Is this acceptable?

craftmoney13

Hi, joined today after a panic concerning savings.
I have banked with the Halifax for over 20 years and last year (2012) was advised to meet with one of the financial advisors. In April I met with him twice and after taking his advice transferred some ISA's and invested other funds into what he recommended. Other than initially receiving correspondance from Scottish Widows I did not hear anything else. This week I decided I would contact this financial advisor to arrange a meeting for an update on how my investments were doing. I didn't receive a response to my email so today called the mobile number (stated on his Halifax business card), the number was dead. I contacted the Halifax only to be told that they had got rid of all their financial advisors and couldn't give me any advice other than to ring Scottish Widows. I rang Scottish Widows and spoke to a not very helpful person. After searching online about Scottish Widows I read that they are one of the worst performing banks. I am very angry that the Halifax have not even contacted me regarding the situation and I am now left confused and feel that I went to the Halifax for face to face advice only to be abandoned with no advice. Look forward to your comments. Many thanks.

jimjames

Sorry if it doesn't help but banks are generally the worst place to get any advice as they can normally only sell you their own products.

Being advised to buy something last year doesn't mean they have any ongoing commitment to advise later down the line as that isn't what they offer.

It really depends what you bought from them, if it is an ISA then you can easily transfer to another better provider. Again depending what you took out you may find that it isn't that bad and over the last year performance generally has been pretty good so you should still be sitting on a profit.

atush

First of all, do you have any paperwork? What are the investments? Are they in a tax wrapper (ie ISA, pension etc)? What did you put in initially in total? Have you moved house since then?

I don't understand if you know the money is invested safely or not (ie you gave themt he cheque and have never received a statement? If it is a possible miss sale if they advised moving out of an isa into something taxable? Or if you just haven't received a statement after one year?

dunstonh

This week I decided I would contact this financial advisor to arrange a meeting for an update on how my investments were doing. I didn't receive a response to my email so today called the mobile number (stated on his Halifax business card), the number was dead. I contacted the Halifax only to be told that they had got rid of all their financial advisors and couldn't give me any advice other than to ring Scottish Widows.

This is all correct. Most of the banks have pulled out of financial advice or restricted it to what they class as higher net worth individuals.

I rang Scottish Widows and spoke to a not very helpful person.

If your questions were advice/opinion related then they wont be helpful. They are limited to factual product information only.

After searching online about Scottish Widows I read that they are one of the worst performing banks.

Halifax have been for donkeys years. Scot Wid arent great. SWIP is a bit better but you dont get their funds via the banks typically.

I am very angry that the Halifax have not even contacted me regarding the situation and I am now left confused and feel that I went to the Halifax for face to face advice only to be abandoned with no advice

The banks only offered a transactional sales force. They sold their product and moved on to the next person. Your contract for advice with them was not for servicing. They did not offer a servicing contract. That is something that you can typically get from most IFAs. However, it comes at a cost (although frequently cheaper and better than the banks for providing less)

Hominu

Scottish Widows should provide you with a statement this year so you can check on your investments. They should have also send you a welcome pack stating what your funds were invested in and any fees they charge.

Don't expect them to give advice, they don't do that. Banks used to do that in exchange for commission (hence why they wanted you to meet one of their IFAs). Now they don't really bother.

vectistim

The other thing to remember is that Scottish Windows are (were?) a Lloyds brand, Halifax is a Lloyds brand, the chances are you met a tied agent who would only have had access to Scottish Windows products.

dunstonh

Don't expect them to give advice, they don't do that. Banks used to do that in exchange for commission (hence why they wanted you to meet one of their IFAs). Now they don't really bother.

Just to clarify that statement. They were not IFAs. They were FAs. Big difference. They don't do it any more because they feel they are unable to meet the retail distribution review requirements which came into effect on 1st January 2013.

The other thing to remember is that Scottish Windows are (were?) a Lloyds brand, Halifax is a Lloyds brand, the chances are you met a tied agent who would only have had access to Scottish Windows products.

Correct. It would have been an FA/sales rep with Scot Wid products (previously Halifax branded products) as their only option.

craftmoney13

Thanks for your comments, I should have asked for advice on this forum before investing. To clarify I did get lots of paperwork initially but it was rather confusing as it had one a/c no but I have one ISA and one OEIC? These advisors tell you lots of things they want you to hear and I was ignorant and didn't look into things myself, I put my trust in this person who assured me this was the right thing to do and as he had worked for the Halifax 15yrs he said that the Halifax would be failing me if he didn't arrange a regular meeting to go over everything. This was alot of money and Scottish Widows confirmed an amount over the phone which is a few thousand less than I originally invested. I asked for a full summary of everything to be sent to me. I did not want any risk and one of the accounts is classed as cautious, not sure about the other but I definately stipulated that I did not want risk for such alot of money. Its states on the paperwork that I should consider this a long term investment (5+ years), I don't think I could easily transfer this to a better performing ISA and as I have already lost money I don't know if this would be a good idea. I didn't expect a large bank to leave me high and dry with no advice whatsoever. So do I now find an IFA? What is the best way to find one? Like you say Scottish Widows are not going to give me any advice so I am unsure what my next step should be. Thanks. Lisa.

opinions4u

craftmoney13 wrote: »

Thanks for your comments, I should have asked for advice on this forum before investing. To clarify I did get lots of paperwork initially but it was rather confusing as it had one a/c no but I have one ISA and one OEIC? These advisors tell you lots of things they want you to hear and I was ignorant and didn't look into things myself, I put my trust in this person who assured me this was the right thing to do

It probably was the right thing to do from the choice of products available to him. It's just that an IFA would have a wider choice of products available to select from.

and as he had worked for the Halifax 15yrs he said that the Halifax would be failing me if he didn't arrange a regular meeting to go over everything.

Blessing in disguise for you. No job for him.

This was alot of money and Scottish Widows confirmed an amount over the phone which is a few thousand less than I originally invested. I asked for a full summary of everything to be sent to me. I did not want any risk and one of the accounts is classed as cautious

No risk doesn't exist. Cautious is low risk.

not sure about the other but I definately stipulated that I did not want risk for such alot of money. Its states on the paperwork that I should consider this a long term investment (5+ years), I don't think I could easily transfer this to a better performing ISA and as I have already lost money I don't know if this would be a good idea. I didn't expect a large bank to leave me high and dry with no advice whatsoever.

Well the regulator changed things. Most banks decided they couldn't make money out of it anymore. We are where we are.

So do I now find an IFA? What is the best way to find one? Like you say Scottish Widows are not going to give me any advice so I am unsure what my next step should be. Thanks. Lisa.

Why do you need "advice" so soon after receiving it? Scottish Widows can give you facts and valuations.

Yes, if you aren't prepared to leave things as they are track down an IFA. https://www.unbiased.co.uk.

JohnRo

5+ years is medium term, how many years do you expect to hold the investment before wanting to access some or all of it?

If I'd made the same mistake, which I sort of did in different circumstances and can totally relate to the misplaced trust element in your post, then the first thing, knowing now what I didn't then would be not to panic about having "lost" a few thousand (if it is a very large sum).

Instead focus on mending the situation, finding out what the ISA is costing you, look at all charges and fees involved with the account and the investments. Then start looking at what it would cost to hold the ISA balance elsewhere with a different provider and in different fund(s) and consider a transfer to that provider if savings can be made.

If you're cautious and do just a little research on ISA providers there is nothing to fear or worry about in doing this yourself, select one or two suitable funds such as the low cost Vanguard Lifestrategy, held on a low cost platform and then just let it do whatever it does over the years.

The cost of holding investments is the only thing you have some control over, beyond selecting the investments themselves. It is better to reduce the cost of investing as soon as you can so that the effect they have on the underlying performance of whatever you're invested in over the coming years is reduced.

VfM4meplse

craftmoney13 wrote: »

These advisors tell you lots of things they want you to hear and I was ignorant and didn't look into things myself, I put my trust in this person who assured me this was the right thing to do and as he had worked for the Halifax 15yrs he said that the Halifax would be failing me if he didn't arrange a regular meeting to go over everything.

I am really sorry to hear you've had your fingers burnt.

craftmoney13 wrote: »

I didn't expect a large bank to leave me high and dry with no advice whatsoever. So do I now find an IFA? What is the best way to find one? Like you say Scottish Widows are not going to give me any advice so I am unsure what my next step should be. Thanks. Lisa.

Are you mad??! Forget it, why would you trust anyone else again?! Do your own research instead and think about the risks you're prepared to take. You may be swayed by access to "exclusive" deals, just remember that an IFA will be creaming it off somehow (whether from you or the provider) and you'll end up paying for it in the package somehow.

The easiest solution for you is if it's money that you don't need access to: if you have an employee's pension I would suggest you just top up your pension and get the tax back, depending in your tax rate and when you expect to retire. Savings rates are pitiful and the stock market requires nerve...from your post I'm not sure you'd be cut out for it.