Protect Your Military Pension

A recent consumer advisory from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau advises against pension advance loans and warns against the tactics used by companies that offer them.  Ways to protect your pension are listed below, or you can read the entire advisory here.  

Here are 3 things you can do to protect your retirement pension:

1. Avoid loans with high fees and interest. Pension advance companies may not always advertise their fees and interest rates, but you will certainly feel them in your bottom line. Before you sign anything, learn what you are getting and how much you are giving up.
2. Don’t sign over control of your benefits. Companies sometimes arrange for monthly payments to be automatically deposited in a newly created bank account so the company can withdraw payments, fees and interest charges from the account. This leaves you with little control.
3. Don’t buy life insurance that you don’t want or need. Pension advance companies sometimes require consumers to sign up for life insurance with the company as the consumer’s beneficiary. If you sign up for life insurance with the pension advance company as your beneficiary, you could end up footing the bill, whether you know it or not.