In recent years, issues related to pension provision have become increasingly of concern to Russians. Citizens understand that in order to ensure a decent standard of living in old age, it is necessary to take care of the formation of their pension as early as possible, almost from the very beginning of their working activity.
At the moment, the only and effective option to increase the size of your pension is to form it in non-state pension funds (NPF). Young Russians have a similar opportunity thanks to the mechanism for transferring the funded part of their pension to these organizations.
In practice, this means that insurance contributions for pensions paid by employers will be sent both to the Pension Fund for the formation of an insurance pension, and to the Non-State Pension Fund for replenishing the savings account.
In addition, every citizen has the right to independently conclude a non-state pension agreement with a non-state pension fund and make appropriate contributions for additional material security in old age. But how to choose a reliable NPF and what should you pay attention to when concluding an appropriate NGO agreement? This will be discussed later in the article.
Citizen's personal account
In a citizen’s personal account you can obtain information:
- on how to submit an application for a pension for a citizen;
- what documents must be provided to assign a pension;
- about the method of receiving a pension (on a bank card, at Russian Post or at home, etc.)
- how to obtain a certificate of receipt of a pension and its amount;
- learn about the required social benefits and how to receive them;
- issue a certificate about the status of your personal pension account;
- find out about the balance of maternity capital or apply for it;
- transfer existing pension funds to another contribution accumulation fund.
How to register in your PFR personal account?
To use the services provided by the pension fund, you must register on the government services website. Or directly on the pension fund website. You need a passport and pension insurance certificate, and of course, a computer with Internet access. On the pfrf.ru website, go to the electronic services tab. On the right is the inscription registration—click. In the window that opens, you need to enter your exact data.
First name, last name and phone number or email. Click the register button. A confirmation number will be sent to your phone to continue registration. Enter the code from the SMS message into the window. Next, you need to enter a password for the site. After this, you need to enter all your data (passport, SNILS, etc.). After this, you need to confirm your identity at the MFC.
Difficulties during registration
There should not be any particular difficulties during registration. But some users face difficulties. If, during registration, you do not immediately confirm your identity using the MFC (multifunctional center) or through a visit to Rostelecom, then over time the MFC employees may have difficulty verifying your identity.
To prevent this from happening, if you have been registering on the site for more than a year, you should check your passport details during registration and update them if necessary.
What it is?
After the amendments to the Federal Law “On Individual Accounting in OPS” came into force in 2003, all residents of Russia were required to issue pension insurance cards. This document is confirmation of registration in the OPS system .
Its official name is insurance certificate of compulsory pension insurance. People often call it an insurance card or SNILS. The document is a small green plastic cardboard containing information about the owner:
- FULL NAME;
- place and date of birth;
- SNILS (personal account number);
- floor;
- date of registration.
The card contains a personal number linked to a personal account in the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation . The number consists of 11 digits and is assigned to each insured person for life.
Login to your PFR personal account
You can gain access to managing your own pension savings, monitor the timeliness of pension accrual, or find out about its upcoming increase using your personal account registered in the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation system. Now you don’t need to stand in grueling queues to get the information you need. It is enough to have a computer and access to the Internet. Moreover, you don’t need any special knowledge to use the site, the menu is intuitive, and the content of the site will allow you to get answers to most questions.
Logging into the system can be done in two ways: using a mobile phone and a SNILS policy.
Login by phone number
To log in to your account to work with the Pension Fund website, you need to do the following:
- go to the main page of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation and click on the link to go to the citizen’s personal account;
- follow the “Login” link;
- after which the system will warn you about the transition to the authorization form of the State Services portal;
- indicate the mobile phone or email address used to register your account in State Services and the current password;
- confirm entry.
After checking the data, the system will open access to the account on the pension fund website. Be vigilant, do not disclose your passwords to anyone and do not leave your phone unattended. The security of your personal data depends on this.
Login using SNILS
The second login method is also closely related to the State Services website. If you are registered on this portal, you should have entered your personal data. To obtain the “Confirmed” status, the system requested a SNILS number. If it was specified correctly, then you can log in using it. To do this, on the authentication page, select the SNILS tab and enter the insurance certificate number and the same password created for visiting the State Services website.
After checking the data, the citizen will be redirected to the PF page.
Agreement with NPF on non-state pension provision
Signing an agreement with a non-state pension fund is a legally significant action, which implies the emergence of certain rights and obligations for all parties to the agreement. And, naturally, this step has both advantages for the citizen and certain disadvantages, which must be taken into account even before the contract on compulsory pension insurance comes into force.
The undoubted positive aspects of transferring pension savings to NPFs include:
- Security of funds. Citizens who have transferred their funded pension to a non-state pension fund have the right not to worry about the safety of their savings. They cannot be retained in any way or used by the fund for other purposes. Even if the organization is liquidated, the funds will simply be returned in full to the state pension fund. As for contributions under voluntary pension insurance contracts, it is important for the client to ensure that the funds are insured against risks associated with the termination of the NPF.
- Opportunity to earn income . Non-state pension funds not only accumulate funds, but also ensure their growth. It occurs through investing them in various profitable projects. The last ones, as a rule, are securities. Investment income can significantly increase the size of a citizen's pension in the future.
- Openness and transparency of activities . The activities of non-state pension funds are regulated by law and are under constant control of supervisory authorities.
Important! In accordance with the law, the financial indicators of NPFs must also be published in the public domain.
The disadvantages of concluding an agreement with a non-state fund include:
- Lack of guaranteed income . Funds held in accounts with the Pension Fund are periodically indexed, which provides at least a small, but still, increase in future pensions. The NPF only guarantees the safety of funds that were transferred as insurance premiums, which does not eliminate the risk of zero return on investments.
- Loss of investment income due to frequent changes of non-state pension funds . If funds are frequently changed or transferred from a non-governmental organization to a state one earlier than provided by law, the client is deprived of the right to investment income. In this regard, the choice of non-state pension funds should be taken extremely responsibly.
Possibilities of the PFR personal account
Every citizen who starts using a personal account based on the Pension Fund has the opportunity to resolve many financial issues without contacting the organization directly, namely:
- may submit a request for a pension payment;
- receive a preliminary calculation of the expected pension;
- formalize a waiver of the funded part of the pension;
- find out full information about the pension you receive;
- calculate accumulated points and calculate your pension using a calculator;
- check upcoming accruals and allowances.
Pension Fund personal account services
Using your personal account, you can receive services in electronic and non-electronic form.
For example, you can electronically receive a certificate for maternity capital or information about targeted social assistance. You can find out in person or on the website about payments due to disabled children.
Make an appointment
Using your personal account, you can make an appointment with a pension fund specialist to receive advice on various issues. You can get information about what documents you need to collect to assign an old-age pension.
Ordering certificates and documents
You can receive various certificates through your pension fund personal account:
- certificate of pension amount;
- certificate of the amount of required maternity capital;
- statements about the status of the insured person's personal account;
- order a duplicate SNILS.
To order a certificate, you need to go to the section for pre-ordering documents/certificates from the Pension Fund of Russia.
Search for customer service
Pension fund client service is a fairly new development. It does not yet exist in all regions of our country. The customer service provides for even greater access for the population to receive services and information about pensions.
In some areas, special terminals are installed for this purpose, with the help of which anyone can log into their personal account and receive the necessary information.
Reception of requests
Applications are accepted in person and by telephone. You can make an appointment with a specialist in advance and resolve any issues that arise during a personal visit. In addition there is a counseling center. Calling a toll free number 8-800-302-2-302
. General questions that do not contain personal information can be asked by phone. A question containing personal data is better for the online reception of the Pension Fund of Russia.
Pension calculator
In the personal account section of the pension calculator, every citizen can find out how the future pension will be formed. To calculate your pension, you need to know the basic data and enter them in the appropriate windows. Or rather, work experience in years, salary, periods of military service, study, and maternity leave. The figure calculated by the calculator, of course, will not be accurate.
Generation of payment documents
In order to independently make contributions to the pension fund, there is a section for generating payment documents. Once there, you need to choose between the insured person and the policyholder. Next, details will appear that you can print.
How to terminate a contract
The client has the right to terminate the contract with the NPF without specifying any reasons. To do this, you must send a corresponding application to your fund. It should be noted that it does not have a set form, but it is important to indicate where exactly the funds should be sent after termination of the contract. This can be either another NPF or a Pension Fund.
Attention! The law allows you to change the fund without loss of investment income only once every 5 years.
If the pension was formed within the framework of a non-state insurance program, then the client has the right, in addition to the above, to indicate the details of his bank account where the money will be transferred to him if he does not want to leave it in the pension system. However, the citizen will be required to pay personal income tax on the amount of interest accrued during the validity period of the agreement.
Forming a future pension in a non-state pension fund is the right solution to ensure a financially secure old age. However, you should approach the choice of a non-state pension fund responsibly, having carefully studied the agreement proposed for signing, checking for the presence of mandatory clauses and “pitfalls” in its terms.
