Personal Pension Plan Decision Reference 2022-0170

Case OutcomeRejected
Reference2022-0170
Date20 May 2022
Year2022
Subject MatterPersonal Pension Plan
Finantial SectorInvestment
Conducts Complained OfValue of policy at surrender less than expected or projected,Delayed or inadequate communication, Fees & charges applied
Decision Ref:
2022-0170
Sector:
Investment
Product / Service:
Personal Pension Plan
Conduct(s) complained of:
Value of policy at surrender less than expected or
projected
Delayed or inadequate communication
Fees & charges applied
Outcome:
Rejected
LEGALLY BINDING DECISION OF THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AND PENSIONS OMBUDSMAN
This complaint relates to the fees applied to the Complainant’s pension plan.
The Complainant’s Case
The Complainant took out a personal pension plan with the Provider in 1989. He twice made
a contribution of IR£1,000 (€1,270) (one thousand Punts or one thousand, two hundred and
seventy Euro) in 1989 and in 1990, respectively. The Complainant then joined an employer
pension plan and ceased contributions to his personal pension. The Complainant states that
the plan was then ‘paid up’.
The Complainant submits that his pension fund was eroded due to a monthly policy fee of
€9.69 (nine Euro and sixty-nine Cent), and a monthly management charge of 4.14%. As a
result of this, the Complainant says that the final value of his pension is less than the value
he paid into the scheme. He says that “in real terms”, it is “worth less than one third of the
amount paid in”.
The Complainant states that he asked the Provider on several occasions over the previous
number of years why the value of his pension was not increasing. He stated that he was
constantly “fobbed-off”, with no true explanation.
The Complainant notes that he paid in a total of £2,000 (€2,540) into the scheme, and the
projected value of his pension in 1991, after charges, was £5,347 (€6,791). The most recent
projection of his pension value, at the time of making his complaint however was €2,320.
At the time of the complaint, the Complainant calculated that the value that he had lost
from his pension fund was €5,395.

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