Financial advisers often charge clients fees for ongoing advice. But all too often, clients are paying for services they simply do not need or have not received. If this has happened to you, we can help you get your money back.
What is the issue?
Some financial advisers charge clients ongoing advice fees. Many clients have not requested such a service and have been charged by default, whereas others have been talked into paying for advice they do not need or worse, they do not actually receive. On other occasions, fee levels are way higher than necessary, or clients have not been informed about alternative (and more suitable) fee options.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which regulates around 50,000 financial services firms and financial markets in the UK, has raised concerns about this practice. In a 2020 report, the FCA said:
‘We are concerned that so many new customers are placed in ongoing advice arrangements, suggesting that this may be a default option rather than always justified by the consumer’s circumstances. This concerns us because some customers might be paying for a service they do not need,’.
In one example, Old Mill Financial Planning was ordered to return almost £800 in fees after the advisory firm failed to provide its client with any service on his pension. The FOS found that the firm failed to meet its regulatory requirements for ongoing services.
The client had signed a letter of engagement agreeing to pay the fees, and Old Mill argued that it was still entitled to receive the fees, despite the fact that the client had not taken advantage of the services available to him. However, The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) highlighted a FCA factsheet which stated that ongoing adviser charges may only be levied where ongoing advice is supplied. This would include things like regularly reviewing the performance of a client’s investments, which Old Mill did not do. The Ombudsman upheld the complaint and ordered Old Mill to refund the fees paid, plus interest.
Get your money back for mis-sold financial advisor fees
If you have been mis-sold fees for on-going financial advice that you did not need, or did not receive, we can help you to make a claim.
A consumer champion law firm, our Investment Fraud & Mis-Selling team acts for clients who deserve to win, and we do everything we can to ensure that they do. Because we have a deep understanding of, and extensive experience in financial mis-selling claims, we help our clients get their money back.
Working on a no-win, no-fee basis, we have everything it takes to win when it comes to getting justice for our clients.
