Premier Assets Research Limited

claire21

Anybody know of them?

Letter came that I have an unclaimed asset of £4,300 approx.

Commission only payable if successful (25% plus VAT).

I do have shares and inherited some shares etc when my grandad died.

Should I instruct them ?

Many thanks.

PS previously tried with the unclaimed assets register for £18 - nothing found.

Aegis

25% commission for something you already own? Tell them to get stuffed!

If you own the shares, you should be looking at a fraction of that price to sell them, and if you don't know of anything else that you own then it's probably a scam. However, if it's not, you can still hunt around for these assets much cheaper than that. Just see Martin's "Reclaim Lost Assets" article.

Aegis

A search brings up this guardian letter (first one that came up that was worth quoting...):

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2007/apr/01/observercashsection.theobserver2 wrote:

Are bounty hunters robbing me?

Premier Assets Research says it has traced £4,000 apparently owed to me. I have to sign a contract allowing them to take 25 per cent plus VAT of the assets and a retainer. I am a New Zealander and have no relatives in the UK.

AH, London

Premier Assets Research has no website and told me it is company policy never to speak to the press. That is enough reason to avoid dealing with the firm. But you will still have a niggling feeling that there could be money owing to you.

Bounty hunters trawl company share registers looking for people who have not claimed their dividends for a few years. Perhaps a deceased New Zealand relative had bought UK shares? Try the Unclaimed Assets Register on www.uar.co.uk, which has a fixed fee of £18 per search. If no one in your family can suggest any company names and you want to go ahead, ask Premier Assets Research for more information. Then negotiate a much lower fee and no retainer. If you are the right person, its knowledge is worthless unless you buy, so it may be prepared to take less.

debbie42

The "Premier Assets" listed on the FSA site is different to the "Premier Assets Research" company, which is a company registered in the UK.

edit: They do have a website, contrary to the Guardian reply, though I guess it may be recent. I'd certainly investigate other avenues before letting them have a cut of any finds. Nice of them to bring it to your notice, though!

Aegis

debbie42 wrote: »

The "Premier Assets" listed on the FSA site is different to the "Premier Assets Research" company, which is a company registered in the UK.

Yes, I spotted that and changed my post accordingly

However, it certainly sounds like they're still crooks. No website, no speaking to the press, and certainly no problem screwing people over for a service that costs £18 tops!

claire21

Thanks all.

I phoned them up and said I had already tried the unclaimed assets register.

He replied they had access to different searches so did I want to instruct them.

I said I thought 25% was a bit much and I would try myself, to which he replied - how was I going to search and I said I didnt know yet.

He said as a goodwill gesture he would do it for 20%.

Aegis

I wouldn't be surprised if their next strategy was to ask for the fee up front...

In all likelihood, there's nothing there for you. If the unclaimed assets search has turned up nothing, then I don't think it's too likely that these people have found anything, and if you don't remember owning assets worth around that much, then it's almost certainly just them preying on your trusting nature.

However, if there is something, then it looks like there's again a much cheaper way to go about it, this time in an article from the Observer dated 8 years ago:

Premier Assets Research contacted a reader saying: 'We have recently discovered an asset which we understand may be due to you. It is held by Trustees pending your instructions and is valued at approximately £4,000.'

The firm offered to recover the asset for 25 per cent commission (plus VAT) - about £1,000 in this case.

The baffled reader, unable to find out about the missing asset without paying the fee, contacted Cash . We referred him to Shareholder Communications, which helps listed companies locate shareholders who have missed out on a share entitlement. It charges 10 per cent, but reveals the asset at the outset, enabling shareholders to deal with the share registrar and avoid the fee.

For £50, Shareholder Communications went through the reader's shareholdings and suggested that the asset may be a share in Southern Electric, which merged with Scottish Hydro in 1998 to become Scottish and Southern Energy. The reader had objected to the merger, and never got around to completing a form that would release the shares. The law requires dissenters' shares and dividends to be placed in a trust.

The reader says: 'It is only my idleness combined with bloody mindedness in not wanting to accede to this merger, that has left shares in the dissenter's trust. It is a bit rich of Premier to offer to "uncover" these shares at such a high commission rate.'

Scottish and Southern says: 'Premier Assets Research is not working for us. We have written to all shareholders on our dissenting register, saying we can do this all for nothing.'

Premier declined to comment, saying that its policy is never to talk to the press.

Premier's approach is completely legal, but before you agree to pay commission, check through your records to make sure you haven't lost track of some valuable shares. It could save you thousands.

If it might be shares that you've forgotten about, then go via this route and save yourself 15% of the overall value (still 10% after your "discount".

claire21

I couldn't find where I go to "shareholder communications", as per above post.

Any link please?

Thanks

Aegis

Try a quote from here:

http://www.capitatracing.co.uk/claims/

The original quote of mine was 8 years old, so that might explain why there are difficulties tracking down a good service.

Maybe someone else can suggest somewhere with a much lower commission than 25%.

claire21

Aegis wrote: »

Try a quote from here:

http://www.capitatracing.co.uk/claims/

The original quote of mine was 8 years old, so that might explain why there are difficulties tracking down a good service.

Maybe someone else can suggest somewhere with a much lower commission than 25%.

They wanted £100 an hour.:eek:

Aegis

claire21 wrote: »

They wanted £100 an hour.:eek:

Unless they were going to do 10 hours work, that's cheaper than your original quote

Still, a little overboard.

Give this thread a couple more days and see what happens, as the original quote is still utterly ridiculous.