Mis-sold SSAS Pension – Cost Me Tens of Thousands
I feel it is important to start by highlighting that this company is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, which in itself carries significant risk — something I only fully appreciated after my experience.
In my opinion, I have been mis-sold a SSAS pension, and the consequences have been severe both financially and personally.
I initially engaged with the company after seeing an advert online. From the outset, I was led to believe that setting up a SSAS pension would allow me to release funds to my limited company with minimal difficulty. I made it very clear that my company was not trading and had minimal activity. Despite this, I was told words to the effect of:
“Don’t worry — just make sure there are expenses going in and out of the account.”
I specifically questioned whether this would be an issue and was reassured that it would not be.
Over the following months, I continued to raise concerns about my situation and whether my company’s lack of trading would impact eligibility. On multiple occasions, I was reassured that everything was fine and that I would be able to proceed once enough activity had passed through the account.
At no point was it made clear to me that:
• The loan would require security of equivalent value, or
• That my business would need to demonstrate any meaningful valuation to support the borrowing
This is a fundamental requirement that should have been identified immediately.
In May, before proceeding, I even asked directly what would happen if the business failed. The response I received was simply:
“The pension would incur a loss.”
There was no clear explanation of risk, security requirements, or the practical reality of what would actually be needed for the loan to be approved.
Based on the repeated assurances I received, I made major life decisions. I left secure employment, incurred ongoing business costs, borrowed money, and reorganised my pension in preparation for the transfer. This included moving investments into lower-risk funds, which resulted in a significant loss in potential growth over that period.
After many months of chasing updates and being reassured that everything was progressing, I was finally informed — very late in the process — that I would need to provide loan security of a level that my business could never realistically meet. This was something that should have been obvious from the very beginning given the information I had provided.
By this point, the damage had already been done.
Despite initially being told that I would be “put back in the position I was in before engaging with the firm”, this has not been honoured, and the company has since retreated from that position.
As a result of this entire process, I have suffered losses in the region of tens of thousands, alongside significant personal stress and disruption to my life.
What is also extremely concerning is that, to this day, the company continues to run social media adverts promoting the ability to lend funds from a SSAS pension to a private limited company — even suggesting this is possible for those just starting out. Based on my experience, this is highly misleading, as there are fundamental requirements (such as security and business viability) that make this unachievable in many cases, including mine.
I would also strongly encourage anyone considering using this company to carry out their own due diligence. A review of the company, its associated directors and leadership on Companies House raises serious concerns about the financial position of those involved, which in my opinion may help explain the reluctance to properly compensate for losses caused by the advice given.
In my view, this situation represents a clear failure to provide appropriate, responsible, and transparent advice from the outset. Proper due diligence would have shown immediately that this was not a viable route for me.
I am now pursuing this matter formally, but I would strongly urge anyone considering similar services to proceed with extreme caution and seek independent, regulated advice before making any decisions.
