Old Mutual Annuity Contact Details

Old Mutual annuities sit in the Max range, which has its own service desk rather than being handled on the general client line. Reaching the right one first is the difference between a five-minute call and three transfers.

Where an Old Mutual annuity is handled

• Max Investments, which covers the retirement annuity, the preservation fund and the living annuity: 0860 605 500, or MaxInvestments@oldmutual.com
• Max Income, for the income products in the same family: 0860 605 500, or maxincome@oldmutual.com
• Old Mutual Wealth, a different platform with its own desk: 0860 999 199, or service@omwealth.co.za
• Old Mutual general client service: 0860 933 333, Monday to Friday 08:00 to 17:00, or service@oldmutual.com

The Max Investments and Max Income desks share a telephone number but not a mailbox, so an email to the wrong one of the two sits unactioned rather than being redirected. Check which name appears on your own statement before you write.

The two kinds of annuity, and why it matters on the call

People use the word annuity for two quite different products, and the rules differ sharply.

• A retirement annuity is a savings product you contribute to before retirement, with tax deductions on contributions and access restricted until age 55 in most cases
• A living annuity is what you may buy at retirement with your accumulated savings; you choose an income between the regulated minimum and maximum percentages each year and you carry the investment risk
• A guaranteed or life annuity pays a set income for life from an insurer, which carries the risk instead of you

Say which one you hold in the first sentence. A question about changing your income percentage only makes sense for a living annuity; a question about contributions only makes sense for a retirement annuity.

Have this ready

• Your plan or policy number and your identity number
• For an income change on a living annuity, your chosen percentage and the anniversary date, since the level is normally reviewable once a year
• For a transfer, the receiving fund details, because a transfer between approved funds is generally not taxed while a withdrawal is
• For a beneficiary change, the full details of the person you are nominating

Beneficiary nominations are worth checking even when nothing has changed. On a living annuity the nomination determines who receives the remaining capital, and an outdated one is discovered at the worst possible moment.

Before you draw a higher income

The temptation on a living annuity is to draw at the top of the range. The arithmetic is unforgiving: a high drawdown early depletes the capital, and there is no mechanism to top it up later. Ask for a projection at two or three different drawdown rates before you decide, and get it in writing.

Retirement fund advice and scams

Nobody legitimate charges a fee to release, unlock or fast-track your retirement money, and no administrator asks for a one-time PIN to process a claim. Offers to unlock a pension are a persistent fraud aimed at fund members. Start every query from the numbers above rather than from a number in a message you received.

If it is not resolved

Follow up in writing to the mailbox above quoting the original date and reference. An unresolved complaint about a retirement fund goes to the Pension Funds Adjudicator, and other financial services complaints go to the National Financial Ombud Scheme. Both are free to use.