New request for personal info from Selftrade

Catapult

Received a letter and questionnaire from Selftrade today requesting a re-submission of personal info and also new data on personal wealth, what my net worth is, how it was generated, details of my employer etc, etc.

Letter suggests that providing this info is mandatory and will result in account access restriction if not supplied.

All seems a bit odd and out of the blue. Sound normal? I've an ISA with them worth a few grand.

SpartanHero

I had one too. Pretty awful I thought. It looks like fishing for marketing info. I am rather shocked.

grey_gym_sock

i'm pretty sure this is selftrade trying to comply with their legal obligations re money laundering, not fishing for marketing.

they are still not accepting applications for new accounts, which they (very vaguely) state is so that they can review their procedures. this might mean that their money laundering checks have been judged to be inadequate.

the anti-ML laws can be rather intrusive. they also leave it up to providers to work out what to actually ask their customers. selftrade may be over-doing it now, if their previous procedures were found wanting.

similar requests have been discussed on the selftrade board on TMF: http://boards.fool.co.uk/selftrade-products-services-51115.aspx?mid=13005356

(i have a selftrade account, and have not yet received any questionaire.)

SpartanHero

It may be so but to offer a threat that my money would be suspended or restricted in some way is just beyond comprehension for me. Are they doing me a favour by letting me have an ISA with them. If they have made a mess of things I dont see why I should have to disclose all sorts of information to put it right.

digivate

I got the same letter.

It seems to me that they've not been fully compliant with regulatory requirements in the past and they are now trying to sort things out.

Personally, I have no intention of filling out a long winded questionnaire giving them details of my personal wealth and how it has been built up - not least because it's been a 20 year process. Although I understand that they need to comply with anti-money laundering measures, the amount of detail they require goes way beyond anything I've had to supply to previous financial institutes in the past and is frankly none of their business.

I'm also angry that, despite having already provided verification of my identity a couple of years ago when I created the account, they now expect me to go to the trouble of getting further documents certified at my expense (they suggest using a lawyer or accountant which clearly doesn't cost peanuts) because they haven't kept their records satisfactorily up to date.

I'm selling all my funds and closing the account. I only have just over £10k left with them anyway, so it's cheaper for me to sell the funds, transfer the balance to my bank account, close the account, and open a new account with an alternative provider, than it is to open a new account and ask for the funds to be transfered.

I'd recommend others seriously consider getting out of Selftrade as well. What with their freezing on opening new accounts, and having to re-submit details for all existing accounts, on top of various accounts of diminishing customer service, they look like a bad place to entrust any significant amount of money.

Catapult

Think I'll do nothing and see what happens. Still not convinced this isn't a scam yet... if it is for real, they certainly don't deserve any further custom from me; account will be closed and cash put with a professional company.

Plus this is the first letter received from Selftrade that didn't quote a reference number relating to my account.

Plus I don't like the idea of putting all this personal info in one form and posting it.

All very odd.

SpartanHero

They do say that they will place restrictions on the account if there is no reply. Similar if you want to close or transfer. This is a very heavy handed way to be treated.

wakeupalarm

Self-trade are abusing the regulations and treating everyone as if they were terrorists probably to obtain marketing information and sell it onto other companies.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/mlr/your-role/resposibilities.htm

What is customer due diligence? Customer due diligence means taking steps to identify your customers and checking they are who they say they are. In practice this means obtaining the following from a customer:

• their name
• their photograph on an official document which confirms their identity
• their residential address or date of birth

They are only required to obtain the above info. Instead they are treating everyone as if they are terrorists



When to carry out enhanced due diligence

• finding out where funds have come from and what the purpose of the transaction is (higher risk situations only)

Perelandra

digivate wrote: »

I'm also angry that, despite having already provided verification of my identity a couple of years ago when I created the account, they now expect me to go to the trouble of getting further documents certified at my expense (they suggest using a lawyer or accountant which clearly doesn't cost peanuts) because they haven't kept their records satisfactorily up to date.

I completely agree with your main point. However, it's actually quite cheap to get documents certified by an accountant or lawyer; it was a fiver for me. There's a strict limit to how much they're allowed to charge, I believe, if they provide the service- not all do.

strawberrylane

Myself and my wife each have a Selftrade account and this afternoon we both received an email from Selftrade saying that they had recently sent us the Customer Records Review form and asking us to complete and return the form asap. BUT neither myself nor my wife have received the form.

I checked online that Selftrade hold the correct address for us (which they do), so I phoned them up this evening. The chap at their end immediately said that some emails had been sent out in error and that we may not have actually been sent a review form at all. He checked both of our accounts and said that neither of us needed to complete a review form and so the emails had indeed been sent to us in error, for which he was very apologetic.

Has anyone else received one of these erroneous emails today from Selftrade asking them to return a review form which they have not got?

Lotus43P

I have just receive an email telling me that my form has not been returned. However I have no intention of filling in this form as it stands as it contains far too much personal information.
I have sent off an email to Moneybox asking Mr Lewis to look into this matter and whether by law we must fill in this form.


Perhaps if others did the same we may find out more quickly where we stand.