I have been locked out of my pension

With only five to ten more years to work out how to log in to my pension plan I need to get a move on.

The Fidelity website is so impenetrable to someone like me that, aged 50, I fear I will have run out of time to get access to ‘planviewer’ by the time I am 65, never mind 55.

They write to me all the time, asking me to verify this or that by scanning a QR code and entering a reference, along with my National Insurance number, but it never works.

‘Sorry, we are unable to find your details in our system. Please make sure you have entered all of your information correctly. If the problem persists, please call us on…’

Persists? It never stops. It’s been defeating me for years. When I email to tell them I can’t log in they send back an email which is encrypted so I have to log in to see their answer about why I can’t log in.

When I ring, I hold for an age before a nice Irishman looks up my plan and says: ‘Ah, here it is.’

‘You mean you’re able to log in to my pension?’ I asked the last time I did this. ‘Yes, I’m in.’ ‘Well, would it be too much to ask for me to get in too?’ Because while listening to him looking at my pension was reassuring, it was not nearly as good as me looking at it.

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Gavin Mortimer

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I read him the reference code I’m always being sent, which could be seen as beginning C, then O or it could be C, then zero. That, in itself, could have kept me locked out for a good five years.