Bank of Ireland - Evergreen fund

lee1986

yeah through the FSO, i went through the BOI complaints procedure there was no resolve so its now with the FSO its been back and forth to BOI through the FSO still no resolve so im just waiting on the decision?

Atlantic Dawn

lee1986 wrote: »

i was never offered any other options to do with savings i never had any other money even going into my current account why wasn't i just given a separate account, deposit or regular saver account ect??? I had no saving experience what so ever.

Did you read any of the documentation that you signed when setting up the investment did you just take the advisors word as gospel? They usually have strongly worded documentation stating the value can rise and fall.

LaHaine

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Did you read any of the documentation that you signed when setting up the investment did you just take the advisors word as gospel? They usually have strongly worded documentation stating the value can rise and fall.

This is very true. Did you read what you signed? Not trying to be harsh. Its just that all the proposal forms for these products have numerous warnings which you would have had to sign off on. Very important to read what you are signing.

Xmasholly

Hey Lee 1086 in the FSO findings for my mums case, they stated that only on a few occasions do they mention the risks in over 20 pages + of paperwork, if you would like to talk to me send me a pvt mail

The J Stands for Jay

lee1986 wrote: »

Very disappointing stuff... i am waiting on the FSO findings to my complaint.

I went in to BOI in 2006 in the 1st week of starting my first job (still not a permanent employee) i wanted to open a savings account went to the front desk told the lady behind i would b saving half of my wages, she directed me to speak to another member of staff (an investment adviser). he advised me to start saving 500 per month then increase at a later date as i really wanted to save 1000 per month as i was saving for a deposit for a house i told him this. I was very young at the time still in my teens. I deposited 24k over 2yrs i lost 8k and en-cashed the policy as soon as i seen this. I came away thinking i had a savings account not an investment. 'a full financial review' was done on me also they said i could afford 350 per month to save yet they knew i wanted to save 1000 from the start, i was never offered any other options to do with savings i never had any other money even going into my current account why wasn't i just given a separate account, deposit or regular saver account ect??? I had no saving experience what so ever.

Will let you know what the outcome is

you only have 6 years to complain. Better get a move on

lee1986

McGaggs wrote: »

you only have 6 years to complain. Better get a move on

I started the process just in time thanks, after months of going back and forth i am just waiting on the final letter from the FSO to see what the outcome will be.

lee1986

hi all just to up date my complaint was up held by the financial ombudsman an recieved all money that i lost in the investment,thanks for all your posts

Thargor

No way, well done Lee, I didn't think you had a hope, I'm just going to wait another 18 months and get my full lump sum back, currently 40% down, my parents gave it to me as a gift when I started college.

tobehonestwithy

lee1986 wrote: »

Very disappointing stuff... i am waiting on the FSO findings to my complaint.

I went in to BOI in 2006 in the 1st week of starting my first job (still not a permanent employee) i wanted to open a savings account went to the front desk told the lady behind i would b saving half of my wages, she directed me to speak to another member of staff (an investment adviser). he advised me to start saving 500 per month then increase at a later date as i really wanted to save 1000 per month as i was saving for a deposit for a house i told him this. I was very young at the time still in my teens. I deposited 24k over 2yrs i lost 8k and en-cashed the policy as soon as i seen this. I came away thinking i had a savings account not an investment. 'a full financial review' was done on me also they said i could afford 350 per month to save yet they knew i wanted to save 1000 from the start, i was never offered any other options to do with savings i never had any other money even going into my current account why wasn't i just given a separate account, deposit or regular saver account ect??? I had no saving experience what so ever.

Will let you know what the outcome is

This is the exact same thing that happened me. But in 2004. I just wanted to put a bit of money away each month into an interest only account. They sold me this saying it was the right option. I was only 22 at the time I wasnt as clued in to what they were selling. Plenty of fginancial jargon I didnt have any clue about.

5 years later, I had €34K of my money invested, my account was valued at €18K.

I took everything out

lee1986

did u complain to BOI about this at the time i surrender?

I did wen i surrendered mine but they brushed me off so i left it 4 5years then decided to try complain again. I telephoned BOI L and asked was it 2 late to complain about being miss sold a product they said no so i started the process.

Im not sure wether its 2 late for you but worth a try if you need help with wording ect if i can help, i will.

sharkbite1983

irishbird wrote: »

Dont mention that evergreen fund to me.

i took out the policy 4.5 years ago with a lump sum of €7,000.00.

i made it very clear to the finance advisor guy that i didnt not want a situation where i could lose anything from the principal, he told me it was a low risk investment and that i wouldnt lose anything from the balance.

then i get a statement saying my policy was worth €4,000.00. i nearly died, this was my new roof fund. anyway, i phoned up to see if this was a mistake and that i had clearly stated that i didnt want to be in a situation where i could lose any of my principal. the girl on the phone laughed and said "you cant prove what was said in a meeting 4 years ago"



i was nearly sick on the phone and just demanded my money back now

BOI are absolutely the worse bank i have ever dealt with

i know you are going to say, its my fault for not reading the small print. I dont know anything about financial stuff, so i thought i would be safe going to an advisor, i told him everything i wanted for my very small investment and i thought, i had no reason to believe he would lie to me

Im not sure how exactly you lost money on the evergreen.
I invested 30K for 6 years in 2008. So far its dropped to 26K cos of eurozone crisis, started to pick up until the Japanese earthquake, On Friday last week it went up over 30K for the first time, I met a financial adviser in BOI last week, she took one look at the PC & was able to tell me my capital is 100% gauranteed, so its not the end of the world anyway. Id ring again & talk to somebody, if you agreed to one thing, but was sold something different, youd have a case against them.

bear_hunter

those managed funds are nothing but vechiles for banks to make handy commision , they pass the job on to some manager outside the country who gets paid no matter what kind of sh1tty companys he invests in , i had money in an irish life fund a number of years ago which never made a schilling despite the sectors it was invested in , enjoyed tremendous returns at the time , china - india + commoditiys , the banks gobble up most of the gains in fees

your better sticking the money in an ETF and you can monitor its progress on yahoo finance , the cost is about a tenth of what irish life or bank of ireland charge , seriously , its all the one market , your far better managing theese investments yourself , if your willing to wait a number of years , their is nothing to it

xw2lj9uspm1eyh

Hi OP here,

Nearly 4 years since I created this thread might aswell do an update ,a few months ago I went in to find out what was the sum total as I had the 7 years completed.I remember going down thinking I'd take a 2 grand loss on it and learn my lesson to never invest my money like that again,(I know it's not much of an excuse but I was told at the time there was little to no risk).To my relief I had only lost 700 euro and had to meet the savings manager as I had to cancel the scheme and wanted to put the money into my account.In fairness to the savings manager he was very friendly and apologetic about the loss though to be honest I didn't mind because I know it could been a lot worse.

He also said if I kept the investment going I could gain/lose hundreds of euro each week which doesn't sound like a low risk scheme to me.He told me some horror stories about people being in similar schemes around 2009 who had lost half their original investment and decided to withdraw their money.According to him if they had to keep the investments they would of broke even.Anyway I've decided to play it safe and put it into an savings account and leave the investments to the people who know what they're doing .Just want to say thanks to the posters who advised me to not withdraw the money at the time,as to be honest friends\family were telling me to withdraw it incase I lost more and if it wasn't for this forum\posters I would of withdrew all the money and be kicking myself now thanks again guys.

BenEadir

Hi Guys,

My (now 79 year old) mother was sold an "Evergreen Fund S9" in March 2006. She invested €24,000 at the time and the current price of the units are €1.577 meaning the fund is now worth €21,108 so she is €3,000 down after 6 years.

I read earlier in the thread that there is some sort of guarantee of the original principal if the fund isn't touched for 6 years but having reviewed the original documentation and policy conditions etc I can't see any such guarantee specified.

I'd sure appreciate it if someone here could point me in the direction of the aforementioned 6 year principal guarantee before my mother cashes in this policy and takes the €3,000 hit!! A copy of the relevant product brochure or whatever would be ideal.

Cheers fellow Boardsies!!

Ben

johndaman66

BenThere wrote: »

Hi Guys,

My (now 79 year old) mother was sold an "Evergreen Fund S9" in March 2006. She invested €24,000 at the time and the current price of the units are €1.577 meaning the fund is now worth €21,108 so she is €3,000 down after 6 years.

I read earlier in the thread that there is some sort of guarantee of the original principal if the fund isn't touched for 6 years but having reviewed the original documentation and policy conditions etc I can't see any such guarantee specified.

I'd sure appreciate it if someone here could point me in the direction of the aforementioned 6 year principal guarantee before my mother cashes in this policy and takes the €3,000 hit!! A copy of the relevant product brochure or whatever would be ideal.

Cheers fellow Boardsies!!

Ben

Hi Ben,

I would assume that you are using BOI Fundcentre to view unit price. If so just be careful as its not as straightforward as multiplying the initial units by the current unit price. I know this because I am invested in the Evergreen S4 myself. What happens is that the annual management fee of 1.5% actually comes of the units in that Fund. Not saying for sure the S9 Fund is the same but I am guessing it may likely be.

I wouldn't have the patience to read back through the entire thread but also I am not entirely sure that your mothers Fund is guaranteed. Reason I say this is because if you look at the Evergreen Title in the FundCentre it does not actually say it is guaranteed while it does so for other Evergreen Funds.

I would have thought that your mother would have being talked through all this before she originally invested or if she wasn't she certainly should have being with no misunderstandings before she signed on the dotted line. This information should also be in the prospectus/ information pack your mother received when she opened up the Fund if she still has it. Alternatively she should be able to retrieve this information if she contacts the email group info@bankofirelandlife.ie

I invested in the Evergreen S4 in 2007 soon after my SSIA matured. My overall investment was just over €33k but I'm not running at as great a loss as your mother because I initially invested circa €20k and invested the additional €13k monthly over the following 3 years. Hence I was buying units at a low unit price on and after the bad times hit. I've no doubt the S4 Fund had declined just as much and perhaps even more than the S9 but the fact that I was buying units at a lower price has possibly left me in a better position than your mother.

Also, does your mother receive an annual statement? I receive mine around November mark.