In 1997 Verna was working as a community nurse and was looking to save a regular amount from her income to put towards her future. She visited her local Lloyds branch and was encouraged to see a financial adviser to discuss the options she had for her money.

Verna was advised to invest a £2,000 lump sum into a PEP (which later became an ISA) together with a monthly payment of £150. Verna continued to invest until 2005 and invested a total of £6,500. However, when she cashed in her investment she received back just £5,825 losing almost £700.

Verna saw our ad on the internet and contacted us asking if we could help. We reviewed the advice she was given and found that the UK Growth Fund recommended to her was much too high in risk for someone investing for the first time.

We sent our claim to Lloyds explaining why Verna was advised wrongly. After investigating the case Lloyds agreed with our findings and paid her £5,380 to compensate for the unsuitable advice she had received. This amount covered the position she would have been in if she taken a lower and more suitable level of risk.