Pension Fund

[anonnymous]

I have a (private) pension fund I no longer contribute to, and haven't done so for the last 3 years. This morning I received a statement for it and the funds are sitting at �2648.21. Because I have got myself into debt not too much more than this amount, this money would help me greatly. Is it possible for me to claim this money back? If not, why not? Is there *any* way around this? If it is possible, can I expect this full amount or a percentage of it? Would it be worth anything to me if I received a percentage? If it would not be worth much to me as cash is it possible to transfer this fund to my employers (excellent) pension scheme even though it was my own private pension?

Thanks in advance

[Miss Zippy]

To cut a very long story short (as pension rules and legislation is a very tricky area), assuming you're under 50, then the answer is you cannot cash in your pension (there are certain 'pension release' schemes available for those over 50). However, you may be able to transfer across the funds in your private pension scheme to your occupational scheme. You need to find out whether your occupational scheme will accept such a transfer - speak to the scheme's trustees and they should be able to tell you. Pension transfers is a strictly controlled area and can only be carried out by a financial adviser who specialises in pension transfers. They will need to carry out a transfer value analysis before the transfer is allowed to go ahead. Call a couple of local IFAs and ask to speak to a pension transfer specialist about this.

[anonnymous]

Thank you Miss Zippy. I'm a little disappointed I cannot cash in what I had as there was a little bit of hope of getting out of debt there for a while!

Thanks for your advise with regard to transferring it over. I will talk to my employers about it, it's a very large company so they have people who will do it for me.

Thanks again :)

[Miss Zippy]

You're welcome anonnymous :o)