Help needed on Scottish Widows Investment

[jj33]

I wonder if anyone can help. I invested a large amount of money with Lloyds TSB Scottish Widows (OEIC, a balanced growth portfolio) which was one of the lowest risk investments they had to offer. After the money had been invested and i got an updated statement i found i had lost over £15,000 in less than a year and a half. Due to this i was left with no option but to get out quickly as i could not afford for this to carry on. Last year i saw on tv a lady in a similar position who made a claim against Lloyds TSB for being mis-sold a policy. Could anyone advise how she would have gone about this? I know the chances are very slim and the money has gone but one can only but try. Any help/views would be appreciated.

[factor-fiction]

How much was the initial investment?

[jj33]

£60,000 factor30

[factor-fiction]

Thanks. 25% is a lot.
I'm no expert but I thought OEICs were a specialist investment and known to be quite risky.

I'll try to look for you later

[jj33]

Ok, thank you. I was led to believe by the adviser that it was a low risk investment and on that basis i went ahead. After the balanced there were a further 3 higher risk ones so goodness knows what on i would have lost if id invested in one of those 3, i suppose i should be thankful i didnt.

[Maydup]

Have you actually removed the remaining money? If not, get some advice before you do anything. The market you've invested in might be about to upturn - an Independent Financial Advisor will be able to give an indication and also support you with the reinvestment or the best place to save the £45k.

[buildersmate]

"I invested a large amount of money with Lloyds TSB Scottish Widows" - I think what you mean is that you invested in a Scottish Widows OEIC and you were advised by Lloyds-TSB. They are two different organisations.

"a balanced growth portfolio" - that is not a name of any of the six SW OEICs on offer. Goodness only knows what you invested in.

"which was one of the lowest risk investments they had to offer" - interesting. OEICs are basically invested in equities (the stock-market). It cannot be true that it is a low-risk investment.

"Last year i saw on tv a lady in a similar position who made a claim against Lloyds TSB for being mis-sold a policy" - more likely this was a missold PPI policy. You had an investment.

"Could anyone advise how she would have gone about this?" - if you think you've received investment advice from a IFA without adequate advice as to the risks involved then write to Looyds-TSB first to see what they say. I would only say that cases of mis-sold investment advice seem to be really rare these days, the FSA has seen to that and IFAs are really careful about the hoops they leap through to ensure you have signed up that know understand what you have committed to. It is possible of course that they have messed up.

[jj33]

I am reading off the paperwork i have and it states that i have an OEIC, balanced growth portfolio, sure class A Accumulation. I am totally clueless on financial matters and thought by going to the bank i would be pointed in the right direction, obviously extremely nieve of me, hence i now would never trust another penny with them. With regards to the item i seen on the tv it was definately not PPI as the lady like myself had to pull out as she had lost that much money. Thanks anyway for all your points/comments but ive requested a call back from one of these companies that deal with mis-sold policies, no win no fee things, afterall ive already resigned myself to the fact that the money has well and truely gone so ive got nothing to loose in asking. You win some, you loose some, looks like ive lost lol :-(

[Maydup]

Nooooo don't go with No Win No fee, that's just another gimmick..If you do win you pay a mighty fee.

Please, please, please find an Independent Financial Adviser. Not someone who works for a bank, an insurance company or any other institution who wants to sell you their own product.

I still maintain that the money might not be well and truly gone just yet and the less you understand about the whole thing the more you need soem advice. But be prepared to pay for an hour or so of his or hers time, after all e won't be on commission because he's not trying to sell you something ot take a cut of your savings.

[ubasses]

An OEIC is basically an investment like the old unit trusts a Company runs a portfolio of investments and you own a portion of the investment which spreads your risk. A balanced portfolio means that you were prepared to take a reasonable amount of risk for better gains, but not high risk for bigger gains or a conservative risk for smaller gains. The losses if the stock market went down would be proportional. You should have filled in a questionnaire when you had your advice interview which would have awarded points to your answers to determine the level of risk you were prepared to take. This would be in your file to determine whether you were kissold or not.

You do not say when you invested but if it was just before the stockmarket crashed the loss would make sense, but by withdrawing you have missed out on any gains as it recovers. You have consolidated your losses by doing so.
Write to Lloyds explain everything to them and ask for an appointment to discuss, if you are still dissatisfied you can proceeds to the ombudsman but avoid any of these Companies as they will take a chunk of any compensation and this is not an insurance policy.

[jj33]

Ty Maidup but i have already taken the money out, i just couldnt risk leaving it there any longer especially after loosing £15,000 in 18 months. The reason i thought about no win no fee was i realise they take about 25% off any payout you may be lucky to receive but at least i would possibly be able to recover a little of my loss as i certainly wouldnt know where to start other than do what buildersmate suggested by writing to Lloyds TSB

[factor-fiction]

Using one of these claims firms is definitely not the answer. It is very unlikely misselling would have occurred as your attitude to risk would have been covered in some detail. The first step is definitely to speak to Lloyds and ask them to explain why you believed it was a low risk fund yet it lost so much

[jj33]

Thank you ubases, this just all came about today as a friend has a similar story. I dont recall filling any questionnaire out but i could wrong. As you say I think the best thing is for me to do is make an appointment Lloyds to discuss. Should have just put the money in Premium Bonds lol x

[williaj]

I had a similar problem with a large investment company a few years back when I lost a chunk of my investment. I am afraid it was a long struggle to prove that I had been mis-sold the product. My advice would be to get all of the info asssociated with the purchase of the product and documentation provided at point of sala along with any details and info you have from the meeting(s) you had with the sales person, including details of what your spouce or any third party who was there remembers about the sales pitch.

Useful information

What you could be talking about is termed as a significant breach, situations that question the fitness and properness of an adviser. Some typical examples of this type of breach are allegations or substantiated charges include:
• churning
• forgery of signatures
• fraud or dishonesty
• unauthorised sales of introducers
• not following Sales Process Guidelines for adviser's - for example
• inappropriate advice,
• not recording all essential information in the Financial Planning Questionnaire,
• failure to follow/adhere to the sales process

You need to detail as much information as possible providing dates etc.
Any lack of information/advice. If you have you been switched over to a different product to the one sold? Then Churning could have taken place.
Churning is where the broker is surrendering policies and replacing them with new ones thus generating commission for himself and financial loss to his clients. If making these fund changes has generated him commission, then the phrase churning could be used.

The main route to go down is that of bad advice.

The onus is on the IFA firm to investigate the activities of the sales consultant. If they find in your favour then they must make good the financial loss. If they do not find in your favour then you can refer your case to the FSA to investigate further. There is little else I can give you that would help your case, but please make sure that you provide a full history, highlighting the areas which you now know are not correct.

Best of Luck in your quest, hopefully you will get your money back.