NOW:Pensions

[BHAFC_Pandapops]

Does anyone have any experience with them?

Without going into further detail I've put a lot of money away every month for my pension. NOWensions are having an issue with one thing or another and have quoted my current pot as being drastically lower than it should be. My payslips give a very much higher figure. It's all rather worrying.

Does anyone else deal with them on a consumer or employer level?

Thanks.

 

[TSB]

Does anyone have any experience with them?

Without going into further detail I've put a lot of money away every month for my pension. NOWensions are having an issue with one thing or another and have quoted my current pot as being drastically lower than it should be. My payslips give a very much higher figure. It's all rather worrying.

Does anyone else deal with them on a consumer or employer level?

Thanks.

I work in pensions and have never heard of them.
How long have you been paying in? Is it an Auto Enrolment scheme? Have you requested a statement showing all your contributions in?
What sort of plan is it?
If their systems are half as antiquated as ours, it could be an honest mistake.

 

[nail-Z]

If their systems are half as antiquated as ours, it could be an honest mistake.

That's encouraging. You don't work for Aviva do you?

 

[TSB]

That's encouraging. You don't work for Aviva do you?

I don't work in the PR department, obviously.
And no. You're right: their systems are a bag of shite.

 

[BHAFC_Pandapops]

I work in pensions and have never heard of them.
How long have you been paying in? Is it an Auto Enrolment scheme? Have you requested a statement showing all your contributions in?
What sort of plan is it?
If their systems are half as antiquated as ours, it could be an honest mistake.

It's an auto-enrolment scheme. I've been contributing for just over the year. Employer contributes a nominal amount, as do I. I've also opted to contribute an extra percentage. I asked for a quote and they've told me my entire pot is worth less than that which I contribute every month.

 

[Steve Foster]

Does anyone have any experience with them?

Without going into further detail I've put a lot of money away every month for my pension. NOWensions are having an issue with one thing or another and have quoted my current pot as being drastically lower than it should be. My payslips give a very much higher figure. It's all rather worrying.

Does anyone else deal with them on a consumer or employer level?

Thanks.

I am an IFA & our own I house scheme is with NOW. They are one of the largest auto enrollment pension providers & are the provider of choice in Denmark, I believe. I suspect your fund has fallen due to the stock market returns & that a percentage of your portfolio is invested within equities. Unlike traditional pension providers you will be in a default fund.

 

[BHAFC_Pandapops]

I am an IFA & our own I house scheme is with NOW. They are one of the largest auto enrollment pension providers & are the provider of choice in Denmark, I believe. I suspect your fund has fallen due to the stock market returns & that a percentage of your portfolio is invested within equities. Unlike traditional pension providers you will be in a default fund.

That'd be a bit crap. What's the point having money put away for the future if it just gets lost in the market? Not really on, is that.

 

[kevo]

It's an auto-enrolment scheme. I've been contributing for just over the year. Employer contributes a nominal amount, as do I. I've also opted to contribute an extra percentage. I asked for a quote and they've told me my entire pot is worth less than that which I contribute every month.

I have a workplace pension with NOW too, only recently signed u[p - let me know how your dispute with them goes. I know they subtract a fee for managing the pension but it does sound like there's something wrong here.

 

[TSB]

It's an auto-enrolment scheme. I've been contributing for just over the year. Employer contributes a nominal amount, as do I. I've also opted to contribute an extra percentage. I asked for a quote and they've told me my entire pot is worth less than that which I contribute every month.

Seems unlikely BUT very much depends upon their charging structure: ie you may get hit with huge charges to start with, slowly decreasing to very little.
I suspect it may be an issue with what you contribute. You should have your annual statement by now (which should list contributions made, fund value, transfer value and charges taken/charging structure.
It should also list what fund/lifestyle profile you are invested in - the factsheet for which you can look up on their website, I imagine.
The factsheet will show fund/lifestyle performance during 2015. It will also listed the Annual Management Charge on that fund/profile, if the annual statement doesn't show that)

As [MENTION=12697]Steve Foster[/MENTION] says, it's likely that any heavily weighted equity-based fund will have lost money this year. Though, clearly, not enough to make your FV £500 based on £200 monthly contributions, obviously.
The flipside of this is that, if your monthly contribution is (say) £30 and the fund is now worth £90, at those levels it could well be that the fund performance and charges have rendered your contributions worthless up to this point.
A final though on this point is that your contributions buy units at a certain price and sell at certain price. Like equities. Therefore, you have (say) 100 units in the property market. The market drops, your fund value drops. But you then buy any further units at a lower price. When the market rises, so does the value accordingly - so it isn't necessarily a disaster.

Feel free to PM (though the chap above might be more helpful, it seems.

 

[beorhthelm]

It's an auto-enrolment scheme. I've been contributing for just over the year. Employer contributes a nominal amount, as do I. I've also opted to contribute an extra percentage. I asked for a quote and they've told me my entire pot is worth less than that which I contribute every month.

value can go down as well as up as they say. think long term, if invested in index funds (should tell you) it will go up on a medium/long term.

 

[kevo]

Seems unlikely BUT very much depends upon their charging structure: ie you may get hit with huge charges to start with, slowly decreasing to very little.

Without checking, I think this is the case with NOW.

Also, not sure if this is the case with your scheme, but you should be able to get your contributions back if you decide to leave within two years.

 

[studio150]

That'd be a bit crap. What's the point having money put away for the future if it just gets lost in the market? Not really on, is that.

Its supposed to be a long term investment where historic performance over time is that investment in equities will provide returns but over sgort periods you could suffer a loss particularly given there would akso ge a gandling fee.

Better to leave for much longer and it should recover.

 

[nail-Z]

The default fund quoted on their website hasn't performed THAT badly, down less than 10% in the last 12 months.

There's a reasonable chance that your investment will recover and grow to be worth more than what you've contributed over time. It's one of those investments that's best left and forgotten about, unless you're nearing retirement age.

 

[TSB]

The default fund quoted on their website hasn't performed THAT badly, down less than 10% in the last 12 months.

There's a reasonable chance that your investment will recover and grow to be worth more than what you've contributed over time. It's one of those investments that's best left and forgotten about, unless you're nearing retirement age.

Err. Not if you want any sort of return, it isn't.

 

[Papak]

OP, how long have you paid into this pension for?

 

[BHAFC_Pandapops]

I have a workplace pension with NOW too, only recently signed u[p - let me know how your dispute with them goes. I know they subtract a fee for managing the pension but it does sound like there's something wrong here.

tell me about it. Still working part time only and their charge is 30p a month. Will keep you informed.

 

[kevo]

tell me about it. Still working part time only and their charge is 30p a month. Will keep you informed.

I am now trying to log in to see my statement. I know when I first tried to do this it was impossible because my email address was too long (!), and now I can't even get into the login page because you have to enter the company name/registration number first and it simply won't accept whatever (correct) information I put in. Very annoying. Not impressed with them so far!

 

[BHAFC_Pandapops]

OP, how long have you paid into this pension for?

paid into it for about a year or just under. I was with legal and general before and their pension policy stayed constant throughout.

accordingly, I can't access any other info about my policy on my profile page, there's little extra information and there are warnings that due to an IT issue (which never seems to get better) full fund cannot be displayed. Have recently transferred my old pension pot to this one and am now feeling like I've kicked myself up the bum.

 

[BHAFC_Pandapops]

I am now trying to log in to see my statement. I know when I first tried to do this it was impossible because my email address was too long (!), and now I can't even get into the login page because you have to enter the company name/registration number first and it simply won't accept whatever (correct) information I put in. Very annoying. Not impressed with them so far!

try googling ae.nowpensions and click top result