CIS (Cooperative Insurance Society) Pensions
Customer Service
Ease of Use
Value For Money
CIS (Cooperative Insurance Society) Pensions
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's how it works.
User Reviews
Customer Service
Ease of Use
Value For Money
Lied To
I am now 65 and i have FIVE CIS pensions. Why 5 ?, i have had C.I.S. Pensions since my early twenties when i took out my first one, i was told i could add to it at any time as my earnings allowed it. When i wanted to increase it (a different agent) i was told i could not, i would have to take out a new one, which i did with accompanying start up fees etc. ( my second one) I stated that this time i wanted a pension plan that i could add to without problems. Yes i could, i was told. When a few years later and another agent (due to moving house) i wished to up my monthly payments to keep up with inflation etc, i was told that the Labour government had passed a law stating pension upgrades was not allowed and i would have to buy another, with all the costs involved. So i did with my THIRD AND FORTH AND FIFTH. After seeing a very well known online news paper about pensions, i wrote a published column regarding the bad Labour laws i had encountered. When i asked the CIS Pensions in Manchester last week which Labour law was responsible for this, i was astonished to be told that NO SUCH LAW was passed, that it WAS C.I. S. Pensions regulations that forbad me from increasing my monthly pension contributions. As my telephone call was recorded,( i hope they told the truth) the surprise to that announcement can be replayed again and again. So i have put in a strong complaint to the C.I.S. Pensions department , for after being a client of theirs for over 40 years, (including house and car insurance with them) i am totally disgusted how badly i have been treated by them. I never thought that the C.I.S,. Insurance Company that my father and most working people looked up to would stoop so low. I will let you know the outcome of this.
yes i am having a problem also i am comming up to pension age and had a pension which has a guaranteed 8% but now they are giving me 6.8%
Took Out An Isa That Had A 5% Charge For Your Mone
Took out an ISA that had a 5% charge for your money. Paid in a large sum on the advise of the CIS financial advisor who informed me that the amount would be paid back in a year. No statements were ever sent and I contacted them 1 year later to ask for them. Found out that the advisor mis-sold me the policy and that I had less money in the account than I put in, even taking into account the charges. Your money is better sitting in the bank than with the CIS.
Do not use the CIS unless you are wanting to throw your money away. I lost over £800 in 14 months.
The savings plans I took out matured over 10 years on another investment and this lost money also. This is the only company that I know of that doesn't make your money work for you.
I have rated your review "Not Helpful" because, forgive me if it comes over as blunt, it smacks of pure ignorance, not to mention totally lacking in any detail or substance.
Firstly, a 5% charge on a managed stocks and shares ISA fund (which I assume is what you took out) is a market average - not excessive by any means.
Secondly, any stocks and shares fund is NOT designed for a quick return in 1 year and to suggest so is absurd. Apart from anything else, even if it made a good return in the first year, you need to leave it longer to justify the charge. They tend to be long term investments which can go up and down. The key to success depends on timing, strategy and logical commitment - not ignorance and emotion.
Granted, your financial adviser sounds as if he or she gave no proper advice and left you totally in the dark. I'm not going to defend them by any means, they sound like a waste of space. But hang on, this is YOUR money. Surely you need to understand too.
If an investment like the one you described goes DOWN, the best action is to put more money in because you'll be buying cheaper units. Then, when they ultimately go back up to where they were, you make a good return. Taking money out only crystallises what would otherwise be just a paper loss.
I'm not going to judge you completely - I don't know all your circumstances and perhaps this was your life savings, in which case I feel for you. But nethertheless, you appear to have tackled your finances with no understanding or logical decision.
Lastly, you described a 10-year product which fell short of the mark. Sounds like an endowment to me - and the whole market of endowments did badly, not just one company. They are hard to assess on returns because they include a charge for life insurance.
I have business with CIS as well as other financial companies. Two or three of their funds are among the very best in the market and some are relatively poor. Overall, they have performed better then many other companies in this recession.
So to sum up, I totally appreciate your experience was bad but your review is just a blast of emotion with very little fact, explanation or detail.
Q&A
I have a CIS annuity policy, all I want to do is change my bank account details. How can I do this?