i lost half my investment in a investment csheme with a promised profit

Quintis

had a sum of money in one of the main banks in ireland in a stadard deposit account. one day i got a phone call who from a private banking group who were a subsidary of this bank. they told me to invest my money with them in a very safe investment scheme(shares, very little irish holdings in the portfolio) and we would make a profit a few percent greater than the deposit account over a few years. it was very low risk and at worse i was told the profit would be equal to that of the deposit account. a few years on my investment is barely half of my original sum, i went to a solicitor and he is working on it but it is going nowhere they invested the money wrong it seems, hide this fact in confusing letters and investment details. from the start i signed an agreement with the bank not to give my personal or account info to anyone yet i got a phone call from this private banking group so obviously they broke privacy agreements and i did not get what i was tol i was getting with my investment. I need help!!!

drunkmonkey

If you were poached and promised that is illegal, it would probably fall under the financial regulators umbrella, I would contact them seeking advice, you would have a strong case, anybody working in banking/ financial services should know a bit more.
Contact consumer affairs tommorow and go from there.

displaced dub

Quintis wrote: »

had a sum of money in one of the main banks in ireland in a stadard deposit account. one day i got a phone call who from a private banking group who were a subsidary of this bank. they told me to invest my money with them in a very safe investment scheme(shares, very little irish holdings in the portfolio) and we would make a profit a few percent greater than the deposit account over a few years. it was very low risk and at worse i was told the profit would be equal to that of the deposit account. a few years on my investment is barely half of my original sum, i went to a solicitor and he is working on it but it is going nowhere they invested the money wrong it seems, hide this fact in confusing letters and investment details. from the start i signed an agreement with the bank not to give my personal or account info to anyone yet i got a phone call from this private banking group so obviously they broke privacy agreements and i did not get what i was tol i was getting with my investment. I need help!!!

Did you try the financial ombudsman??? He has been getting results for a lot of people over the last few years.

Might be worth a try and cheaper than a solicitor.

spoonface

Quintis wrote: »

had a sum of money in one of the main banks in ireland in a stadard deposit account. one day i got a phone call who from a private banking group who were a subsidary of this bank. they told me to invest my money with them in a very safe investment scheme(shares, very little irish holdings in the portfolio) and we would make a profit a few percent greater than the deposit account over a few years. it was very low risk and at worse i was told the profit would be equal to that of the deposit account. a few years on my investment is barely half of my original sum, i went to a solicitor and he is working on it but it is going nowhere they invested the money wrong it seems, hide this fact in confusing letters and investment details. from the start i signed an agreement with the bank not to give my personal or account info to anyone yet i got a phone call from this private banking group so obviously they broke privacy agreements and i did not get what i was tol i was getting with my investment. I need help!!!

First, any subsidiary effectively is part of your bank and would be likely to be covered within the privacy clause that was part of your T&C's.
Secondly, I have lost much more than 50% of some of my share investments. The difference is that you're looking for someone to blame. You're a big boy/girl now and it's upto you to know that 'low risk' and 'no risk' are entirely different things. If you wanted a no-risk investment, you had to choose a capital-assured fund in the first place. To be frank I think you have no case. Your choice now is to either cut your losses by cashing out or continue to trust them. I invested via an 'independent' advisor years ago with a 5-year tie-in and at some point within that time I would have been down over 40% but by the end of the 5 years I was close to breakeven. So it would be upto you now to assess the prospects of the funds you are invested in.

Quintis

ya the solicitor went through him but with no real luck, the investment was too large, they were unable to help. all i want is my original investment back, no profits for the five years or compensation but the bank and the invesment group are just shifting blame on each other and each day the solicitors fees increase but it minimal result

spoonface

Quintis wrote: »

they invested the money wrong it seems

Can you expand on what that means? Wrongly or badly? Wrongly in such a way as they made an actual error or what? Depending, could mean they have some blame...

Quintis

spoonface wrote: »

First, any subsidiary effectively is part of your bank and would be likely to be covered within the privacy clause that was part of your T&C's.
Secondly, I have lost much more than 50% of some of my share investments. The difference is that you're looking for someone to blame. You're a big boy/girl now and it's upto you to know that 'low risk' and 'no risk' are entirely different things. If you wanted a no-risk investment, you had to choose a capital-assured fund in the first place. To be frank I think you have no case. Your choice now is to either cut your losses by cashing out or continue to trust them. I invested via an 'independent' advisor years ago with a 5-year tie-in and at some point within that time I would have been down over 40% but by the end of the 5 years I was close to breakeven. So it would be upto you now to assess the prospects of the funds you are invested in.

no my privacy clause was very strict none of my personal or account info was to be passed on to ANYONE yet i got a phone call from this private banking group who already had all my details against my wishes. they also sold me something different to what i actually got which according to junior cert business is against the law, i waas guranteed a profit of least that of the depsit account thats why i did it cause i was unwillling or did not have the luxury to risk my money

Quintis

spoonface wrote: »

Can you expand on what that means? Wrongly or badly? Wrongly in such a way as they made an actual error or what? Depending, could mean they have some blame...

wrongly, they told me they were investing in X for example yet when i recieved my first report they had invested in Y just say. they invested in nothing that they said it was, even saying at one stage it was some sort of pension fund which makes no sense at all to me

spoonface

Quintis wrote: »

no my privacy clause was very strict none of my personal or account info was to be passed on to ANYONE yet i got a phone call from this private banking group who already had all my details against my wishes. they also sold me something different to what i actually got which according to junior cert business is against the law, i waas guranteed a profit of least that of the depsit account thats why i did it cause i was unwillling or did not have the luxury to risk my money

If all you say is solid and you have the paperwork to demonstrate what they promised vs. what happened, I would say get in touch with the financial ombudsman and let them fight your case for free or at least advise you if you have options.

www.financialombudsman.ie

Quintis

my solicitor went through the F O first and formost but they were unable to do anyhting for, i must contact my solicitor and find out the reason for that but i think it had something to do with the sum of money, they can only refund up to 10,000 euro or something along those lines, sorry i dont have more on that

spoonface

Quintis wrote: »

my solicitor went through the F O first and formost but they were unable to do anyhting for, i must contact my solicitor and find out the reason for that but i think it had something to do with the sum of money, they can only refund up to 10,000 euro or something along those lines, sorry i dont have more on that

If it's a choice between 10K and 0, I would take it. Or maybe I'm misreading it?

Quintis

ah this stage it would hardly just about cover solicitors fees

Arthurdaly

Did you recieve a prospectus or any documentation on the fund/investment? I find it hard to believe you would make substanial investments when you have no documentation on what you were invested in?

Was the promise verbal? Do you have anything which stipulates that your capital was secured? Are you sure you are not confusing promised with a sales speil about how the investment outperformed the deposit rates over a period?

Raskolnikov

What was the name of the company who sold you the fund. Which investment fund are you in and which investment fund were you supposed to be in?

pog it

Quintis,
Ring the Financial Ombudsman YOURSELF. Find out for yourself can they or can they not help you. Learn from your mistake, do not take your solicitor's word for it!!
Or sack the solicitor asap, minimise your costs with them, and find one who works on a no win no fee basis.

pocketdooz

From what I understand, this is the sequence of events:

1) You had a lump of cash in an Irish bank
2) A subsidiary of that Irish bank (one of the affiliated asset managers/broker/dealers) called you
3) They offered you a better return by investing in international equities "(shares, very little irish holdings in the portfolio)"
4) You accepted, signed the requisite forms and read the terms and conditions
5) You lost a substantial amount of your investment

"hide this fact in confusing letters and investment details" = clearly you should not be investing in international equities, so you were out of your comfort zone.

In my opinion you have absolutely no case whatsoever.

You invested in the absolutely riskiest piece of companies' capital structures (it's equity), most likely without knowing what you invested in exactly. You did not monitor this investment and take the opportunity to get out when you were 5/10/15 percent down. Now a few years later you are down over 50% and you are paying even more money out to a lawyer who hasn't a prayer of getting you any money back and is just clipping you for fees.

Sorry mate, but you should give up now and save yourself anymore legal fees.

.

Quintis

ya well i was told generally what i would be investing in but no concrete facts until the whole sum was invested because there were a large number of areas where the money was being invested, i was told only really that little if any of the money would be invested in ireland, there was very little information ever sent to me via letter or email etc.

ixus

Hi Quintis,

I can promise you you are not the only person who feels they have been duped by the investment arms of banks. I've heard a few stories.

While I'm not asking you to divulge the specifics of your case, it's very hard to give an accurate analysis.

If it was an equity only fund, there's no way that your investment risk could have been limited to a specific percentage. There would have had to have been some fixed income in there. Does your contract specificly say that you would only be risking X or were you "told" this?

Another website that could prove useful is www.askaboutmoney.com I'm pretty sure you'll see lots of other cases there!

Be aware, there is no binding advice given on boards.ie merely suggestions of how you might proceed.

Ixus

Raskolnikov

pocketdooz wrote: »

From what I understand, this is the sequence of events:

1) You had a lump of cash in an Irish bank
2) A subsidiary of that Irish bank (one of the affiliated asset managers/broker/dealers) called you
3) They offered you a better return by investing in international equities "(shares, very little irish holdings in the portfolio)"
4) You accepted, signed the requisite forms and read the terms and conditions
5) You lost a substantial amount of your investment

"hide this fact in confusing letters and investment details" = clearly you should not be investing in international equities, so you were out of your comfort zone.

In my opinion you have absolutely no case whatsoever.

You invested in the absolutely riskiest piece of companies' capital structures (it's equity), most likely without knowing what you invested in exactly. You did not monitor this investment and take the opportunity to get out when you were 5/10/15 percent down. Now a few years later you are down over 50% and you are paying even more money out to a lawyer who hasn't a prayer of getting you any money back and is just clipping you for fees.

Sorry mate, but you should give up now and save yourself anymore legal fees.

.

Don't jump the gun.

they told me to invest my money with them in a very safe investment scheme(shares, very little irish holdings in the portfolio) and we would make a profit a few percent greater than the deposit account over a few years. it was very low risk and at worse i was told the profit would be equal to that of the deposit account.

If the original poster has some evidence of this, he has a very good case indeed.

These stories are a lesson for everyone. It's generally an awful idea to buy anything from anyone that cold-call's you.

D-Generate

But by saying that it was low risk do they not automatically have a get out of jail clause? It is not like they said it was no risk. At one point investing in Anglo would have been seen as a low risk investment, that doesn't mean that the position can't be wiped out though.

Sorry OP but I think unless you have actual evidence that they said it was no risk then you probably don't have a good case.

I seem to remember a thread a few months back with a similar situation. Again, somebody was told over the phone by a subsidiary of the bank that the investment scheme was no risk and they too lost a significant portion.

Quintis

well i was told perhaps the first year i may lose half a percent on my original sum but the second year i would have a profit of a percentage, year two two percent, year three etc etc and over five years the total return of the investment would be equal to but almost definitel at least one and a half or two times that of a normal deposit acccount, with no get out clause, once it was invested it had to see out the full tenure of five years. this was what i was told by a memeber of this subsidary group in the managers office of the local bank

Speculator

Quintis wrote: »

well i was told perhaps the first year i may lose half a percent on my original sum but the second year i would have a profit of a percentage, year two two percent, year three etc etc and over five years the total return of the investment would be equal to but almost definitel at least one and a half or two times that of a normal deposit acccount, with no get out clause, once it was invested it had to see out the full tenure of five years. this was what i was told by a memeber of this subsidary group in the managers office of the local bank

The above does not make sense, what type of investment bond did you invest in?

You keep on referring to the company that sold you this investment as a subsidary group, are you using the correct term?

Did you get a reasons why letter from the the advisor?

Speculator

Quintis wrote: »

ya well i was told generally what i would be investing in but no concrete facts until the whole sum was invested because there were a large number of areas where the money was being invested, i was told only really that little if any of the money would be invested in ireland, there was very little information ever sent to me via letter or email etc.

The above does not make sense:

A/ So you had no idea what you were investing in?

B/ When the whole sum was invested you still had no idea?

C/ The only fact you new about this type of investment was that a small proportion was invested in Ireland?



Honestly mate, your ignorance does not give you a case.

• You should have received a brochure.
• You would have had to sign and complete a proposal form.
• You should have recieved the terms and conditions.
• You should have received a reasons why letter
• You would have had access to their customer service number.

Quintis

it was not ignorance, i am not naive i asked all the questions but was told the the exact details of who and what the money would be invested in would not available untill the money was actually invested and when it was done then i would get a full report but this was not clear and there was no actuals details, it was just covered in unlabelled graphs etc etc

drunkmonkey

You don't just hand over money like that, you must have some kind of paper trail, are you sure the investment company are part of your bank?

Sounds like you were had by a dodgy salesman, he could have been buying you plots on the moon.

Is this a company that's regulated by the financial regulator? Are they still in business in Ireland?

UpAgainToday

Quintis wrote: »

had a sum of money in one of the main banks in ireland in a stadard deposit account. one day i got a phone call who from a private banking group who were a subsidary of this bank. they told me to invest my money with them in a very safe investment scheme(shares, very little irish holdings in the portfolio) and we would make a profit a few percent greater than the deposit account over a few years. it was very low risk and at worse i was told the profit would be equal to that of the deposit account. a few years on my investment is barely half of my original sum, i went to a solicitor and he is working on it but it is going nowhere they invested the money wrong it seems, hide this fact in confusing letters and investment details. from the start i signed an agreement with the bank not to give my personal or account info to anyone yet i got a phone call from this private banking group so obviously they broke privacy agreements and i did not get what i was tol i was getting with my investment. I need help!!!

Number 1 - ''i lost half my investment in a investment csheme with a promised profit'' - sorry to tell you this but there is no such thing as a promised profit if the investment was in shares (sure if you keep it in an account with interest or us gov bonds etc)

Im sick of people who do not fully understand investments and then cry ''ooooo the banks took our money ooo were broke cause of greedy bankers ooooo''.

Im not saying this was a hedge fund you invested in but in hedge funds they can say were going to buy X and then turn around and buy Y its perfectly legal. The final decision is with the actual fund manager.

The fact you actually went to the trouble of getting a solicitor etc proves your just a kid and should not be investing in financial products. Give yourself a few slaps in the face and then pick yourself back up and just leave it, you will not get anything back and you do not deserve anything back either

heno55

jasus"upagaintoday" that was harsh,i know people in this county are incapable of taking responsability for their own actions but do you realy have to kick a dog when he is down:rolleyes:

Quintis

UpAgainToday wrote: »

Number 1 - ''i lost half my investment in a investment csheme with a promised profit'' - sorry to tell you this but there is no such thing as a promised profit if the investment was in shares (sure if you keep it in an account with interest or us gov bonds etc)

Im sick of people who do not fully understand investments and then cry ''ooooo the banks took our money ooo were broke cause of greedy bankers ooooo''.

Im not saying this was a hedge fund you invested in but in hedge funds they can say were going to buy X and then turn around and buy Y its perfectly legal. The final decision is with the actual fund manager.

The fact you actually went to the trouble of getting a solicitor etc proves your just a kid and should not be investing in financial products. Give yourself a few slaps in the face and then pick yourself back up and just leave it, you will not get anything back and you do not deserve anything back either

i am a nurse i am not expected to know about investing money thats why these people were peid to do it for me, this is what they told me how was i meant to know better if i can trust this people who come to me with degrees and masters and tell me they are experts am i meant to know better than them. i am a single mother raising four children living now only on social welfaare dont you dare call me a child!

goat2

Quintis wrote: »

it was not ignorance, i am not naive i asked all the questions but was told the the exact details of who and what the money would be invested in would not available untill the money was actually invested and when it was done then i would get a full report but this was not clear and there was no actuals details, it was just covered in unlabelled graphs etc etc

my reading in this is
you let them do as they pleased with your money, as you had no imput into where it was to be invested, it was your money, and i say was, my guess is, you will not see a penny of it, they are just dragging you on.

what an awful thing to happen, to your lifes savings

you did give them the leeway to do as they pleased as you took their advice,

UpAgainToday

Quintis wrote: »

i am a nurse i am not expected to know about investing money thats why these people were peid to do it for me, this is what they told me how was i meant to know better if i can trust this people who come to me with degrees and masters and tell me they are experts am i meant to know better than them. i am a single mother raising four children living now only on social welfaare dont you dare call me a child!

Buyer beware - when the economy was booming and people were making alot of cash there was nothing but celebration but the SECOND it turns sour the finger is pointed straight away. Please do not claim ignorance.

Seasoned professionals lost their shirts aswell so other people are suffering aswell like

pocketdooz

I think this thread should be locked.

Without more details on what institution she invested in, what year, how much and other specific details people are just guessing and it's achieving nothing.

I gave my opinion previously on this thread and it hasn't changed. It's a huge shame but there is little to no chance you will recover any losses as you invested in equities where the risks are very high.

.

the groutch

OP, it sounds like you pretty much handed over the money and gave them free-reign to do what they want with it, on the basis of some empty promises (which unless they're on paper aren't worth diddly)

sorry to be so harsh, but this is one you'll have to take on the chin, and learn a valuable lesson

I've only ever deal in shares directly, so I can buy or sell them whenever I want, and choose what I want to invest in (then I have nobody else to blame if things go wrong)