Theoretically simple, but not in practice - in my case anyway.
I received a CETV of £ 103 000 from one previous employer and decided to transfer. It hadn't been mentioned until I received the formal offer that the CETV had a validity date of 3 months. On reflection this is completely reasonable but I hadn't previously considered it , and hadn't made any contacts with any company qualified to transfer as I was awaiting the exact sum available.
I contacted 45 companies before I found one that was able and willing to take me on at a price that I was willing to pay. I had been quoted between £ 3K and £ 8K for a transfer. Another problem that I hadn't considered was that many qualified companies had so much work that they couldn't guarantee to complete a transfer with the 12 week dead-line. If my transfer exceeded that, I would have had to pay for a new CETV ( that scheme only allowed one free valuation per year ) The work-load problem will certainly have worsened since my transfer - 2017 - as the rules have tightened and at least one national company that specialised in this ( Tideway ) recently announced that it is withdrawing from this area.
Whilst working through the various documents, it became clear to me in hard numbers, just how excellent pensions really can be. I had only worked for that company for four years, paid in £ 5 500 personal contributions and was being offered £ 103 000 to buy me out. Superb ! For comparative purposes, I was giving up an index-linked pension of £ 3 200/year, so I only had to be able to get a little over 3% per year ROCE to be able to equal that, plus the money was now mine and would be available to any heirs.
Turin, when you write "just get a letter ", I think it is a world away from that simplicity. In order to write that letter/document; my transfer IFA had me fill out a 18-page questionnaire listing investments, investment strategy and goals, assets, outgoings, debts, family circumstances, reasons why I wished to transfer out of that scheme, how I proposed to use that money to provide for my future etc. He then had to examine this and then agree - with his reputation and certification at stake - that leaving the scheme was likely to be to my benefit. This document is , in fact, what I paid the £ 3K for, so I can't see any qualified person doing that without being paid for the transfer. If I have mis-interpreted your comment, then apologies.
From memory, nearly all the companies I contacted, quoted fixed fees, and if any spoke of percentages, 3% is the figure I recall.
777Aviator
Are those multiples of 35 to 40, actual quotations or just numbers being bandied around ? I ask because when I did my transfer, multiples of around 30 were normal for "normal" companies and giants like BP/Shell were offering around 40 ( per newspaper reports ). I would have expected values to have slid back since those heady days.
P.S. I had forgotten that another reason for rejecting many companies contacted was that they insisted that they had to become your IFA to advise on reasonable investment after transfer. They attempted to insinuate that this was part of the due diligence procedure but I am certain it was just increasing the customer base/fee-income. I have been managing my own investments for 20 years and insisted on self-management which reduced the available pool very significantly.