EBS PRSA transfers to other than Irish Life

D

doublecarpet

Guest
EBS finally closed as a standalone PRSA Provider in November 2007. The default option was to be transferred to Irish Life. Has any reader experienced any difficulty in completing transfer of a PRSA account to a PRSA Provider other than Irish Life?
 
The procedure should be straightforward enough: -

  1. Set up your new PRSA with a provider of your choice.
  2. Notify EBS of your new PRSA provider details and policy number, along with your intention to transfer your EBS PRSA fund to your new one. EBS may or may not require a withdrawal form to be completed and the EBS PRSA policy document back.
  3. EBS sends a cheque or wire transfer of the proceeds from your EBS PRSA to your new provider. Under law, EBS cannot charge you for such a transfer, nor can your new provider levy any charges.
I've got as far as Step 1 on behalf of a client, but I don't think she's got around to Step 2 yet.

What problems have you experienced?

Liam D. Ferguson
www.ferga.com
 
Thanks for your note. The EBS Option 2 form was signed and sent in well before the EBS closure deadline of 30 November 2007, and a Hibernian account was set up on 9 November to receive the transfer. The deadline came and went, as did Christmas and the New Year. I had an idea that there might have been an obligation to effect a timely transfer to an alternative PRSA provider, if the original provider (EBS) wanted to shut down their PRSA operation.
 
For the record, my client did send in the request to transfer to EBS before the deadline and the cheque for the transfer value issued late in January.

Point to watch - the fund had dropped in the period between when she requested the transfer and the date the transfer was carried out, so this matter is under negotiation with EBS at present.
 
Thanks. I now have a written admission from EBS that the Irish Life transfers were given priority, and the option 2 accountholders who wished to transfer elsewhere, were deliberately given secondary treatment. It appears no option 2 transfer took place in 2007. They are refusing to divulge the transfer values as at their deadline of 30 November 2007, and will not send a closing statement unless threatened with further action. I strongly suspect that EBS has cocked up this one rightly and I will be trying to get a straight answer. Their Chief Executive has declined to answer all correspondence addressed to him.
 
Make a formal complaint. If you get no joy then get a final response letter and then take the matter to the [broken link removed]. Try to put/get everything in writing in case you need to do this.
 
Thanks. I am sending in a long written complaint. It appears that EBS had nobody in charge during the latter part of 2007 as their new CEO did not take office until 2008. Thus, anybody who did not go for the default Irish Life transfer had no-one looking after their account, and nobody was at EBS to look after any complaints.
 
Are you suggesting that the CEO reviews every such transfer and the fact that the post was vacant for a while impacted some customers? Sounds odd to the extent of being unbelievable to me.
 
I apologise if I failed to make myself clear. The EBS closure of PRSA accounts involved millions of Euro in clients funds. The decision to close was taken in early 2007, but the closure date coincided with EBS being without a CEO to oversee the smooth arrangement of the transfer process to the eight other PRSA providers (the new CEO did not take office until 2008). I suspect this situation led to the less than satisfactory experience I have had, where it was not possible to find any responsible person in EBS. I did not expect a CEO to look at individual accounts.
 
Thanks for the hint to make a formal written complaint, with copies of all documentation. I have now received a settlement which covers all losses suffered because of the delay in transferring, plus a little over. I hope LDFerguson has similar success.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top