My parents were mis-sold ISA's

TrickyDicky101

Having read the thread in its entirety so far, I feel compelled to comment that one should never argue with an idiot as (s)he will bring one down to his level and then beat one on experience.

PeacefulWaters

jimjames wrote: »

As far I can see from following posts the grounds for complaint are the cost. Not that the investment was wrong especially as it has performed better than cash so there is no loss.

I am 99.9% certain that the documentation relating to the cost of advice will be watertight. The chances of poor disclosure of charges succeeding is very slim indeed.

The op needs to realise that if there is no loss there is no compensation so a complaint might be upheld but it would make no material difference. Obviously that depends on knowing answers to the key questions.

There are many of us who have pointed this out.

You could argue that a complaint could stop the same staff member exposing other people to poor advice and there is perhaps merit to this. But it will take time, have no return and won't bring Mum back.

le_loup

Martin300 wrote: »

I wonder how many of these folks with their quippy remarks on this forum work for the finance industry, trying to put people off doing what they are perfectly entitled to do.

Whoops! Now you're just being silly.
Of course you are perfectly entitled to complain and seek compensation and we, who don't work in the finance industry, are entitled to tell you why you are wasting your time.
There's a lot of experience here, that's why you posted your question. Because the answers are not what you wanted is no reason to malign the people offering their help to you.
Goodbye.

kinger101

I don't think you'll be able to prove that the actual investments were unsuitable. Assuming the fee was deducted from the £10K (it's not clear from your post), then the gain since the money has been invested is 12.7 % (£9,320 now worth £10,500). This suggests the actual investments (you've not provided any details) were probably focused heavily on bonds; i.e, low-risk investments suitable for the age.

The fees do seem high, but are in line with what other banks charged in 2012, percentage wise. They use fixed fees now. You'd need to prove that your parents were not made aware of these fees. Not reading a contract they signed doesn't count.

In any event, as people have already said, there doesn't seem to be any evidence of a financial loss here, as the £10,000 is now worth pretty much what it would have been had it been left in a cash ISA. Hence, no entitlement to compensation.

ChesterDog

Were these fixed-rate, fixed-term Cash ISAs that have run their full term?

If so, it should have been clear at the start (with due respect to your parents, perhaps not to them but certainly to the provider) that the interest earned was not going to cover the fee for advising to take them out. Then you could have a case for mis-selling.

Having said that, you would still have to question whether the relatively small size of the net loss made it worth all the hassle and anxiety of pursuing a complaint/claim.

ViolaLass

If your parents realised on getting home that they were being charged a fee of £680, it would suggest that the paperwork was good (because they realised about the fee at the time).

The fact that they were too embarassed to do anything about it at the time does not mean the ISAs were mis-sold.

ChesterDog

Just to correct my post above, on rereading the original post I see the OP refers to them as medium-to-long term and mentions dividends.

So I shall agree with everyone else and say they don't seem mis-sold to me at all.

barba

My friend works in the AXA complaints department so I sent him a link to the thread.

He said he "was going to wipe his bum with your complaint letter so make it a long one"

PeacefulWaters

barba wrote: »

My friend works in the AXA complaints department so I sent him a link to the thread.

He said he "was going to wipe his bum with your complaint letter so make it a long one"

Most constructive.

I now hope the OP can return with enough information to show that a complaint is justified.

Then other members of this forum can help him to construct it in such a way as to ensure success.

fairleg

Maybe you can answer this also. Hi. My dad received a letter from Santander recently saying they have concerns about how they sold the investment Ida to them (portfolio). They are asking him to select one of two options. 1) get a quote for current value and take it out of current investment Isa. 2) leave it in

What's thisall about? If the value of what they offer him matches what he invested, then I takeot he is not out of pocket! I believe they get monthly interest paid to them