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Arena Magazine 2007 Issue 4 Winter Arena |
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Pension provider - Legal Plus rescues Tony
When Tony Goude was advised to transfer his occupational pension into a private scheme in 1990 he did not realise it would turn out to be the worst decision of his life, but thankfully Usdaw stepped in and recovered almost £70,000 in compensation for the 59 year-old retail worker.
Tony's troubles started back in 1989 when he was made redundant by Foster Menswear after 26 years' service and where he had accrued more than 15 years' pension benefits - guaranteed by the company scheme.
The following year he was advised by independent financial advisor Daniel Insurance Services (DIS) to transfer his pension into a private pension plan. "It wasn't until nine years later when I read press articles about pensions mis-selling that I became very worried," said Tony, who has worked at the Tesco, Tadcaster Road store in York for the last 17 years.
In the '90s companies were required to undertake a review of all pension-selling cases between 1988-1994 to establish whether the advice given was financially sound. Individuals could apply to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) if they suspected they had been wrongly advised.
"It's a complicated and long-winded process," said Tony. "I made my first complaint in 1999 and had no idea how long it would take."
The FSA investigated and delivered a damning verdict on DIS, which went into liquidation in 2000 soon after it was barred from operating for repeatedly breaching Personal Investment Authority rules. Six years later the Financial Ombudsman Service ruled in Tony's favour. However that wasn't the end of the case.
Despite numerous letters to DIS the company refused to co-operate and Tony faced a potentially disastrous retirement income. "My local MP tried to help me but it wasn't until I contacted Usdaw in 2005 and it appointed Russell Jones and Walker solicitors to my case that things really progressed.
"My solicitor threatened the founder of DIS with the courts if he refused to pay up. Eventually the owner agreed to pay me, and the money was transferred into my Legal and General pension fund in July this year. It was a huge relief.
"I can't speak highly enough of Usdaw's solicitors, they were brilliant. I have three grandchildren and I want to be able to look after them in my retirement and this victory allows me to do just that."
www.usdaw.org.uk/pensions
www.usdaw.org.uk/member_services/legal_services
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