In 1999 Ann suffered injuries in a car accident and received a pay-out from her insurance policy. Ann visited her local Lloyds branch and was encouraged to see a financial adviser to discuss the options she had for her money.

Ann was advised to invest £2,000 into an ISA for a term of 5 years or more as this could potentially provide tax free growth over time. Her money was placed into the UK Growth Fund which invested in shares.

Ann 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 funds recommended were too high in risk for someone investing for the first time. Additionally, if her personal circumstances were correctly taken into account it didn’t make sense for her to invest at all at this time.

We sent our claim to Lloyds explaining why Ann was advised wrongly. After investigating the case Lloyds agreed with our findings and paid her £1,345 to compensate for the unsuitable advice she had received. This amount covered the position she would have been in if she had kept her money on deposit instead of investing and taking unnecessary risks.