Consolidating pensions to PRSA

[Herbie]

Hi,

I have two pensions from previous employments with Eagle Star. I also have a standard PRSA with the same company. I tried to move the two pensions into my PRSA about a year ago but was told that it couldn't be done. As far as I remember, the reason given was that no actuary would sign a letter saying that I wouldn't be at a loss from the move. Is this a valid excuse? It didn't make much sense to me at the time seeing as all funds are invested with the same company. Any ideas or comments?

Thanks

 

[Guest126]

The problem is that under PRSA legislation if the transfer value from a company scheme to a PRSA exceeds €10,000 then an actuarial certificate is required and nobody seems to be prepared to sign these certificates, so it is not an Eagle Star problem I think you would have that problem with every PRSA provider because of the way PRSAs were set-up.

 

[Westbound]

You would also need to consider this carefully - if you have a substantial pension from Eagle Star and are entitled to a tax free lump sum, then by moving all your occupational benefits into a PRSA you limit your tax free entitlements to 25% of the fund, which could be alot less than what you would be entilted to under your occupational pension schemes, especially if you have a good bit of service.

 

[Herbie]

Thanks for the replies. Neither pension is particularly substantial - not much over 10k in either I think - I'm planning to switch to a PRSA with lower management charges - consolidation would save me a little in ongoing fees. Its good to get independent confirmation of this problem though - I wasn't sure if I was getting the real answer from ES.