THE SITUATION
David Thomson served in the Armed Forces from 1987 to 1992 and was a member of the Armed Forces Pension Scheme (AFPS). He did not make any further contributions to his pension during his five years of service. Like many others, his old Sergeant Major contacted him out of the blue, now representing Sun Life Financial of Canada (SLOC) and suggested that he would be “better off” if he transferred his AFPS to a Personal Pension Plan with his company. Mr Thomson acted on the advice and the amount transferred was £3,724.76.
After seeing one of our Facebook ads, Mr Thomson decided to contact Money and Me Solicitors (MMS) and, following a discussion with one of our experts, decided to engage our services.
OUR APPROACH
MMS carried out a comprehensive investigation, which ultimately resulted in us submitting a formal complaint to Sun Life of Canada. Our complaint was based on our belief that the adviser from SLOC did not act in the
best interest of Mr Thomson.
THE OUTCOME
On 30 August 2024, MMS received confirmation from Sun Life Financial of Canada agreeing to pay Mr Thomson £12,381.65 in compensation. This amount represented the difference between the value of his Personal Pension and what the financial benefits of his AFPS would have provided him, had he not transferred his pension. MMS achieved this successful resolution in a little over a year.
It should be noted that the claim had no impact on his personal pension, which remained in place with SLOC.
Mr Thomson stated “I am extremely happy with the result and I am glad that I didn’t hesitate to pursue a claim with Money and Me Solicitors, even though at the time I had no idea if it would be successful. Thanks to this, I can now use the compensation towards buying a boat for my retirement.”
