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The payments do not track inflation and you were never provided with this option,
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The advising firm did not provide you with the correct advice.
The Financial Conduct Authority has reviewed the sale of annuity products and found that there have been many failings within the market and as a result, they have issued large fines to two large insurance companies for their malpractices.
If you have purchased an annuity, please complete the contact form. We will then be able to assess
whether or not the correct procedure has been followed and if you could be due any compensation.
When a person has underlying health conditions or a lifestyle that may affect their life expectancy that person should have been offered an enhanced annuity which means that the payment that they receive will be higher.
The enhancements can be available to a wide range of people, from those with serious medical conditions to a person that is overweight or consumes more alcohol than the average person. Being a smoker can also make you eligible for an enhanced annuity.