Consolidating pensions to PRSA

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

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.

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.

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.