Santander fined £12.4m for ‘serious failings’ in investment advice

micmax

My husband received his Santander letter this morning. The problem is that Santander are giving him the option to withdraw his investment or leave it, but not under the existing terms of investment; changes to allow variable commission charges, length of investment, being locked in, they said it was low risk and now they say its medium risk. Although his investment has grown a bit it would look like that in the future it wouldn't. This was a favourable investment package for him that Santander now want to stop offering. My husband is disabled and needs face-to-face advice, which santander don't seem to offer anymore. Any advice?

dunstonh

micmax wrote: »

My husband received his Santander letter this morning. The problem is that Santander are giving him the option to withdraw his investment or leave it, but not under the existing terms of investment; changes to allow variable commission charges, length of investment, being locked in, they said it was low risk and now they say its medium risk. Although his investment has grown a bit it would look like that in the future it wouldn't. This was a favourable investment package for him that Santander now want to stop offering. My husband is disabled and needs face-to-face advice, which santander don't seem to offer anymore. Any advice?

Santander are offering the option to stay and continue on the same terms as agreed at the start or to come out now with no loss or penalty.

What does your husband want?

Sn06gav

Hi can someone help. I'm like Micmax and have some shares with santander. I'm happy with it at the moment but there seems a lot of scare mongering to pull out. I've only got nine months left to go, I'm happy to leave it in there for the nine months and lose a bit. But I don't want to lose literally all of my investment and come out with nothing. Could there be a chance of coming out with nothing or is the risk medium, the same as when I took it out 51 months ago.

dunstonh

Sn06gav wrote: »

Hi can someone help. I'm like Micmax and have some shares with santander. I'm happy with it at the moment but there seems a lot of scare mongering to pull out. I've only got nine months left to go, I'm happy to leave it in there for the nine months and lose a bit. But I don't want to lose literally all of my investment and come out with nothing. Could there be a chance of coming out with nothing or is the risk medium, the same as when I took it out 51 months ago.

Santander have pulled out of the advice market. So, they have nothing to offer. There are plenty of options available on the whole of market.

The risk of the product you have hasnt changed since you took it out. Santander just didnt give the right disclosure.

Natterjacktoad

I have finally received a letter from Santander, offering me a partial refund of Portfolio Management Fees (39%). Due to poor advice from the PI rep, I lost approximately £20,000 before closing the account. I no longer have any of the paperwork, do I have any chance of progressing a claim for the money lost, or should I accept the partial refund of fees and run?

dunstonh

Natterjacktoad wrote: »

I have finally received a letter from Santander, offering me a partial refund of Portfolio Management Fees (39%). Due to poor advice from the PI rep, I lost approximately £20,000 before closing the account. I no longer have any of the paperwork, do I have any chance of progressing a claim for the money lost, or should I accept the partial refund of fees and run?

Depends on how they have worked out the redress. i.e. did you lose that amount because you also made withdrawals? if so, they are factored into the calculation

Natterjacktoad

No, the compensation is purely a percentage of the management fees. There is no compensation for loss of invested money.
The figure of £20,000 was the amount by which my original investment was devalued when the market collapsed. I had expressed concerns but the advisor told me to leave the money in there

inspectorpoirot

I have just received a letter from Santander telling me they may have mis-advised me on my investment. The term was for 6 years and matures at the start of August. I can pull out of the investment or let it run (4/5 weeks). Has anyone had this letter and if so, did you make a claim. I am keen to maintain the ISA wrapper when it matures so don't want to just ditch the investment whilst I try to make a mis-selling claim. The time frame is very tight, so any advice is very welcomed.

dunstonh

inspectorpoirot wrote: »

I have just received a letter from Santander telling me they may have mis-advised me on my investment. The term was for 6 years and matures at the start of August. I can pull out of the investment or let it run (4/5 weeks). Has anyone had this letter and if so, did you make a claim. I am keen to maintain the ISA wrapper when it matures so don't want to just ditch the investment whilst I try to make a mis-selling claim. The time frame is very tight, so any advice is very welcomed.

These letters do not mean you have been mis-sold. Just that you may have been. Santandar incorrectly marketed these as having FSCS protection when they did not. Hence why they are waiving the tie in. As yours only has a few weeks to go, it seems pointless to worry about it as by the time any complaint is looked at, yours would have matured.