Stocks & Shares ISAs

le_loup

If they are unit trust, there is no other way of doing it.

supersabw

Thanks for replying.
If I had still been a customer of the Co-op, how would the guidance have been given or how would they have sold them on my behalf? The Co-op took me on knowing I was an inexperienced financial customer - that's what the Co-op built its business on - guiding those of us who are not familiar with the financial world. Surely there is more to selling them than a stab in the dark on any particular day, without seeing the price they are likely to go for?
I feel there is an issue of mis-selling here - I bought into a financial package of advice, which I don't now have the benefit of. MSE???

Keep_pedalling

What exactly did you buy? As far as I am aware all CIS S&Ss ISAs are held in unit trusts, which as already been said this is the only way these assets can be sold, and nothing has changed since the transfer to RL.

Unless you are trying to sell any of these UTs in a panic during a falling market then there is going to be little movement in day to day prices, so you should have little reason to worry that you don't have an exact price when you put a sell order in.

You may have had advice at the point of purchase as to what funds to initially buy, but I doubt if you are paying for any ongoing advice of the sort you would get from an IFA managing your finances.

It sounds like this is the first time you have thought about cashing any of these in, and when you do I think you will find they have increased significantly more than any cash ISA would have done over this period, so there is no likelihood that this is a miss sale, more a case of misunderstanding the product you bought into.

jimjames

supersabw wrote: »

I feel there is an issue of mis-selling here - I bought into a financial package of advice, which I don't now have the benefit of. MSE???

You certainly wouldn't get any advice about when to sell the units. Advice on how to sell is pretty irrelevant anyway as it's the same as every other unit trust. Did you ask when you took the plan out how to sell? I really can't see any case for mis-selling. You're presumably not being charged for advice so you're not paying for something you're not getting.
Your choice is to go to another adviser, preferably IFA and get them to advise you but that will cost. Or just accept that you now know how to sell and proceed on that basis.

supersabw

Thanks for trying to help. My point is partially that if I was led into "Unit Trusts" believing them to be like other ISAs for redemption, not knowing the consequences of the difficulties of knowing how and when to sell, the CIS advice was poor, and mis-selling. I thought I was just buying a different type of ISAs which yes, could fluctuate, but I had asked for risks to be "medium" until I neared retirement age. I had no idea that so much blind speculation would be involved at the moment of selling. As I said, I tracked them for a few days last month and the value varied by more than 10%. Any fees would have been taken up-front for the term of the ISAs (known to be a retirement investment), and I was an "ongoing" customer who had visits from them at least every year. Therefore I believed the advice to be "ongoing" and didn't know my business could be sold-on into a company with no advice, and therefore this part is mis-selling too.

dunstonh

The Co-op took me on knowing I was an inexperienced financial customer - that's what the Co-op built its business on - guiding those of us who are not familiar with the financial world

Correct. If you knew just a little bit more then you would never use a company like them but would use an IFA or go DIY.

Surely there is more to selling them than a stab in the dark on any particular day, without seeing the price they are likely to go for?

It isnt a stab in the dark. UTs are priced once a day. They do not change value throughout the day. You can get an idea of what the price movement is going to be by looking at that days events but in the scheme of things, most of the time people do not.

I feel there is an issue of mis-selling here - I bought into a financial package of advice, which I don't now have the benefit of. MSE???

There is no mis-selling here. CIS provided transactional advice and were tied to the products they had available. They did not provide ongoing advice and you did not pay to receive ongoing advice. Ongoing advice is typically only offered by IFAs and certain restricted advice channels.

So, you neither paid for or obtained the ongoing advice and therefore were not missold.

My point is partially that if I was led into "Unit Trusts" believing them to be like other ISAs for redemption, not knowing the consequences of the difficulties of knowing how and when to sell, the CIS advice was poor, and mis-selling.

Holding unit trusts in an ISA or unwrapped makes absolutely no difference. The CIS would not advise you on selling as that is a future event you can seek advice on at that time. Their generic info at point of sale would cover selling of units. Should you choose to read it.

The advice you received was to buy the units. You never sought advice about selling. So, again, you cant be mis-sold something you havent had or paid for.

I had no idea that so much blind speculation would be involved at the moment of selling.

There isnt.

Any fees would have been taken up-front for the term of the ISAs (known to be a retirement investment), and I was an "ongoing" customer who had visits from them at least every year.

Any upfront fee was for the initial advice. They never offered ongoing servicing. They were always transactional. Their reps would revisit on attempts to get you to sign up for something else.

Therefore I believed the advice to be "ongoing" and didn't know my business could be sold-on into a company with no advice, and therefore this part is mis-selling too.

What does your contract say about ongoing servicing? - answer you wont have a contract as you never entered into one.
Rebranding and change of ownership happens in all walks of life. You cannot be mis-sold something because years later the company rebrands or sells up to someone else.

Keep_pedalling

You might have a complaint as a medium risk taker if instead of putting you money in to well deversified unit trusts, they put it into a handful of individual shares that could be day traded. I still have some old CIS ISAs and have occasionally cashed some of them in with very little variation in price between placing the order and the actual sale.

I would describe myself as medium risk as well and all my equity holding are in funds not individual shares. The fact that the diversity given by these funds far outways the ability to carry out an instant sale.

The CIS were famous for their home visit reps. The fact that you saw them annually does not mean you purchased an enhanced service, even if it was only home insurence renewal you would get a visit.

supersabw

It's now absolutely clear that I wasn't properly advised at the time. I had no experience of financial investment and turned to the long-established Co-op FIS - that I thought the best way forward. "If I'd known a bit more" doesn't help - I didn't, and wasn't properly advised. At that time there wasn't as much legal obligation to ensure all risks and processes were clearly understood, but I believed the Co-op to be reliable and trustworthy to do just that. They didn't, and they've left me in a position where I've no idea how long to keep the Shares ISAs in terms of my impending retirement versus potential unknown risks. I should never have been advised in this direction when they knew the purpose of the investment... Not to mention that I wasn't advised that at the time I would be "buying at high prices" only for the extreme fall that followed to almost wipe out my investment within months of their experienced expert advice. The extremity of the risks were NEVER explained to me or I wouldn't have taken such high risks to my parents' bequest to me and my future retirement

Keep_pedalling

supersabw wrote: »

It's now absolutely clear that I wasn't properly advised at the time. I had no experience of financial investment and turned to the long-established Co-op FIS - that I thought the best way forward. "If I'd known a bit more" doesn't help - I didn't, and wasn't properly advised. At that time there wasn't as much legal obligation to ensure all risks and processes were clearly understood, but I believed the Co-op to be reliable and trustworthy to do just that. They didn't, and they've left me in a position where I've no idea how long to keep the Shares ISAs in terms of my impending retirement versus potential unknown risks. I should never have been advised in this direction when they knew the purpose of the investment... Not to mention that I wasn't advised that at the time I would be "buying at high prices" only for the extreme fall that followed to almost wipe out my investment within months of their experienced expert advice. The extremity of the risks were NEVER explained to me or I wouldn't have taken such high risks to my parents' bequest to me and my future retirement

Sorry, but you are blowing this totally out of proportion. You seem to have held these assets for 20 years or more, and you are locked on to the insignificant issue of not knowing exactly what value they will be tomorrow.

No one can advise you not to buy today because there will be a crash next month, simply because no one knows when such an event will occur. Anyway after 20 odd years your envestments will have more than recovered.

You are correct in your statement that you know nothing about investments, and as you are coming up to retirement perhaps now is the time to consult with an IFA as to what your best options are.

supersabw

Sorry, but the Financial Advisors of the time led me to buy a product which no doubt benefitted them, without explaining the risks relating to the lack of control over how great the risk of losing it completely or how or when to redeem it; and have left me at risk of losing it all over again. What I have learned is that I shouldn't trust their modern-day counter-parts now.