Widowed - do IFAs really sink this low?

vikinggreen

My father passed away in July. leaving his whole estate to my mum. This week mum received a letter from an Independent Financial Advisor a couple of towns away, inviting her (in her name only) and "a guest" to attend a Wealth Management Seminar.

Mum has never had any contact with IFAs in her life, hasn't changed any of her investments for years, etc. There were no death announcements in newspapers, my dad's will and estate is still undergoing Probate so it isn't public yet and all I can think of is that my mum is named on the Death Certificate, along with her address.

Do IFAs really sink as low as to hunt through recent death registrations to find customers? Or have I missed something?

Mum is really quite upset about it.

PasturesNew

Wealth Management Seminars aren't IFAs ... usually. Usually they are ponzi-scheme charlatans who will whoop up the audience into a buying frenzy to pay for an over-priced membership or training course in becoming wealthy.

vikinggreen

This is definitely an IFA - they check out completely on that score.

Errata

IFA's like any other business people are scratching around for business and will track down potential customers in any way they can.
Tell your mum not to be upset because it's just a junk mail shot and a clear candidate for the recycling bin.

vikinggreen

Thanks, Errata. I took the letter away to do exactly as you suggest, but it annoys me that an elderly, recently widowed lady should have these !!!!!s ambulance-chasing. The letter clearly refers to issues like IHT and estate planning, so they know for sure that she has been widowed.

Can they really view recent death certificates somehow? I will call the Registry Office to check anyway, but I want to get to the bottom of it because I don't want her to be inundated with this sort of crap.

vikinggreen

Not sure why the word g h o u l s comes out as exclamation marks!

scotsbob

IFAs, or salesmen as I prefer to call them, will stoop as low as it takes to get their commission.

Possibly someone in the probate office gets a cut for passing on information.

Errata

vikinggreen wrote: »

Thanks, Errata. I took the letter away to do exactly as you suggest, but it annoys me that an elderly, recently widowed lady should have these !!!!!s ambulance-chasing. The letter clearly refers to issues like IHT and estate planning, so they know for sure that she has been widowed.

Can they really view recent death certificates somehow? I will call the Registry Office to check anyway, but I want to get to the bottom of it because I don't want her to be inundated with this sort of crap.

Death certificates are a public record so anyone can look at them if they have a mind to. The usual rubbish that pops through the letter box is 'Buy our life insurance, you know it makes sense and we'll send you a cheap biro' and 'Buy our funeral plan, you loved ones will be so grateful'.
All part of life's rich tapestry and modern business practice.

vikinggreen

It definitely wasn't the Probate office - the letter is dated the same day that I posted the forms to them.

Errata, even if it is modern business practice, I still think that pursuing a very elderly lady only two months after losing her husband of 60 years is about as nasty as it gets.

Someone somewhere has got the wrong end of the stick anyway, however they got hold of the info.

The letter talks about estates over the IHT limit of 325k/£650k (which my parents' isn't, and never will be) and is offering a talk, followed by a slap-up buffet at an historic local conference centre, followed by a guided tour of the building and grounds.

I'm almost tempted to go along ...

Errata

I can understand the upset, but TBH your mum isn't being pursued, she's simply the recipient of junk mail and the fact that it isn't even relavent to you mum's financial situation demonstrates this.

vikinggreen

Errata, you are quite right of course, but as someone who has never received a letter of this sort in her life before, it is very disturbing for her. She is worried that this may just be the start of it, and that other companies may have access to the same information and exploit it.

I have sent a very polite email to the company to try to establish where they got her details from, and I have re-registered her for MPS.

P.S. Love your Sig!