Things about to get very serious and much more real? / Felicitas Letters

[NotAllThere]

I wonder how Felicitas justify this in their own minds?

Oh that's easy. They have the morals of a cat.

Wait. That's too harsh. I take it back.

They don't have the morals of cat.

(With thanks to the late T Pratchett).

[cannon999]

The thing that I don't get about this situation is - how were these loans structured? 100 year loan with 0.0001% interest? Anything otherwise would have been a completely idiotic thing to sign up to.

[northernladuk]

The thing that I don't get about this situation is - how were these loans structured? 100 year loan with 0.0001% interest? Anything otherwise would have been a completely idiotic thing to sign up to.

I wouldn't have thought there would have been much to try understand. They will be incredibly contrived so as to avoid the tax so be too complex to explain or understand. A bit of clever sales to focus on the outcome would cover the workings up. Remember these were not aimed at people that were going to do the sums and understand the workings. They were after someone with dollars in their eyes at only paying 10% tax.

[eek]

The thing that I don't get about this situation is - how were these loans structured? 100 year loan with 0.0001% interest? Anything otherwise would have been a completely idiotic thing to sign up to.

It was set up as a trust and trusts work by lending you things that are then returned or passed on to your descendants (who as part of the inheritance become beneficiaries of the trust).

So everything looked ok and posh (look the Duke of Westminster does the same) until you discover that the Duke of Westminster has full control over his trusts and the members of these schemes didn't.

[eek]

I wouldn't have thought there would have been much to try understand. They will be incredibly contrived so as to avoid the tax so be too complex to explain or understand. A bit of clever sales to focus on the outcome would cover the workings up. Remember these were not aimed at people that were going to do the sums and understand the workings. They were after someone with dollars in their eyes at only paying 10% tax.

or the hassle of IR35...

[GregRickshaw]

Describes me in a nutshell

The thing that I don't get about this situation is - how were these loans structured? 100 year loan with 0.0001% interest? Anything otherwise would have been a completely idiotic thing to sign up to.

Thick
Greedy
Vulnerable
Easily Lead

Could well be quotes from my school report.

It's no wonder it ended badly. I have no excuses.

[Fred Bloggs]

The thing that I don't get about this situation is - how were these loans structured? 100 year loan with 0.0001% interest? Anything otherwise would have been a completely idiotic thing to sign up to.

The sales blurb I remember well, as will many others here.

Salesperson - "We pay you a loan each month. Just like a loan from Barclays. You don't pay tax on a loan".
Me - "You have to pay loans back".
Salesperson - "You won't pay it back, it's made to look like a loan for tax purposes".
Me - "Well, I have to pay it back to Barclays if I borrow off them. Why is your loan different?".
Salesperson - "Everyone's doing this now, trust me, it isn't really a loan, it just looks like a loan for tax. You have nothing to pay back or worry about just trust me, nudge wink"....... lots of matey sounding, soothing sales patter about how nothing can go wrong, take home 90 per cent of day rate, all your pals are doing it, IR35 proof, QC opinion, fully compliant, HMRC approved etc...

[Lance]

The sales blurb I remember well, as will many others here.

Salesperson - "We pay you a loan each month. Just like a loan from Barclays. You don't pay tax on a loan".
Me - "You have to pay loans back".
Salesperson - "You won't pay it back, it's made to look like a loan for tax purposes".
Me - "Well, I have to pay it back to Barclays if I borrow off them. Why is your loan different?".
Salesperson - "Everyone's doing this now, trust me, it isn't really a loan, it just looks like a loan for tax. You have nothing to pay back or worry about just trust me, nudge wink"....... lots of matey sounding, soothing sales patter about how nothing can go wrong, take home 90 per cent of day rate, all your pals are doing it, IR35 proof, QC opinion, fully compliant, HMRC approved etc...

pretty much the conversation I had with Darwin.

Just add on a bit at the end where they say "it's all about your appetite to risk"
To which I replied "you told me earlier there's no risk. I'm out. Goodbye"

[eek]

pretty much the conversation I had with Darwin.

Just add on a bit at the end where they say "it's all about your appetite to risk"
To which I replied "you told me earlier there's no risk. I'm out. Goodbye"

The salesman really screwed that sale up, didn't he.

[Fred Bloggs]

The salesman really screwed that sale up, didn't he.

It was a terrific game for a while, several times a week from the different schemes. There's me sounding really enthusiastic and raising the salesman's expectations until the penny dropped and they realised I was taking the pi55 out of them. Was great fun seeing how long they would stay on the phone for. Even better, they usually called in time I was being paid for.

One thing I never worked out was why they always cited loans from Barclays bank in their pitch? I guess they were all using the same preformatted sales blurb.