Is it too late?

puzzled48

I know that I was ill advised by my bank on what to do with my savings in 2000. Is it too late to make a claim for compensation?

innovate

What did they advise you to do? How was the advice delivered?

puzzled48

The person we saw advised us to put our savings (which were for a deposit on our next house) in to stocks and shares. We made it clear that it was only temporary until we had bought the next house. A year later the money had halved. When we queried this we were told that we should have realised that investing in stocks and shares was a long term investment.

Archi_Bald

What investments do you have? It's almost impossible for any investment made in 2010 to have halfed in value by 2011. Unless, perhaps, you signed up for a structured product which might have huge upfront charges.

You should provide more information - which bank, exactly what is the investment called, what funds/shares are in the investment, what if any is the term of the investment, what was the value at the start, what is the value now, what are the T&Cs of the investment etc etc

puzzled48

Thank you for replying.
Unfortunately we didn't keep the paperwork.
We withdrew the money after the 12 months.
We didn't buy a house again.
We have no investments now.

puzzled48

Sorry. Sorry.
The investment was made in January 2000, not 2010. And it was 12 months later in 2001 that we withdrew what was left of our savings.

Archi_Bald

Afraid, sounds you have no case there for any compensation, even if you actually had been mis-sold something. Complaining 13 years after the event isn't likely to get you anywhere, specifically if you do not have any paperwork.

Investments are for the longer term - at least 5 or more years. Also, you can lose some or all of your investments - something that you should have been, and most probably were, told, in writing.

Investments can take a nosedive in the short term, but most mainstream investments appreciate over the medium and longer term. Thus the recommendation to have at least a 5 year horizon. Sounds you lost your nerve after a year, which is very sad but a decision you took.

There's a savings & investments board on MSE - they won't be able to say much different to what I already said, but reading up over there might help you understand further what investments are, and when it is appropriate to invest rather than save.