Originally Posted by xxdb

Meh. If you pick wrong when you lock it in you get the shaft. So it's swings and roundabouts.

Originally Posted by Photoplex

Doesn't work like that. Locked in means you can't take the money out. It doesn't mean you can't direct what financial instruments the capital is invested in.

I transferred mine to a Scotia RRSP. Initially I had it spread amongst a bunch of ETFs and mutual funds. I just recently called and moved a large chunk of the capital into energy stocks.

So no, it's not swings and roundabouts. It's apples and oranges.

Originally Posted by mjwalker007

Hi Mush77,

FYI the UK are changing the rules as from next April so anybody with a public sector scheme..... i.e Nurses, Police , Teachers, Armed Forces etc etc WILL NO LONGER be allowed to transfer their pensions.

Big decisions looming for expats as UK pensions rules change - Telegraph

This is very important because if you live and intend to retire in Canada, the choice will be taken out of your hands and you will have no option but to leave the pension in the UK.

This could create major issues both on death and on retirement if you live in Canada, but are forced to keep your pension in the UK.

There are quite a few pension transfer companies on the east coast that are very proficient in dealing with UK pension transfers, of which will appear if you do a google search for " UK pension transfers to Canada "

Hope this has helped a little.

Originally Posted by xxdb

Meh. If you pick wrong when you lock it in you get the shaft. So it's swings and roundabouts.

Originally Posted by leecyndisanders

I am currently dealing with Scotia, transferring my Brit Army pension. All seems to be a go ahead, just received today letter from Ukraine just requesting a Certified copy of ID, however they also want the QROP Certificate. The manager at my branch was unsure what this was, so I heading back tomorrow after she had made some calls. Does anyone know what this is or have an example copy I could show, if she hasn't found anything..? Thanks in advance

Originally Posted by leecyndisanders

I am currently dealing with Scotia, transferring my Brit Army pension. All seems to be a go ahead, just received today letter from Ukraine just requesting a Certified copy of ID, however they also want the QROP Certificate. The manager at my branch was unsure what this was, so I heading back tomorrow after she had made some calls. Does anyone know what this is or have an example copy I could show, if she hasn't found anything..? Thanks in advance

Originally Posted by mjwalker007

If the person/company that you are entrusting something as important as your pension transfer with, are unsure of something as basic as knowing what their QROPS certificate is, maybe they are not the right place to be helping you with your transfer in the first place !!

Originally Posted by mjwalker007

Also I must ask why you have received a letter from Ukraine asking for a certified copy of your I.D.................Armed Forces pensions are dealt with in Glasgow ??

Originally Posted by Photoplex

This is not unusual at all. The only people that really know the QROPS system at institutions here are at head office. The branch staff just end up relaying between you and that central department. The exception is when you find a branch staff member who has dealt with it before.

That certificate will be in a locked filing cabinet thousands of KM away at their head office. Something branch staff will never see in their lifetimes, and something they very likely won't know exists. The central department will need to send a copy of that cert to the UK institution.

Originally Posted by leecyndisanders

Auto correct UK......

As for trusting an institution, I went to the bank today at closing and it wasn't the finance spec I spoke too, the manager said she didn't know and would find out.

Originally Posted by leecyndisanders

Thank you

Originally Posted by Photoplex

No worries. I transferred mine with Scotia, and apart from taking longer than expected (because Scottish Widows were being dicks about the whole thing) everything went smoothly.

My in branch specialist didn't know anything about QROPS at the beginning, but by the end he knew it back to front. He's now the QROPS specialist for their Calgary branches

Originally Posted by leecyndisanders

Mine is in Cold Lake, was originally going through RBC my usual bank in Medicine Hat which deal with this more regularly and the guy new what he was doing, however during initial setup they were removed from HMRC list. I moved to Cold lake with very few expats. As I said all seems to be smooth now, just need the QROP cert. Although this deadline of Apr is concerning, hopefully it's just a case of sending the cheque to scotia once they receive last docs

Originally Posted by Photoplex

I believe they wired the money in my case, so that part was fast. It was just the endless document requests from Scottish Widows. Felt like a game of tennis, where every time you whack back a request at them they had another request.

You should be good for April I'd say.