Making a claim with FSCS

philupnorth1964

Last week I unfortunately discovered that a large proportion of my private pension was worth next to nothing when I was trying to transfer it to a different pension provider, long story short about 5 years ago when I was struggling with depression I was persuaded to move my pension & invested in Greyfriars portfolio 6. Last month I started to move it back to the pension provider it was moved from who last week informed me of the problem.
I'm no expert on pensions like most people & rely on pension advisors, as far as I was aware my pension was fine as it was invested through Novia & the last statement I had showed funds of over £71000 but its actually worth about £6000 which to my limited knowledge is fraud & when according to the NSCS website Greyfriars was placed in administration in October 2018 & they started accepting claims in February 2019
I have had a solicitor from a company with high ratings on trustpilot contact me offering to help on a no win no fee basis to recoup my pension but should I accept his offer or should I find my own local solicitor to do it for me & if so how & what do I look for as does it have to be a solicitor with special knowledge to do this? Or should I make a claim myself with the FSCS & how difficult would it be?
I have paperwork from the financial consultant  advising me to invest in Greyfriars portfolio 6 stating they are regulated shares which I now understand they were not, statements showing the false value of the shares & the original promotional paperwork for Greyfriars, don't know if it means anything but I still have it

What should I do 

MEM62

How much are the solicitors fees if he is successful?  Many NWNF firms (bottom feeders in my opinion) have high fees and you can loose a bog percentage of any redress in their fees.  You may have a claim against the advisor from what you have posted - assuming that he was regulated,  You can pursue this yourself for free.  Be careful with anyone offering you assist you with this.  Many of the firms offering to help with these types of losses / claims are no less sharks that the guys that ripped you off in the first place.    

Linton

The key question is whether your "financial consultant" was a regulated advisor (an IFA) or just a salesman or worse.  If s/he was an IFA you should expect recompense so talk to the FSCS first to find out what is happening rather than a NWNF lawyer.   See https://www.ftadviser.com/your-industry/2019/08/23/collapsed-greyfriars-adviser-owes-700k-to-clients/?page=1 which may be relevent.

dunstonh

I have had a solicitor from a company with high ratings on trustpilot contact me offering to help on a no win no fee basis to recoup my pension but should I accept his offer or should I find my own local solicitor to do it for me

Why do you need a solicitor?    The FSCS process is free of charge to use.   

Or should I make a claim myself with the FSCS & how difficult would it be?

Absolute doddle.

I have paperwork from the financial consultant  advising me to invest in Greyfriars portfolio 6 stating they are regulated shares which I now understand they were not, statements showing the false value of the shares & the original promotional paperwork for Greyfriars, don't know if it means anything but I still have it

Is that financial consultant a regulated financial adviser?  If they were at the time and the firm still is, then you do not use the FSCS.  You make a complaint directly to the firm.    If they reject, you have the right to go to the FOS.  All free of charge.

Most unregulated sales complaints succeed in favour of the consumer.  You dont need an ambulance chaser taking their cut (which is also vatable at 20%).

Be wary of double dipping.  The FCA has mentioned concerns about firms doing the misselling to begin with then setting up a claims company to then put in claims with the FSCS to get redress.    Effectively earning double money by ripping you off twice.

[Deleted User]

On a side note, it is flabbergasting that:
1. Anyone would advise to put 100% of one’s pension into alternative investments. The advisor is either stupid or corrupt. Maybe both. 
2.  FCA defines the types of assets held within Portfolio 6 as “Standard Investment”. That’s highly misleading. 

philupnorth1964

I'm still trying to piece it al together & hope I can get some information from the guy who informed me about it, I'm assuming the solicitor will want at least 20% which would be more like 25% with vat added so really don't want to go down that route unless I have no other choice hence asking here before I commit myself
i intend to talk to the FSCS next week but am a little nervous trying myself incase I screw it up & get nothing in the end. Its my understanding that the company this consultant worked for went bust so I have no redress there & will have to go through the FSCS directly to try & get something back, thanks for the link Linton I will read through it later in the week when I get the chance
My pension pot was divided into a couple of areas but the majority was unfortunately put with Greyfriars 
The company this advisor worked for was Chadkirk wealth management who also no longer exist & I might have a claim through them but now even more unsure how to proceed as there are two companies involved

Dox

philupnorth1964 said:

I'm still trying to piece it al together & hope I can get some information from the guy who informed me about it, 

Don't worry if you can't. Free, expert information and guidance from TPAS: https://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk

[Deleted User]

Claim. https://www.fscs.org.uk/failed-firms/chadkirk/

Zanderman

philupnorth1964 said:

......
I have had a solicitor from a company with high ratings on trustpilot contact me offering to help on a no win no fee basis to recoup my pension but should I accept his offer or should I find my own local solicitor to do it for me & if so how & what do I look for as does it have to be a solicitor with special knowledge to do this? Or should I make a claim myself with the FSCS & how difficult would it be?
.......

Why did this solicitor 'contact you'?  If they called you/emailed you out of the blue I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. 
And don't be taken in by trustpilot - it's not trustworthy!

dunstonh

i intend to talk to the FSCS next week but am a little nervous trying myself incase I screw it up & get nothing in the end

You really cannot mess it up.  The FSCS is a compensation scheme.  Their staff are very good and they dont expect you to be an expert. Indeed, the less obvious you are as an expert, the more likely your complaint is to succeed.

BTW, solicitors do not cold call. They are not allowed to.   Are you sure it is a solicitor and not a claims company or introducer to a solicitor (a handy way of circumventing the rules is for unregulated companies to cold call and then pass their leads on).