Desperate Help needed - Expat invested in Generali Vision Plan through DeVeres

Gambler101

I wouldnt reply to post 9 with any personal or financial info, he may be a scammer, at best hes representing a unethical scammy company.

FormerExPatN

Dear Friend,


I lost 20k on a 10-year Generali Vision plan worth 45k at the time and I thought I was astute when it came to investment, but- I was lied to by my IFA who advised me if I cashed out early: on a 10-year plan I would lose only the first 13.4 months of contributions, which I accepted. My employment as an ex-pat ended 4 years into the 10-year plan so I cashed out as the contributions were 1.2k a month and I couldn't afford that on a taxed income .
I would suggest you complain to DeVere, but find your original risk profile document that your IFA would have completed with you when you took out the plan , the plan selected that resulted in a significant loss may have not met your risk profile and if you could prove that it was unsuitable based on your initial agreement then you may have a case for negligent management against De Vere's IFA.
You could submit a complaint via the regulatory authority in China, if you can find someone to represent you pro-bono or if the cost of bringing a complaint is minimal. I would start with a formal complaint to the DeVere administrative HQ then to the CEO and then the regulatory authority. Incidentally, I am helping a friend bring a complaint against his IFA in relation to a similar situation: a chunk of his money was invested in a high-risk fund which lost 80% of its value. Also-Did you give your IFA discretionary authority to select funds for you or did you document anywhere that he was to run by his choices with you first. If he did not hold regular client review meetings with you to update you of progress then you may have a claim for negligence.
There is a slim chance of success.
Re- the ongoing contributions, I was wash my hands of the scheme unless you can maintain the full amount of the original monthly contributions and consider a low cost SIPP and /or ISA in the UK using your hard earned money to invest on a monthly basis.
I consider these offshore IFAs to be one and the same, they are the lowest of the low and duplicitous and dishonest in what information is revealed. I am considering a claim against the IFA as Generali Vision are not culpable. I was told by a fairly honest IFA that the GV plan was OK in some circumstances up to a 5-year term. You are better off investing in Investment Trusts, Shares if you open a brokerage account as an ex-pat and I have many people who have returned to the UK and been hot with huge early redemption fees.
The management of the IFAs should be literally lined up and shot!

FormerExPatN

Dear Friend-IMHO
The GV plan only can return a positive return over 5 or 10 years if the monthly contributions exceed 1.1k/month. I reverse -engineered the model to work this our painstakingly. The redemptions are not explained, usually we as ex-pat clients are told that the payments during the initial term are all that you can lose as a worst case scenario, but that is not true at all!
I would suggest that you challenge the IFA based upon the original risk profile document and whether you were kept abreast of investment performance. Loading the fund up front then reducing the contributions is absolutely wrong as the initial commission is based upon the term and the monthly contribution amount. Unless you see the plan through to the end , you lose money- guaranteed.

Simonfl

Dear Duped77, I am in a similar situation except that I signed the contract when I was living in Belgium, I paid EUR 66000 of monthly premiums the plan value is 72 000 but the surrender value is only 23000 after almost 10 years . Apparently the administration fees are not based on the first premium but on the highest premium. In my case I started with 850/ month then reduced it to the minimum to raise it to 2500 during 10 months in order to invest part of a severance grant . Needless to say my advisor never told me that the fees would then be calculated on the basis of this 2500 euros premium... I haven't heard of him since then. I've stopped paying premiums and I really don't know what to do. Any help would've most welcome.

Magnus_Jern

Hi!

We are many that share the the pain of Generali Vision.

We are a group of 20+ people planning to take legal action on Generali over the Generali Vision plan cancellation cost/clause. If you're interested in getting your money back then join the group "Duped by Devere" on facebook and we will provide you with more information.

It doesn't matter if you bought it through Devere or someone else.

Regards,
Magnus

Aegis

I met with a client recently who had been duped into transferring his UK pension to an international pension on the advice of some immoral shark working for DeVere. Current surrender penalties sum to about 8% of the bond held inside the pension, and that's three years into the life of the bond.


Every case I've seen from DeVere international so far has been similar, i.e. clients transferred (often unnecessarily or worse yet ill-advised) into an international pension and within that into an offshore bond with huge surrender penalties. Invariably the adviser will claim (falsely) that their advice is free because the bond or pension provider pays them a commission independently - this is nonsense which shows they are either a liar or a fool, as the commission is paid for by the seemingly-exortionate costs of the products they flog. Unwinding the structure means the client needs to pay all of the establishment charges (i.e. those paid in the first years of the bond in respect of the initial commissions taken by the salesman) as a surrender penalty, so it's not even a case that if you spot the problem early you can do something about it - the only mitigation is to avoid being there in the first place.



In short, I would very strongly urge any client approached by them to seek a second opinion from an adviser in the UK and to listen to that UK adviser when they explain where the "free" commission comes from for those international products. If there's the slightest doubt at all, don't transfer to an international scheme. It's pretty rare that there's a good reason to do so.

ImranaT

Am in the same situation.
We have little to no chance of winning individually. Best is to group up all of us and take legal action against Generali Worldwide.
Contact me ... Imrana.Thiam@gmail.com.

ImranaT

Am in the same situation.
We have little to no chance of winning individually. Best is to group up all of us and take legal action against Generali Worldwide.
Contact me ... Imrana.Thiam@gmail.com.

bostonerimus

Over at Britishexpats.com there were so many complaints about DeVere that the company themselves complained and got the website to censor posts with their name in them....but posts continued with wildcards. I was contacted by email once about QROPS for US residents, luckily I was well versed in the rules, but called back to waste a few mins of the sales persons time and tell them why their product was bogus and dangerous from a tax perspective. But they don't car about that they just want your money and to take big fees from it.

fire0320

hi all,

having a dispute with Generali Vision Death benefit here.

my wife enrolled in vision back in 2002 and recently pass away.

I notified Generali ten days later of her death (say 15 Sep), and my financial adviser helped me with the forms and submitted to Generali on 25 Sep.

Generali finally payout the death benefit and i found the followings:

1. the price of fund for valuation was 25 Sep instead of 15 Sep (the date of notification);
2. there was a reduction in fund units for valuation as compared to the statement given by my financial adviser as on 25 Sep.

The terms of conditions stated:
The 'Death Benefit' is the Investment Value following our receipt of written notice of the Relevant Death ....

As such, I understood valuation should be based on 15 Sep (the date of notification), but Generali maintained that they received the doc on 25 Sep and valuation was based on this date.

They never replied about the reduction in units for valuation.

I wish to look for Terms and Conditions of Vision Plans after 2002 and see if there are any amendment with respect to the valuation date of death benefits.

Thanks