Trading company - Equitiz

Aryana202

Has anyone heard of this company (Equitiz)?  I unwisely signed up to this trading company and cannot find a way of exiting it without paying them more money.  Every time someone from the company calls, I tell them I want to close the account but they either hang up on me or are unhelpful. This has been ongoing for the past 10 months. My most recent communication is that I will have to pay either £250 or £500 to close the account.  Any advice is welcome? 

Browntoa

Not FCA registered, which is a red flag 

CliveOfIndia

I've never heard of them, but the first result that Google threw up was this: https://www.fca.org.uk/news/warnings/equitiz

Based on that, I'm going to guess that you've got very little comeback.

You could of course just not pay them anything and stop dealing with them - but have you got money sitting with them that you are wanting to withdraw?

Browntoa

https://m.brokersview.com/news/equitiz-faces-customer-allegations-of-fraud-amidst-fcas-warning-against-it-120138

born_again

https://www.finma.ch/en/finma-public/warnungen/warning-list/equitiz/

This lot?

So not just in UK that they are not on the regulated list of companies to deal with.

How much have you invested in them?

Aryana202

I only invested £250 of which only £10 remains. I'll accept that as a loss but I just don't want to lose anymore money and want to know how to close the account.  They are saying if the account goes to below zero, I would need to pay £500 but I don't think they can just take the money.  What if I just leave the account to rot?

CliveOfIndia

Given that they're unregulated and are based in Switzerland, I very much doubt there's anything they could do in terms of chasing you for money.

If it were me, I'd just "leave the account to rot" as you put it.  Just make sure that any Direct Debits, Standing Orders, CPAs or whatever are cancelled with your bank so that they can't take anything from you without your knowledge.

born_again

Would agree with above. 
How was account funded funded?

Aryana202

I made a debit card payment. I will contact my bank and ensure that no payments are made to this company. Thank you for everyone's advice, you've all been very helpful.