santander investment help.

guspoppy

I have been sorting out my mothers paperwork with her.
I found she has a santander guarentee capital plus in 2009. When I asked her about this she said they told her it was good investment as she would get her money back if the investment didnt do well so she invested £40,000.
Looking into this I have now found out that it isnt covered by the FSCS. She said she didnt know this fact and it also doesnt say on her paperwork its not covered. My mother doesnt take risks with money so I cant believe she was happy to take this investment. It doesnt seem to be losing money but I am concerned if Santander collapses she will lose her money. It has 2 years left till she can take it out. It seems there is an early exit fee if leaves now.
Is there anything I can do to get her out of this investment?
Many Thanks!

Reaper

Assuming she has the Key Facts document is does in fact say both that there is risk and it is not covered by the FSCS:
https://www.santander.co.uk/csgs/StaticBS?blobcol=urldata&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1223410026910&maxage=3600
For risk see the "Is this right for me" section and a variety of others. And for the FSCS:

If you lose money solely because Santander Guarantee Company fails to meet its obligations under the guarantee, due to insolvency or for any other reason, you will not be able to claim against the FSCS for loss caused by such failure.

However remember Santander UK (who back this) are separate to the Spanish arm and look more secure, plus there are measures in place to prevent the Spanish parent company sucking all the cash out of the UK arm if it gets into trouble.

Up to you whether you take the hit for cancelling early. I wouldn't but that's just my opinion. Your only other chance is to claim a mis sell if she was advised wrong. I don't know the details of what she was told, what kind of advisor she spoke to, and what she has in writing from them so I can't really say what her chances are, but if I had to guess I would guess not good.

dunstonh

Is there anything I can do to get her out of this investment?

Why would you want to get her out of it? It suffers a penalty if you do and it loses the benefit of the capital security options that are in place as they only apply on maturity.

guspoppy

dunstonh wrote: »

Why would you want to get her out of it? It suffers a penalty if you do and it loses the benefit of the capital security options that are in place as they only apply on maturity.

just based on the feedback ive read is not good so i wondered if i could get her out of it. but you are right she will lose the benefits so best to keep the money in there.

thanks for all your help!

x

dunstonh

just based on the feedback ive read

From people who know how these things work?

Santander products are typically poor value for money. Especially their investments. However, once in it, the cost of getting out has to be considered and at this stage, it seems a bit too far in to be pulling out.