MSE News: Warning! Re-Give savings not protected

ctdctd

It appears that they have withdrawn the 5% bond and replaced it with a 6% two year one with a revised set of weasel words.

Nothing has changed regarding investor protection so capital is still at risk.

alanq

Re-Give to return savers' cash after FSA pressure

"Re-Give has agreed to give the money back to consumers with funds in its 5% one-year bond,... "

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/banking/2012/08/re-give-to-return-savers-cash-after-fsa-pressure

alanq

"It appears the FSA is still in discussion with the mutual society over its 6% bond offering, for which people can register their interest but not deposit money at this stage."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/aug/24/regive-return-money-invested-savings-bond

alanq

"ReGive investors still waiting for bond refunds"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/oct/05/regive-investors-waiting-bond-refunds

innovate

Love the name of the Re-Give founder - Abdul Muttakin Robbani (aka Mark Robbani). Wonder how his surname is pronounced - would it be rob-any?

It seems pretty disgusting that he now tries to blame the FSA and his banks for the shortfall in funds. I hope they will be sufficiently incensed to ensure there is no Re-Give re-incarnation in any form ever.

Jaq_Puddleduck

Unfortunately an elderly relative has 'invested' a large sum of money with re-give. The money is now in limbo after Re-Give initially said they had to refund the money on the orders of the FSA but now are refusing to refund his money saying they are prevented from doing so by the FSA. I visited their registered address to be met by a asian lady who at first said she did & then that she didn't work for Re-Give. I think we may be referring this to the police as fraud.

innovate

Did you contact the FSA and ask them for their comments?

Paul_Herring

The problem appears to be the fact that they currently have insufficient funds to reimburse 100% of everyone's money; all the FSA have told them is they can't do partial refunds.

dunstonh

Paul_Herring wrote: »

The problem appears to be the fact that they currently have insufficient funds to reimburse 100% of everyone's money; all the FSA have told them is they can't do partial refunds.

Oh dear. And with no FSCS protection, it looks like there may be some money lost on this if they cant get funding to pay everyone back.

innovate

Paul_Herring wrote: »

The problem appears to be the fact that they currently have insufficient funds to reimburse 100% of everyone's money; all the FSA have told them is they can't do partial refunds.

Nothing surprises me any more, but I still find it hard to believe that the FSA should only allow either 100% refunds or nothing?

Anyway, Re-Give are not regulated by the FSA, so surely, the FSA have zero say in precisely how Re-Give give the money back to their customers? All the FSA can say that the money needs to be returned, methinks. Might be wrong there...but I wouldn't be surprised if Mr. Robb-ani were to exploit some potentially vague or unclear FSA rules to his advantage.

If the Guardian article is to be believed, £71,000 is still to be paid back. The shortfall is £10,500. So regardless of how that £10.5K shortfall will be found, £60,500 can be paid out to the respective investors immediately.

The Guardian also reports that there is one investor who is owed £20K. Clearly, this investor's £20K can be paid back immediately and in full from the remaining £60.5K?

Either that, or the Guardian haven't told us all the facts, or they don't have all the facts.

I find it incredibly hard to believe that the FSA should be stopping Re-Give from paying back the £60.5K immediately. If there were any truth to the FSA stopping repayments, and if I was affected, I would immediately write to Adair Turner, probably also copying my MP. I would give them a fortnight to respond with a satisfactory resolution before I would go to various national newspapers with the story. At the same time, I would seek legal advice on who to take to Court to get my money back.