Diary of a pension change

expressduck

sleepless saver - from your link "...it is crucial to have a savvy, well-seasoned team strategizing...".

I nearly fell off my seat laughing at that one......

Loughton_Monkey

I got an e-mail today from some outfit called VER Carbon Trading.

I followed the link just in case I got to a similar thing. But turns out to be a new scam suggesting I invest in "Self Storage".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ldkAdmI5FB0

A sort of 'poor man's BTL' I reckon! I think I'll shove about £80K into it. Please congratulate me on my wise investment.

hugheskevi

Thought I lost my opportunity at these carbon credits when I wasn't called yesterday, but fortunately I just had a very helpful call with them.

My dedicated account manager with Henderson Internation is Sean Williams.

I have now established that they act as introducer, charging a £299 deposit, refundable after transfer.

They said the IFA involved is "Bank Accounts Investments" FSA number 451839 (I was rather surprised to be given the FSA number without asking). Looking at the FSA register for that number, it is these folk. I expect the next step in this would be me filling in forms to instruct the IFA on an execution-only basis - still not sure who the SIPP provider is.

I kept asking for the free 5 minute review from one of their partnered IFAs, but I don't think that is going to be forthcoming unfortunately. But I will keep trying - I think that would be very interesting.

An example was cited that CERs are growing at 11% p/a, and that by 2020 that would mean my £50,000 SIPP would have grown to £250,000. They said they were based in St Pauls and that all of this is "all regulated by the FSA and above board."

I am getting application forms posted out to me today, and another call on Tuesday morning. I have to return all the forms within 7 days, as that ensures Carbon Solution or Carbon Investment Group can buy the carbon credits at todays rates. (they referred to both Carbon Solutions and Carbon Investment Group at different parts of the call).

Aim on Tuesday will be to express keeness, yet a bit of uncertainty having not yet spoken to an advisor...if only I could have 5 minutes with a partnered IFA, I think that might reassure me...

jamesd

Of course the FSA points out in its fraud-related description:

"There are two categories of carbon credits: voluntary emission reductions (VERs) and certified emission reductions (CERs). ... Beware that VERs certificates are often labelled as ’certified‘, but this certification is voluntary and involves a wide range of bodies and different quality standards that are not recognised by any UK compensation scheme. Also keep in mind that the projects generating VERs are usually based overseas and authorities in the UK have no way of controlling the quality or validity of the schemes. ... even if a firm involved in the sale or trading of carbon credits is authorised by us, as we do not regulate carbon credits you will not have access to the FOS or FSCS. This includes where you cannot sell or trade carbon credits."

It's surely a problem at its heart, with some registry effectively printing money by registering dubious voluntary reductions.

RichandJ

jamesd wrote: »

Of course the FSA points out in its fraud-related description:

"There are two categories of carbon credits: voluntary emission reductions (VERs) and certified emission reductions (CERs). ... Beware that VERs certificates are often labelled as ’certified‘, but this certification is voluntary and involves a wide range of bodies and different quality standards that are not recognised by any UK compensation scheme. Also keep in mind that the projects generating VERs are usually based overseas and authorities in the UK have no way of controlling the quality or validity of the schemes. ... even if a firm involved in the sale or trading of carbon credits is authorised by us, as we do not regulate carbon credits you will not have access to the FOS or FSCS. This includes where you cannot sell or trade carbon credits."

It's surely a problem at its heart, with some registry effectively printing money by registering dubious voluntary reductions.

It really is quite simple. If it looks too good to be true, it's a scam.

Liking the way Kevin is stringing them along - as long as he's doing that they can't STEAL money from others.

If u get taken in by any of these shysters YOU deserve to lose your money because you're too damn thick to realise what they're doing.

jamesd

A consumer never deserves to be scammed. Not even if they weren't as suspicious as they might have been. Remember the many Ponzi schemes like Madoff that have taken in even professional fund managers and advisers and got money that way, even though those pros have much better investigative resources and knowledge. Even very capable consumers can get taken in if the pitch is good enough.

snowcat53

jamesd wrote: »

Even very capable consumers can get taken in if the pitch is good enough.

Even Hugheskevi? I await the announcement he's signed up.

hugheskevi

Now have the application form, which has been e-mailed to me. Which was a bit of a surprise, as I didn't think they had my e-mail address.

Not bad - looks quite professional at first, but the T+Cs have some very poor grammatical inaccuracies.

It is pre-populated, which is a shame, as I was intending to eventually send in the forms completed in the name and address of Samuel Henriot for a transfer sum of £419 (but going to try to get a 'phone call with the partner IFA on Tuesday before that though). Going to need some editing this week-end.

Only new information is that the SIPP provider will be Pointon York.

The T+Cs clearly state Henderson Internation is not regulated by FSA, and that it is not authorised to provide general investment advice.

Interestingly, the T+Cs say one of services of Henderson International is "access to the supply of carbon credits for inclusion in the SIPP." Given that the IFA involved appears legit [anyone got any thoughts on that - could a legit IFA actually be involved in this even on an execution-only basis or are they just using the name?], the SIPP provider appears legit and the £299 is (supposedly) refundable, I guess this is where they make their money, selling a load of worthless credits at 'market' price.

Henderson International may also receive a referral fee from the IFA.

The scam is fairly basic - they have printed some material, put up a website, learnt some basic things and then hoped to lure someone in after buying in a load of contact details from somewhere. You would have to be quite stupid to fall for it.

jamesd

snowcat53 wrote: »

Even Hugheskevi? I await the announcement he's signed up.

Not this one. Doesn't take catching a high percentage of people, though, and I'm not inclined to blame a consumer for the actions of a scammer, regardless of the consumer's knowledge level.

hugheskevi

Ah well, I'm afraid my carbon credits adventure is over.

Got the call today as promised. I said that after consideration and wider reading about carbon credits, I didn't think it was for me.

They said they could still go ahead with setting up the SIPP, but I said I was happy enough with my own SIPP.

Then they asked the odd question "So what is happening today."

When I said nothing, that was that, they said goodbye and rang off - no hard sell of any sort.

So I will never get my 5 minute consultation with the partner IFA

For the benefit of anyone reading this in the future who might have ended-up further along the process, the application forms contained details of the £299 payment to them. If I had sent them back, I think the next step would have been to get me to instruct the partner IFA on an execution-only basis to open the new SIPP and transfer my existing pension.

Then using the money in the SIPP, they would have sold me some worthless/low value credits, priced as if they were fully certified. Whether or not the £299 fee would actually be refunded or whether I would even get the worthless credits, I have no idea - I can well imagine the SIPP money leaving and that being the end of contact with them.