Giving up your pension

[ashingtoon]

We entered an IVA with DFD. We were initially told it would be a 5 year agreement and we would not have to give up our pensions as we stipulated we did not want to do this at the beginning. As we approached the agreement we had our backs against the wall and we were told it had to be over 6 years and we had to give up our pensions. As we had no option we had to agree. We have not cancelled our pension and went ahead making the additional £100 payment out of our remaining funds. We do not want to give up our pension as we will not be able to afford to buy back the years as we also have to remortgage at the end of the term to pay the remaining debt. What should we do?

[MelanieGiles]

If you are able to continue to pay this and maintain IVA contributions there is no problem, but I would imagine it is making your monthly household budget very tight.

[janderson]

Hi Ashingtoon

I agree with you it is totally unreasonable for creditors to force us as clients to give up their pension. The debate about rights and wrongs of who as caused us to be in the situation we are in is a long one. It is one in which there are many views and opinions, however the one I feel we should all agree on is that IVAs last 5 or 6 years been retired and able to live comfortably is something that can last many years. I would carry on doing what you are doing as long is it is not making the success or failure of your IVA aproblem, also discuss with your IP the issue and see what they say.


Good luck


J

[ashingtoon]

Thanks Melanie. Yes things are very tight but we despertaely dont want to surrender our pension as my husband has lost years through redundancy and failed business after that. So we really want to try

[Adam Davies]

Hi
As melanie has stated if you can save money from your expenditure allowance,or your share of overtime then you are free to carry on with your pension payments.
Regards

[ashingtoon]

Thank you for your quick advice. I can see people might think its your fault your in this mess so you have to sacrifice everything you can. But we have already and its been a horrendous time for us all as we have worked hard to avoid getting to this point. I think an IVA lasts 5-6 yrs and after that you shouldnt have any repurcussions carried forward into your retitrement. I want to forget this once we have fulfilled it and if I had to give up my pension that would always be a sad reminder of this dreadful experience. Thank you again

[elizabethr]

I am really worried after reading this thread about the pension situation. I have only being paying into pension through my employment for 7 years. As I am 54 nearly now I won't have that much totted up at retirement. I wouldn't be able to cash any in. My husband has only been paying a minimal amount as his life insurance is through his pension. As he now has a medical condition that prevents us from getting life insurance or means he is rated he can't give that one up. I am very confused and concerned now.

[MelanieGiles]

Elizabeth

We will not let the creditors take your pension, so please don't worry about that.

[elizabethr]

thanks for that re-assurance melanie. I am just going through the list of things that your office need.

Copies of life assurance polices proof of premium. The premiums on all three go out of the bank on dd so amounts are on the bank statements - do you still need copies of the policies - two have no maturity value, the other one relates to Philip's pension which is also his life cover. I can get the latest statement on that one. My pension is an occupational pension which comes out before salary netted off - I will have to have a look on my resource website when I go back into work - we don't get paper statements anymore and its always quite complicated to find what you are looking for.

[TheMatrix]

I have been able to keep my final salary company pension scheme, which also comes out of my salary, so hopefully you will be ok.

[Beans on Toast]

We too were threatened with our pensions, so long as we weren't paying more than a certain percentage of our salary into the scheme, we were allowed to carry on contributions.

After posing this question and getting the same answer as yourself from Melanie, we contacted our IP and made them push for the pensions to be allowed as stated above.

Think you would only have a problem if you are making extra contributions into your fund as this would be seen as savings.

[MelanieGiles]

Just bank statments showing the amounts you are paying will be fine Elizabeth.

[kallis3]

I've been able to keep my final salary pension scheme as well. It was never mentioned at all.