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What is an Investment?

With an Investment your money buys units in funds, which give you the right to share in the return from those funds. The most popular type of funds, known as “mixed” or managed” funds invest in a mixture of company shares, commercial property and fixed interest stock.

Advisers will often recommend this type of fund to inexperienced investors because they have the appeal of “spreading” the risk whilst still having the potential for substantial returns.

Investments don’t have a fixed term but are generally considered medium to long term – ideally they should be held for at least 7 to 10 years, though sales people will usually describe them as 5 year investments because they often impose substantial penalties if cashed within the first five years.

The risks associated with these type of products varies but with most Investments a large proportion of your money will be invested in stocks and shares and so will be directly affected by variations in the stock market. There can be substantial returns but equally, as many have experienced recently, there can be substantial losses. Investments also tend to attract relatively high charges which eat into your capital.

Why were they mis-sold?

Despite being medium to high risk investments the true extent of the risk was not always fully explained, leaving the client under the impression they were taking only a little more risk than if they had left their money on deposit in a bank or building society.

Even when lenders use the words “investment bond” it can be very misleading as customers may associate this with low or risk free investments such as National Savings Bonds or other government bonds.

There are many examples of elderly or retired people who have been targeted by the banks because they have a large sum of money on deposit with them - perhaps they have recently taken a lump sum on retirement, have been left an inheritance, or even sold their home to downsize.

For those about to retire or already retired, the Investment was also sold as a way of providing an income. The danger here is that the capital can be severely eroded if the growth is not sufficient to cover the income and charges deducted from the bond. Many of our clients tell us this was not fully explained to them.

An investment is far more lucrative to the advisers and companies who sold them. For example, it would not be uncommon for the adviser who sold these products to earn commission of 6 to 7%, so an adviser who sold a £50,000 investment might receive £3,000 or more. If sold by a bank, their adviser may have earned a bonus but most of the commission was used to boost the bank’s profits. Perhaps with such incentives, it is little wonder that investments have been mis-sold.

Clients have been devastated to discover that in some cases they have lost 20% or more of their capital. Elderly customers will have little possibility of recouping their loss over the short to medium term and have felt they have no choice but to cash in their investment at a significant loss.

Why use Renaissance Easy Claim?

Renaissance started in 2004 and has experience of submitting thousands of financial services complaints to many different banks and other firms. As at Nov 2011, they have won over £90million in compensation.
They understand the processes and the regulatory framework and, crucially, understand the basis of the compensation.

They will therefore check firms’ calculations to make sure clients are properly compensated for their loss – something that the Financial Ombudsman will not typically do as their responsibility generally ends once the firm has agreed in principle to compensate a complainant and the customer has accepted their decision.

Once you have completed your name, telephone number and other details and requested a call-back, they will contact you to run through a series of questions relating to your investment. From these questions their experts will be able to tell whether your investment was mis-sold and if the potential for a claim is there.

If Renaissance can take your complaint on, they will send a pack to you to sign and once returned, they will do all the work on your behalf. Their fee is 25% + VAT of any compensation won, with no upfront fees and nothing to pay if they are unsuccessful.

As well as their results, they also pride themselves on providing the very best customer service. In customer satisfaction surveys they score an average of 9.5 out of 10 and many people recommend them to their friends;

Mrs M from Inverness who won £5,000 in relation to her Halifax Investment, said “I would recommend Renaissance without hesitation”.

Mr & Mrs M from Perthshire who won over £14,000 in relation to their Legal & General Investment sold by Alliance & Leicester said “Renaissance’s expert services restored our faith that a just and fair financial banking system is possible.”

Mr K from Sheffield who won over £7,500 in relation to his Halifax Investment said; “Thank you very much for your help, I never thought I would receive anything at all. You certainly made a difference. There’s nothing you could do better. Thanks again.”

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