Dear Mr. Tan,
My UOB fixed deposit has matured during that period. During that time H has a better interest rate offer for fixed deposit. We intend to place the money as fixed deposit with H.
When we were there, the staff at the counter persistently advised us to deposit our money into their investment product. We told her that it was our life saving and we were a low risk taker and would not want to take risk and we would want to place it as fixed deposit and we don’t want to get involve in any investment which we are not sure of.
She continued to show us a brochure on Pinnacle Notes and persistently advised us to reconsider as it is high interest rate return and also very low risk. Thinking that it would be very safe and we are going to put in our saving for sometimes, we agreed to understand further. She directed us to the Financial Manager R.
The Financial Manager R explained to us on the Pinnacles Notes product. She told us how good the product is and told us that it is for 5.5 years saving with higher interest rate of 5.25%. It is also a very low risk investment as the bank is investing on reputable AAA’s companies listed under the Reference Entities stated in the brochure so we don’t have to worry.
They are:
Commonwealth of Australia
Hong Kong Special Adminstrative Region of the People’s Republic of China
Republic of Singapore
Singapore Telecommunications Limited
Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd
She told us that even in the event that US or the whole world goes into financial crisis our deposit and interest will remain and continue to receive the interest every six-monthly. She told us that ONLY if one of the 5 companies goes bankrupt then our deposit will be affected.
We repeatedly highlighted to her that we are very low risk takers and this is our life saving. She kept reassuring us that the companies involved are all AAA and reputable company and we don’t have to worry about that. However, she never mentioned of any other investment on any other companies that the bank does that would affect my deposit.
She also told us that this product is overwhelming and they reopened it again.
To be cautious, I called one of my colleagues for his opinion. He said that the five companies are quite reputable and if the promise is there, then it should be ok.
After some thoughts, we decided to invest in the product since she kept repeatedly said that the risk is very low and ONLY if one of the 5 companies goes bankrupt then our deposit will be affected and the product is going to end soon on 30 Nov 2007 and we may miss the opportunity.
She did mention to us that the investment is not guaranteed return. She repeatedly assured that ONLY if one of the 5 companies goes bankrupt then our deposit will be affected.
She asked us to sign some forms to declare that she have briefed us on the product. She mentioned that it is only for formality sake. We don’t totally understand the content in details. Based on verbal trust of what she had assured us and since it is formality we signed the form as this is our first time investing in such a product.
The forms were given only after we agreed to invest in the product. We didn’t really read the forms in detail. Just like we buy and sell HDB flat where the officer will require us to sign copies and copies of forms, we do not have the time to read all the details especially the small prints. We don’t really fully know and understand what is in the content in the forms.
We totally rely on what the Financial Manager R verbally assured us. The most important aspects of the advice is that she kept repeatedly assuring us that the risk is very low and ONLY if one of the 5 companies in the Reference Entities goes bankrupt then our deposit will be affected. Even if US or the world goes into crisis it will not affect our investment and we will continue to get our interest six monthly. The most important point is that she did not mention of any other investment on any other companies that the bank does that would affect my deposit.
19 comments:
I hate to sound like a judge
But surely ONE might ask, so how does anyone verify your story
The names listed as reference entities are not companies, other than Singtel since Temasek is not traded while the others are clearly not companies. Do you have a copy of the brochure and if so, could this be produced to confirm. Which bank was it from so that we can find this information.
This brings to mind something which I see very often in banks. When you make a withdrawal, the teller will require you to sign on a form that says you have received the cash but she did not give you the cash yet. Should we in future insist that we receive the cash first before we sign on the form?
Legally, it is possible for the teller to say that we have received the cash since we have signed the form.
Perhaps people lik koh boon hwee will want to instruct your people to observe such details in your proposed reforms to the banking system.
"The most important point is that she did not mention of any other investment on any other companies that the bank does that would affect my deposit."
My FI lagi cute. They don't even know anything else about the structure of the investment save for what is printed on the leaflets! In other words, they were as blind as I was! All they were interested in was the profit it would bring to the bank!
Gross mis-selling, gross misrepresentation, gross fraud and we are told that if we get 5.5% pa and FD was paying 1%, we should shoulder the risks like a man????
You should report your case to police for cheating.
Zhong
Why I don't trust Angmo Banks..
especially...
Commonwealth of Australia
my dad had invest Autralian mining shares in the 60s' and over years, the dividend automatically transfer to his saving account. after 30 years. there were balance in the book and suddenly one day the list mining company send the dividend by mail and said account no active. ie. New law in australia not allowing one way traffic. You bank in, you must take out. SO in 2000, after many many efforts, from SGP branch and embassy even i dah written to the Governor of bank, minister in canberra. Asking why the account were frozen and also not in the dormant or abondoned list in the central bank accounts. 5 digits AUS$ just disappearred. After this lesson, I just realised, when the know you are old, and you are just get Bullied, so much trouble and so much effort, money still hidden somewhere, cannot be retrieved.
I met one Pastor from Aussie, he told me to fly to Melborne-sydney and make a POLICE report. I had plan to go for a AGM . But What will I get.
SO i came to realise, investment and investing in any , you must be able to see, to touch and to play with you. Thinking someone will make $ for you and return high yield is just a dream if you don't know when to run-EXIT at peak.
ANy C.O Aust. high level people read this, WHat you say.? even Saving account with hard earn dividend also can gone MISSING.
WTF
Imagine the kind of life one must be leading if we cannot trust the banks.... cannot trust MOE.... cannot trust Mindef...... cannot trust doctors to give honest diagnosis.
Best regards
Flusher or Flushee?
My case at Hong Leong is exactly the same. While renewing the FD, me and my wife were directed to a RM to be briefed on better ways to make our money grow. Eventually, our 100K FD became Pinnacle Notes Series 10.
The whole presentation was exactly the same, all the assurances, all the promises and sales talk and pressure gimmicks. No Prospectus was ever mentioned or shown to us at time of transaction only the brochures were used during that time.
And to date, we were never given any copies of any Prospectus whatsoever! We only have the brochures and copy of the application form with us now.
Likewise, my mother did not get any prospectus from Hong Leong either. Its just a one piece note with 6 confidence-inspiring entities like SIA, Singtel, Keppetl etc.
All the investors who are ignored by the FIs regarding compensation should sue them in the court of law.
Once they receive your lawyers' letters, I am sure the FIs will be more than happy to settle the investors' claims.
4.18 and 6.14pm
Even you get the prospectus, u also wont understnd. I got the prospectus and I read, still kena!
Quote
"When you make a withdrawal, the teller will require you to sign on a form that says you have received the cash but she did not give you the cash yet. Legally, it is possible for the teller to say that we have received the cash since we have signed the form."
Good points. If there is no trust, It wld be very difficult to operate in this world. Now the trust is broken!.
If you sign the form before u receive the cash, they can say u are doing it with yr eyes open. So danerous!!! But if u say no, they may say since you dont trust me, why dont u goes else where. But do we hv a choice???????????
We are always at their mercy.
No one can prove their 'stories'
sad but true
The rating agencies has a role to play in this fiasco, they lend themselves not as a judge for the credit worthiness of these product but in abdication of that role, partake in the profiteering.
Credit-rating agencies: Negative outlook
In an age of e-mail every industry is likely to have a Henry Blodget moment. The one for rating agencies came in mid-October, when a rash of embarrassing correspondence emerged. Among them was the following exchange between two analysts: “That deal is ridiculous. We should not be rating it.” Back came his colleague’s answer: “We rate every deal…it could be structured by cows and we would rate it.”
My case is even worse.I usually do not trust one banker and does not believe in puting all eggs in one basket at one go.I purchase pinnacles notes 2,3,6 &10 and all in the lowest investable amount.I went to different RMs of the same FI at different branches and had them to explain to me each time I invest in the notes. Imagine I went through the same presentation 4 times and each time were told the same thing ie: they are bonds of smaller denomination and only risks is the reference entities.Please note the SAME ADVICE came from DIFFERENT RMs.
As thousand of stories emerge, the entire financial institute had started such scheme as early as 2002,2003, or 2004.
The exciting Question POLIS must find out. Who are the MASTER of all the con's RM?
haiz..Similarly went to one of the top 5 largest bank in Singapore to open a fixed deposit. I got swindled by the same words. No worries, you will only lose your money if one of the 6 entities falls and its also by the portion of the entities. No way, all 6 entities will fall, so minimum risk. To top it all, the RM laughed and said she personally will not invest in the "miniboms" as the returns is so meager hence the risk is so minimal. And when i called her to question why she didn’t highlight the Lehman risk. Her respond, "I am so sorry, I am not aware of the risk at that time, otherwise i will not have recommend you this" and when i asked "why". Her respond "I wasnt informed during the training". I am speechless. So i guess, the lesson to be learn, never walk into a bank no matter how reputable they are, coz at the end of the day, when you submit your complaint, they show you the form that you signed, highlighting you are aware of the risk even though I told them my awareness is based on your RM knowledge which clearly is not very much. They should have blanklines for people to write what are the risks they are aware of.
I went to Hong Leong to check on FD and was persuaded to buy pinnacle 6 & 7 in thesame way. I also told them this was my life savings and I not only cannot take low risk but completely can't afford to take any risk. The assurances from the Wealth Management Consultant was exactly the same as you.
After I received a letter from them, I went down to the office the next day but was told the WMC was on leave and nobody else in the bank can help me but to leave my name and telephone nos. for her to call me back. She did called me about two three hours later and when I enquire about the positions of the series 6 & 7, she then told me that she is still not sure of the situations as about 8 to 10 of the companies in the series had already go bust and among these Lehman was one of them. I was shocked as I thought I was only buying into BOA, Citibank, DBS,OCBC,UOB & SingTel. Lehman? what Lehman and what other 100s over companies?? I wasn't aware of this part until now, I told her. She insisted she did highlight to her investors during presentations.
I told her if I was in my right mind, I wouldn't have invested in hundreds over unnamed companies and hoping that none go bust! I thought I was only buying into the six big names and from reports so far all of them still makes profits though at a much lower level. This is clearly a mis-selling, I said. They only printed the six big names in the brochure to entice investors. This is tantamount to cheating, I said. At one point, she even remarked " I am very disappointed with you investors for saying I did not tell you all at presentation"
When I asked about an early termination, I was told I may only get about 7 to 10% back! She is not sure yet as they are still calculating. There is nothing I can do now but to wait for her feedback. That was one week ago, until today there was still no phone call from her.
"At one point, she even remarked " I am very disappointed with you investors for saying I did not tell you all at presentation"
Seriously, what do you expect her to say at this point
What CAN she say at this point?
Admitting her mistake wont return your money, and can only lose her her rice bowl
As for:
"When I asked about an early termination, I was told I may only get about 7 to 10% back! She is not sure yet as they are still calculating. There is nothing I can do now but to wait for her feedback. That was one week ago, until today there was still no phone call from her."
Dont worry, you will surely get a reply by the time the news report a Zero.
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