Miss sold investment claim

hayleyconsuegra

My husband got recommend to invest his money a few years back (early 2000’s) by the bank of Scotland. He was advised to invest in shares and he lost most of his money which was inheritance from his father who passed away. I heard an advert on the radio form Goodwin barest about making a claim for this against the bank. However they are charging 36% if successful. Is there a way to claim this like PPI without using a third party?

Linton

You do not need an intermediary to claim mis-selling/bad advice. The first step if you suspect mis-selling is to raise a complaint with the advisor, in this case BoS. See https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/financial-mis-selling-what-to-do-if-you-think-its-affected-you. There may be a problem with the length of time involved.



Note that loss of money from shares is not by itself evidence of bad advice. The key test is whether the advice was appropriate for the circumstances.



If you want us to say more you would need to give further details:
- what exactly was the advice? It was very likely to be more specific than "invest in shares".
- what shares/funds did your husband invest in?

bowlhead99

It's unlikely you have a leg to stand on if you are talking about general advice to invest in some shares or investment fund, rather than him paying for independent advice.

You don't need a third party claim firm, you can tell the bank yourself that you want to claim, if their advice was not suitable and if he was not aware that the value of shares can go down.

You would need to tell them what they advised him to do and why he relied on the advice, and why your husband has only now noticed after 15 years that the advice was not appropriate and why you didn't complain at the time.

If you were to use a 'claim firm' they would need to know all the facts, which they could only get from your husband - he could instead go straight to the bank with those facts instead and save the 36%.

It is not really like PPI because with PPI the banks have said they did a lot of misselling and a lot of people who bought it (even if they don't remember the details) have got away with saying they didn't need it and lie that it wasn't explained to them, and for a while the banks would generally cave in after receiving a simple letter from the complainer.

Whereas with other complaints of bad practice where there isn't an industry wide amnesty going on, you actually have to have a proper case about why you got screwed over.

Did all the shares your husband bought go bust? Or did they just fall in value with the stock markets and your husband decided to sell them while they were worth less than he paid?

Kentish_Dave

More information is needed here. What exactly did he invest in that has made a loss over that period, and why was the invoice to invest in it inappropriate?

Alexland

I have heard a similar radio advert this week. Very similar in style to the PPI adverts and targeting people who lost money after taking out investment products with high street banks. Someone is testing if they can create a new claims industry out of this topic.

SonOf

However they are charging 36% if successful.

They would do as most complaints fail as the majority via CMCs are speculative try-it-ons rather than genuine complaints. So, they have to charge the suckers that use them more.

Is there a way to claim this like PPI without using a third party?

Yes.

He was advised to invest in shares and he lost most of his money which was inheritance from his father who passed away.

The BOS never recommended shares. They recommended investment funds. The early 2000s suffered a large loss period between 2001 and 2003. However, the period after that saw people double their money within 5 years. So, it would be difficult to know how he lost money unless he sold the investments after the drop and didnt wait for the recovery.

That does not make it missold. Investments go up and down every day. That is just how they work. You get good years and bad years and you cant just complain if they lose money as every investment ever made would be a missale then. This is why you are told to invest for at least 5 years (as the odds of being in a negative position after 5 years is unlikely.

Maybe it would help if you told us why you think he was missold?