I'd like to draw attention to a recent success I had clawing back money from a failed 10 year investment plan I took out with them. This has saved me almost two grand! Bargain! A free holiday for me this year.
The fund performance over the last 9 years has beaten the FTSE, which is good. ... Read review
Advantages: You get cash back on poor performing funds Disadvantages: There isn't one
I'd like to draw attention to a recent success I had clawing back money from a failed 10 year investment plan I took out with them. This has saved me almost two grand! Bargain! A free holiday for me this year.
The fund performance over the last 9 years has beaten the FTSE, which is good. Shame that the FTSE has not done well. Therefore the fund is worth less than the value of premiums paid in. However the customer service side has ... ...savings scheme some nine years ago. Saving a fixed amount every month over the period would invest the money in the UK stockmarket and should have returned a considerable tax free sum a mere decade later. Due to the length of the investment, the policy was said to be risk free. Had I also invested in a pair of hindsight goggles I would of know this would not be the case given the way the market has performed, particularly over the last 2 years. However, ... more
I'd like to draw attention to a recent success I had clawing back money from a failed 10 year investment plan I took out with them. This has saved me almost two grand! Bargain! A free holiday for me this year.
The fund performance over the last 9 years has beaten the FTSE, which is good. Shame that the FTSE has not done well. Therefore the fund is worth less than the value of premiums paid in. However the customer service side has been exceptional.
I started a 10 year savings scheme some nine years ago. Saving a fixed amount every month over the period would invest the money in the UK stockmarket and should have returned a considerable tax free sum a mere decade later. Due to the length of the investment, the policy was said to be risk free. Had I also invested in a pair of hindsight goggles I would of know this would not be the case given the way the market has performed, particularly over the last 2 years. However, all is not lost for those willing to challenge the system.
This particular savings scheme was run by NatWest Life which is run completely independently from the branch who simply look after my current account and standard savings accounts. I told my branch I was not happy with the fund performance and they explained fully and clearly how their complaints procedure worked.
If anyone out there has a similar long term savings scheme which has under performed against expectation I would recommend you write to the following address expressing your dissatisfaction.
Customer Complaints Unit Compliance PO Box 833 Trinity Quay 1 Avon Street Bristol BS99 5TY
They acknowledge letters or emails within 5 days and aim for a full resolution within 4 weeks. You are almost encouraged to contact the independent financial ombudman if you are in anyway unhappy with how NatWest are dealing with your complaint. All they ask is that you give them a reasonable opportunity to resolve the situation themselves. I get the feeling there are serious penalties if they do not comply. You have a time period of 6 months from your initial complaint to write to the Ombudsman. As a result I found NatWest bent over backwards to ensure I didn’t get that far. Just in case you do..
Investment Division Financial Ombudsman Service South Quay Plaza 183 Marsh Wall London E14 9SR Tel 0845 080 1800 Email: enquiries@financial-ombudsman.org.uk
The main points to get them on are :-
Unclear fees structure. ---------------------- It would seem that if you look at the charging structure of these schemes, it is the investor who generally bears all the risk. Commissions are taken up front. Maintenance fees are calculated as a percentage of the fund regardless of whether it grows or shrinks. These charges are rarely quantified for you but in this instance took about 4% pa off the growth.
Fund growth expectation. ----------------------- With the UK stock market now at the level it was 7 years ago, a significant number of funds, which involve regular saving, are now worth less than the amount invested. This clearly could not be the investors expectation at outset. Therefore any sales pitch must have led to an expectation over and above the funds performance. You can therefore challenge the level of risk associated with the policy, claiming that this was not made clear to you at the time it was sold.
Past performance. ---------------- We are all aware of the above phrase, but if they give more weight to promoting how well the fund has performed in the past, than warning that past performance should not be used as a guide to future performance, then they can be fined. Bringing this up in a casual manner can have an amazing effect. I doubt anyone is clear of this breach in the past.
Sales commission. ---------------- This I feel was the clincher. If a commission was paid off the back of the policy being ‘sold’ then they know they are on very dodgy ground. This is no longer the practice on any savings policy as it opens the financial institution up to mis-selling. Commissions would have generally been deducted from your first year premiums.
The outcome for me was a refund of all the premiums I had paid and compensation to the level that assumed I had invested this money in a NatWest ‘Diamond’ high interest account over the entire period. They have also released my cash from the policy a year early with no penalties. This was easy money considering I took the risk which didn’t pay off. Arguably this was my own stupid fault but logically I can’t see why NatWest should have made more money out of my money than I did.
Hope others recoup their hard saved cash as a result of this information.
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