I was pointed in the direction of www.cashinmypension.com last Friday by a client in Bath (the city, not the thing you wash in). She’s a savvy client and she realised that something was not quite right about the claims on their website which was also stuffed full to the brim with glaring pension errors.

Before I get into the detail, the chap behind this is James Cockle, whose firm CS Mortgages was struck off the FSA register in 2010.

James’ key claim is that you can release 20% of your pension NOW even if you’re under the age of 55. Well, this is known as pension liberation fraud and has been the source of much upset in the past, and the Pensions Regulator has produced a document on Pensions Liberation Fraud hoping to help consumers steer clear of what they call: predators.

So I rang and spoke with James. Apparently he gets lots of calls from professionally qualified Independent Financial Advisers. I wonder why?

Apparently cashinmypensions.com is just a ruse to get people to call him and he doesn’t help people with cashing in pensions early at all. I think James called it Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). I’d call it being dishonest, but that’s beside the point.

However, more importantly, when I pressed him on it, James wouldn’t deny that he hadn’t (which probably meant that he had) put consumers in touch with a firm who gets involved in pension liberation fraud. So maybe James was just being evasive?

So I checked James’ linkedin profile. His profile says that he helps people release cash from their pensions pre-retirement! Same thing in many ways, although of course you can release up to 25% of the fund from age 55 tax free before you retire, although why anyone would want an unqualified, unregulated ex mortgage broker to do it for you I don’t know. And that’s it - it’s not logical. You wouldn’t do it unless there was a big enough incentive that it was worth the huge risk, unless you weren’t fully informed of the risks.

And because James isn’t regulated he doesn’t have to be impartial or tell you about any of the risks at all. Could you lose all your money? Could HMRC come and ask for more than half of it back? Could doing this bankrupt you? James is keeping schtumm.

And here’s the nub of this bit: if an adviser doesn’t hold current authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority and a current Statement of Professional Standing, they are not permitted to advise, and they have no Professional Indemnity Insurance. Based on the types of investments James was talking about, you’d most certainly lose all the cover from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) and the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). So what happens if something goes wrong and you used cashinmypension.com? Your risk, your problem.

James asked me what I’d suggest he do. And my answer was simple: Have some integrity. Take down the website, as it’s encouraging pension fraud, and make it clear to consumers that he is not permitted to advise them on any financial products, nor does he have any pension, financial planning or tax qualifications. At all. None!

Unfortunately James thought that wasn’t such a great idea. It was a little bit like talking to an unscrupulous second hand car dealer who relies on the phrase Caveat Emptor

Both HMRC and Action Fraud have been informed.

For proper, professionally qualified independent and impartial advice and support, contact us.

Warning

If you’ve done business with or via any of James Cockle’s companies, I’d suggest you think hard about having a professionally qualified IFA look at the business that’s been transacted. If you’ve taken money out of your pension before age 55, have a read of this story of how 400 pensioners could face bankruptcy. HMRC will find out.