Mis-sold stocks and Shares

bally912

Hi there I'm new to the forum, this is my first post any advice would be appreciated.

I'm posting on behalf of my uncle, he's in his 70's now and took early retirement back when he was 55. With the lump sum he received he was advised by a Halifax financial advisor to invest in some sort of stocks and shares that invested in a variety of businesses. He had alot invested with the scheme and ultimately lost just over £10,000. The advisor told him to keep his money in but in the end he pulled out of it.

It was only till 4-5 years ago he told the family about this, I was driving to work last night and heard a radio advert from a firm stating they could win lost money back (ala PPI). I've looked on here for him to see if there were any templates to fill out but can't find any (not planning on let a company take a cut in anything he's likely to recoup).

I've spoke to him today regarding the situation and said I'd do a little fishing about to see if we could at least enquiring into the mis-selling of the products.

Any help or advise would be much appreciated.

[Deleted User]

The value of investments down as well as up.

What is the basis of his complaint?

bally912

The basis would be that he didn't fully realise the risks involved. The advisor got him to invest the whole of his redundancy and he didn't realise until way down the line how volatile a stock she was investing in for him. It has only been in the last few years that he has asked both myself and my mum (his sister) for help in terms of day to day things, be it financially or otherwise. He is not very savvy and is the sort of person who could very easily be led, by someone posing as a expert into something that is not necessarily beneficial to him as to me it seems in this case with the shares.

[Deleted User]

bally912 wrote: »

The basis would be that he didn't fully realise the risks involved.

That's not going to wash I'm afraid.

Stocks and Shares are ALWAYS deemed high risk.

Who do you propose to complain to?

bally912

Halifax as it was a in store advisor.

[Deleted User]

bally912 wrote: »

Halifax as it was a in store advisor.

You don't appear to have a valid complaint.
The chances of re-couping £10K lost as the result of investing in stocks and shares are zero.

No Claims firm can obtain money in such circumstance either.

You really are barking up the wrong tree.

Nearlyold

So we are talking 15 - 20 years ago for the initial investment.

Can your uncle recall what the investment was called, was it a direct purchase of stocks and shares or was it through collective investments eg bonds, unit trusts OEICs etc ?

Did the investment rise in value at any point only to perhaps fall later in the financial crisis of 2007 - 2008. Did your uncle draw income from product?

What was the risk profile of the investment cautious, balanced or adventurous.

All these factors would need to be addressed in any complaint, you can't just complain solely on the basis of performance.

If the encashment (that crystallised the £10k loss) took place more than 3 years ago any complaint could be time barred.

Has your uncle checked how much his investment would be worth today if he had followed the advice to hold on to the investment rather than sell.

bally912

Ok thanks for your advice, I just thought from the radio ad I heard yesterday from a firm wanting to act on people's behalf it was my uncle's situation down to a tee.
The ad was solely about stocks and shares sold through banks (not independent), I'm curious if these guys are running ads which sound so similar to my uncle's situation how it's so cut and dry as you say as a non starter?

It's a totally new situation to me, I've been successful myself in reclaiming ppi funds for both myself and my wife so have a good idea of the ins and outs of that, but the stocks/shares claiming is a new one to me.

If you say no claim firm can obtain money in such circumstance can you elaborate in what way these firms do have successful claims solely in regards mis sold stocks/shares.

[Deleted User]

bally912 wrote: »

If you say no claim firm can obtain money in such circumstance can you elaborate in what way these firms do have successful claims solely in regards mis sold stocks/shares.

I have no idea.
Ask the Claims Firm concerned?
Don't expect any easy recompense though, this is not a PPI complaint you are intent on launching.

You'll need a far more robust complaint than simply alleging he was not made aware of the risks involved.

Read Nearlyold's post above to realise what an uphill struggle you will have.

bally912

Nearlyold wrote: »

So we are talking 15 - 20 years ago for the initial investment.

Can your uncle recall what the investment was called, was it a direct purchase of stocks and shares or was it through collective investments eg bonds, unit trusts OEICs etc ?

Did the investment rise in value at any point only to perhaps fall later in the financial crisis of 2007 - 2008. Did your uncle draw income from product?

What was the risk profile of the investment cautious, balanced or adventurous.

All these factors would need to be addressed in any complaint, you can't just complain solely on the basis of performance.

If the encashment (that crystallised the £10k loss) took place more than 3 years ago any complaint could be time barred.

Has your uncle checked how much his investment would be worth today if he had followed the advice to hold on to the investment rather than sell.

Hi thanks for getting back to me, my uncle is very sketchy on the full ins and out, from speaking to him I believe it was something along the lines of a OEICS. The investments was group into several shopping outlets linked with the Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield.

I believe intially it made a profit, and then as you say crashed around the 07/08.

He's unsure as to what the risk was laid down as, it did happen around 2008 from what I can make out, he hasn't looked into the what ifs had he left his money in no (he's not fully sure what his money was invested in to do so!!!)

In terms of you saying did he draw from it do you mean prior to pulling the other £30,000 + out, after the £10K loss? If so no he didn't draw from it prior to the loss.

antrobus

bally912 wrote: »

Hi there I'm new to the forum, this is my first post any advice would be appreciated.

I'm posting on behalf of my uncle, he's in his 70's now and took early retirement back when he was 55. With the lump sum he received he was advised by a Halifax financial advisor to invest in some sort of stocks and shares that invested in a variety of businesses. He had a lot invested with the scheme and ultimately lost just over £10,000. The advisor told him to keep his money in but in the end he pulled out of it.

It was only till 4-5 years ago he told the family about this, I was driving to work last night and heard a radio advert from a firm stating they could win lost money back (ala PPI). I've looked on here for him to see if there were any templates to fill out but can't find any (not planning on let a company take a cut in anything he's likely to recoup).

I've spoke to him today regarding the situation and said I'd do a little fishing about to see if we could at least enquiring into the mis-selling of the products.

Any help or advise would be much appreciated.

Wild guess here.

Sometime in the late 1990s this bloke put his retirement lump sum into a a mutual fund, panicked during the 2008 crash, sold out at a loss, but didn't tell anybody else until about 2013?

I suspect that the advisor was right when they told him to keep his money in. And I'm not sure what the complaint reason would be. I lost money when I decided to sell against the advice I was given isn't a reason.

Warren Buffet says buy and hold.:)