Equiniti - is this a legitimate letter?

Stu1

I've worked in the financial services for years, and I this letter has been sent out without any proper thought as to its possible consequences. Equiniti told me that they don't distinguish between people who are alive and people who are deceased, even though when they checked the system they had it on record that my father was dead. This is a major failing in customer service and shows just how shabbily this has been planned.

Another thing to think about when assessing whether or not something might be a scam, is that sometimes whole websites can be cloned, along with letter headed paper, any detail about the company which is publicly available is free to any scammer to use. The lack of willingness to engage properly with the customer, citing Data Protection as a reason to basically blank the customer at every turn, at the customer's cost, all stinks of a scam. It is totally normal that many people who received that letter reacted with caution, and that is right. Equiniti get a big F for fail for that letter.

The FSA's recommendation to me, when asked this afternoon, was that if you are suspicious or have any reason to doubt the company or person requesting information, do not give them anything until you are convinced that they are who they say they are, and you are happy to provide the information. "Just because you have received a letter from a company, doesn't mean the letter has been sent by that company." (FSA.)

Stay alert and check everything. Caveat emptor? My mother can't really be aware because she's old, and of a generation who could actually trust the bank and similar institutions. Now, you simply cannot and should not.

GustyGardenGalaxy

Extreme caution is of course advisesd, hence the reason that I started this thread.

A few points of note:

a) The letter is pretty poor - an apparently reputable company like Equiniti should be ashamed of themselves for producing such something so poorly written.

b) All checks have shown that they are apparently a good company and the letter is 100% legit. While on the surface it appears to be a scam, further investigations have, so far, revealed otherwise.

I'm still being cautious on the matter, but my mother has sent a recent utility bill to them (at their verified address) and that is all - any further correspondence will be treated with caution and investigated thoroughly before any more details, if requested, are revealed to them.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

Stu1 wrote: »

I've worked in the financial services for years

so you keep saying, yet you've never heard of Equiniti, curious, what sector are you in?

Wonder if all the sceptics here will come back and let us all know how much they got, that they didn't know that they were entitled to before they were contacted by Equiniti.

PurplePuzzle

fridgeman2

cakegeekStu1lorrietravis

Busylady

if you think it's dubious then forget about it, what you didn't have you won't miss,,,,,, but,,,,,,then again, you're thinking, maybe my dad/mum had some shares in BG/BT/Lloyds?

Y'all come back now, let us know, don't be a stranger after just one post.

fozzeh

Stu1, you have the wrong end of the stick.
- Ringing the FSA is a waste of their time. When FOS start charging customers for their services, we'll know why!
- This proves you don't know your late fathers estate as well as you think (easily backed up by Yorkshire Traveller).
- jimjames' post sums it up.
- Equiniti are doing you a favour which they don't have to! It's not their responsibility to tie up other peoples financials.
- What would you be able to hold up a justified complaint about? Unless the letter is totally misreading...you want to complain about it's grammar? I will stand up by the fact the Equiniti are pretty rubbish at writing letters!

People need to do a bit more leg work themselves before jumping to conclusions/wasting other peoples time.

jimjames wrote: »

Surely it is a good thing that Equiniti are contacting people about lost investments? Alternatively they could just ignore the fact that they have unclaimed shares, wait 5 years (or whatever the time limit) sell them and give the proceeds to charity.

With regards to this, I found this hard to actually resolve. As the shares are not held against any form of cash deposit and are a commodity, they don't fall under the 6 year rule.
To charity them requires an underlying share holder signature.
You can't write them off without consent!
And I couldn't find any time limit as to how long you should keep them dormant for! Really would like to find out that one though.

[Deleted User] wrote:

Hi,

so you keep saying, yet you've never heard of Equiniti, curious, what sector are you in?

Sweet shop counter.

Cornishbabybear

I phoned them recently about the same letter, managed to speak to someone with some sense.
A lot of the shareholders that equiniti loose touch with are people who got given shares when the company(the shares are in) first floated on the stock exchange, which is why so many of the letters are sent to the older generation- people just forget over time. To start with i know from personal experience account holders in lloyds and abbey got shares automatically, not only banks did it but British Gas did it too if you were a customer!

They don't have to search for you, after all it is the shareholders responsibility to keep in touch with the registrars, they are doing you a favor reuniting you with your own money.

Hope this helps anyone
xx

Jessicae_2

Hello all

I posted a few weeks ago as I had also received this letter and after talking to their head office I felt it was genuine.

I sent the documents they requested, and have received this reply:

Dear Sir/Madam

Thank you for responding to our recent correspondence. We are returning the documentation you have submitted to us and we have taken a copy for our records. Once we have dealt with your response, we will write to you to confirm the action we have taken.

In the meantime, if you need to contact us... blah blah

Yours faithfully


So, another generic letter. I'll let you know as/when I hear from them again!

[Deleted User]

Hi,

thanks for the update.

I would reckon that they have a standard reply letter that they send out until they can check things further.

At least you have had a reply, lets you know they are looking into things.

Hope results are fruitful for you.

Jessicae_2

Today I received a bunch of letters adding up to just under £200 worth of cheques for dividends from when Abbey National became Santander. It seems they've not been able to find me since those shares were created.

So, I'd say yes, it is a legitimate letter, and I'm very glad to have a little windfall!

[Deleted User]

Hi,

Jessicae wrote: »

Yes, it's legitimate! Mmm, said that in my first post.

Today I received a bunch of letters adding up to just under £200 worth of cheques for dividends from when Abbey National became Santander. It seems they've not been able to find me since those shares were created.

So, I'd say yes, it is a legitimate letter, and I'm very glad to have a little windfall!

Good for you.

Hope the rest of the doubters eat their words and respond.

GustyGardenGalaxy

Well, my mother has received the letter as outlined a few messages back, but nothing else yet.