IFA firm want money back

[Turion]

Another good reason for all you out there in contractor land to only work with IFAs who will be paid up front. This commision only stuff bites in the end, one way or another.

Agree with this approach. All IFA are required by law to offer customers a fee-payment option. Ensures you get the best advice for you, and not what pays them highest commision.

[ASB]

Quite possibly - but if there is a cancellation clause in the policy that applies, then as long as the OP followed the procedure then the IFA can't charge them.

Yes, but the "cancellation notice" it refers to is a very different thing to cancelling policy under it's terms. But yes, whether the clause actually says that is a different thing.

The clauses intent and meaning is, in my view, fairly self evident. But whether it actually says that is highly debatable.

Given the standard of spelling in the IFA contract and it's lack of clarity I imagine it has never been near a legal review.

[threaded]

Yes, but the "cancellation notice" it refers to is a very different thing to cancelling policy under it's terms. But yes, whether the clause actually says that is a different thing.

The clauses intent and meaning is, in my view, fairly self evident. But whether it actually says that is highly debatable.

Given the standard of spelling in the IFA contract and it's lack of clarity I imagine it has never been near a legal review.

Considering the amount of inspection given to such things, I would suspect these are typing errors of the poster reading from the paper contract next to his keyboard, rather than actually spelling errors in the real thing. Now if these are actual spelling errors from the contract then I'd be asking a few questions of the IFA and the Life company they're representing, as there is a line of enquiry there as to what is the intention of this part of the contract.

[brianrhill]

Financial Adviser speaks!

IFA's give you the option of paying them by using the fees only option or the commission only option. If you cancel the contract and they get a claw back, and it says it in their terms of business document that you signed and therefore agree to, then you are liable to pay them what they have lost. If you had gone down the fee route and cancelled the policy a couple of years later, would you be looking for them to refund the fees you paid? If you did some work for someone and then they changed to a different provider several years later, would you expect them to ask for a refund? I think not! The Key Facts documents provided by IFA's are in a format that is approved by the FSA , so it's very unlikely you'll be able to prove an unfair contract. You would be much better going back to the IFA and get a new product - they will be more likely to let you off the claw back.

Brian

[malandri]

Well, I put the first letter in the bin, I received a second one a month later to which I replied that I am not going to pay them anything and if they insist on this I will compain to their regulator about the unclear clause. Haven't heard from them since (about 4 months now)

£350 is not much for me but there are better ways to spend it rather than handing it over like this...

[tim123]

IFA's give you the option of paying them by using the fees only option or the commission only option. If you cancel the contract and they get a claw back, and it says it in their terms of business document that you signed and therefore agree to, then you are liable to pay them what they have lost.

But they are also required to give best advice.

A PHI scheme is often uesd as a fill in whilst someone is between 'real' jobs. Recommending one for the long term is almost certainly not going to be good advice.

tim

[bobhope]

Really, why go to an IFA? - spend some time on a couple of personal finance websites

[BlasterBates]

For £350 hardly worth a legal battle is it. It does say this in the contract, so other than your own sense of fairness you have no legal arguments at the moment, and to put together a legal argument would probably set you back more than £350. Send a letter justifying why shouldn't pay it and then offer £100. In the end you're going to have to pay probably.

[SueEllen]

For £350 hardly worth a legal battle is it.

Actually it is. It will only take a few postage stamps and short letters to get rid of them. I would not offer them anything at all.

If you refer the company to the financial ombudsman service the IFA has to pay a fee for the privilege of the financial ombudsman investigating them.

You tend to find that most financial companies will write off anything small where there is doubt that they will win because of the wording of their contract. They also don't want the consumer to be able to inform everyone what happened. The times they tend not to write off will be if it's actually related to a claim on the insurance policy.