Stocks & Shares ISA....HELP PLEASE!

pinzo78

Hi all,
Hope someone is able to advise me on this.
I personally have never done a Stocks & Shares anything before, but my aunt came to see me at the weekend and asked if I'd look over some bank paperwork she had but didn't understand.

What it turned out to be was her inheritance money from her sister (£15,000) from 2004 and the bank manager who always "helped" the family out had invested the money into two Stocks & Shares accounts - one was an ISA and the other I can't remember what type it was. Firstly I was annoyed to see that the bank manger had taken £250 for each account for setting them up!!! £500 for doing something I could have done for her. How can they do that??????
Unfortunately my aunt is not very clued up when it comes to banking, so she didn't know this and didn't know what a Stocks & Shares account actually meant so left it in there.

Anyway, I managed to pull up all her details on the HSBC website by registering her with online banking and from 2004 to the current day over the two accounts she has lost £1600 (obviously due to the credit crunch we are in). She has no other savings so can ill afford to lose anymore money and can't risk leaving it in there a day longer.

Can someone advise me as to where she can put this money. One account was for £8000 (now in the low £7000's) and the other was £7000 (now in the £6000's).

Mostly i would like to know if there be a penalty for closing the accounts?

Thank you for reading and hopefully someone can help me with this

dunstonh

Firstly I was annoyed to see that the bank manger had taken £250 for each account for setting them up!!! £500 for doing something I could have done for her.

She got the bank to do it not you. So, its only fair the bank were paid.

How can they do that??????

Do you see the words "registered charity" anywhere on the bank's marketing literature?

Can someone advise me as to where she can put this money.

Hold on, I thought you were the expert who could do it for her?

Sillychuckie

dunstonh wrote: »

Hold on, I thought you were the expert who could do it for her?

Nice, kind and helpful...
I'm sure thats just the response he was looking for. Certainly not like your usual standard.

dunstonh

Sillychuckie wrote: »

Nice, kind and helpful...
I'm sure thats just the response he was looking for. Certainly not like your usual standard.

Maybe not. However, the OP clearly doesnt know the subject matter but is critical that someone that does got paid for doing it. I am no fan of bank salesforces but if you employ someone to do a job then you should expect to pay them.

If you employ someone for free who doesnt have a clue then it can be far more costly.

Ok, i accept my response was harsh but was in the context of the way the OP toned the wording of their post.

pinzo78

dunstonh wrote: »

Maybe not. However, the OP clearly doesnt know the subject matter but is critical that someone that does got paid for doing it. I am no fan of bank salesforces but if you employ someone to do a job then you should expect to pay them.

If you employ someone for free who doesnt have a clue then it can be far more costly.

Ok, i accept my response was harsh but was in the context of the way the OP toned the wording of their post.

Dunstonh,

Thanks for the UN-helpful response you gave me.
I see since you are financial advisor you agree with such outragously overcharged fee's then?
No, I don't expect people to work for free but I don't see that charging £250 per account is anywhere near a reasonable fee.....and yes, judging by what the so-called "financial advisor" did by losing money I probably could have invested it a darn sight better than he did!!!!! Note to self; keep away from money grabbing idiots like you!!!!!!!!!!

Just remember in future, this is suppose to be a helpful forum for people that would like good advice NOT sarcasm.

Don't bother responding to my message, I doubt very much I'll visit this site much anymore if people like you are on here! :mad:

dunstonh

I see since you are financial advisor you agree with such outragously overcharged fee's then?

It is not outrageously overcharged. 3% is below the typical maximum on full commission basis.

I don't see that charging £250 per account is anywhere near a reasonable fee

That is your opinion but its not an unfair fee considering the work level concerned. Sure it could be got cheaper but it could have been more expensive as well. However, the charges would have been disclosed and she agreed to it.

Just remember in future, this is suppose to be a helpful forum for people that would like good advice NOT sarcasm.

It is helpful. However, your tone was negative and my response matched your tone. Use of multiple question marks, exclamation marks etc indicates sarcasm or incredulity. If you are going to be critical and negative in your posting then you run the risk of getting responses back in a similar tone.

I'm not normally that negative in posts in this section but I took offence to your comments.

a7man

In terms of the charges - no I dont believe she was ripped off, she went to an expert for advice so do you think the advice should be free? She agreed to the charges, maybe because she has limited knowledge of the marketplace, but she still still signed on the dotted line...

A lot of people think investing in a S&S ISA is simple, but the underlying investments are very important and getting an expert to do this for you can generate/ save you a lot more money then if you did it yourself.

In terms of where she stands now, if she is looking for a more secure investment then she can get a Cash ISA account (6-6.5% interest). There should be no charges to cancel the S&S ISA. Alternatively she could get a bond but this will tie up the money for a few years.

There might be a charge for closing the non ISA account but you will have to check the paperwork, as I dont know what it is...

In the future I would advise you to go to an IFA rather than a tied bank adviser as the difference (generally) in skill level is vast, and an IFA has greater knowledge of the whole market.