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I'm an expat living in Switzerland. An IFA sold me a RL360 quantum policy and completely misstated the costs (I have everything on email and the advisor has admitted to this - the facts are not disputed). I asked for my money back but was told by RL360 after raising a complaint that it's the IFA's mistake so they will not remedy the issue. The IFA does not have the money to refund me so suing them is pointless.

Here's the thing:

1) RL360 is not regulated in Switzerland via FINMA as they should be - they are not allowed to sell their products directly or indirectly, they know this, yet they continue to take business from IFAs in Switzerland

2) After analysis it's clear that the product is designed to strip the clients money - essentially you'll never see the money you invest during the first 2 years. This is by design... 6% + 1.5% in costs.

3) RL360 essentially rely on unregulated IFAs to sell using whatever means necessary. When the client finally realizes they've been conned RL360 simply say it's not their problem - it's the IFA's fault.

4) They make it very difficult to understand the true cost - they reference 0.5% on the initial units in a single paragraph in the T&Cs. this fact is nowhere to be seen on any of their other promotional material. None of the graphs or examples they provide make it clear.

RL360 are laughing all the way to the bank - it's one big ***. Avoid at all costs

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Meelah Upr

Please take notice that RL360 INSURANCE COMPANY, LTD (the Plaintiff), has initiated an action in the Superior Court of the State of Arizona in and for the County of Maricopa, Case No. CV2016-00**** (the Action).

In the Action, the Plaintiff seeks to subpoena Consumer Opinion, LLC for your contact information, IP address, any other information which would identify you, and any other messages that you have posted on the website known as PissedConsumer.com, under Review #549950, or any other review posted by you about the Plaintiff.

If you do not respond within 10 business days with your true and correct contact information to our law firm via email (kwpostcompliance@***.com) or by telephone (480-588-****), we will subpoena the records as outlined above.

You may have a right to file and serve a response to the subpoena anonymously. If you intend to file and serve a response, please do so, or notify us of your intent to do so, on or before March 11, 2016.

Guest

totally agree! I'm an expat living in China.

I bought the RL360 Quantum product from an IFA that was not even licensed to sell "insurance" product in China.

By legal term, the product is considered as insurance, not investment, although by nature it is made up of unit trust funds.

Because of its legal definition, there is a tenure year for the "policy" to mature!

You cannot withdraw a single cent before your policy matures! That part the IFA will never tell you.

I am now suing the IFA for selling insurance without license in China.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1091610

You're not suing anyone and you didn't buy jack. Just another pretend customer.

Guest

I have this plan, I understand it and I understand both how and how much the adviser got (gets) paid. I am getting service and performance and am now about 1/3rd of the way through my 15 year term and I couldn't be happier.

I work in Oil and Gas and am a career expat and need a flexible vehicle to really save and this is perfect for me. I put GBP 5,000 per month into this and am happy, although I will concede it is not for everyone. Anyone looking to do this should know that the initial period is not "locked-up" until the end, but is there to finance the plan. The bonuses do rebate those charges but only if you intend to contribute for the full term.

For me, 15 years of continuous contributions is not a stretch because my salary is very high and I have excellent job security. If I continue to contribute, receive the service from the broker (which I do), then this will turn out to be an excellent plan, which it has so far. I am no slouch in any case so I will get the most from this and the surrender value already exceeds the money invested so I am well ahead. This is a good plan in the right hands.

DO NOT INVEST UNLESS YOU PLAN TO INVEST AT THE LEVEL YOU START OR HIGHER FOR THE FULL TERM. IF YOU DO< THEN GO FOR IT.

Guest

I went with Quantum's predecessor which is called Paragon about 7 years ago and it was the best thing I ever did. We signed for a 10 year time-frame and have literally been throwing the money in, our retirement is in 3 years and thanks to the returns, we will be retiring on time. We will not hear a bad word said about Royal London.

Guest

I actually have the quantum and have for several years now, my broker is exceptional, I fully understand what I am tied into and am satisfied. I have 22 years to go and will keep my contributions going and plan to increase over time (I do USD 2,000 per month).

I know the bonuses are not 'free money' and they are simply there to rebate charges over he life of the plan and I am fine with it.

The structure is tax efficient and since I do intend to retire in about 22 years, this is perfect for me. I don't understand why the negativity, this was the perfect solution for me.

Guest

I don't find the comment interesting at all. Just a case of another case of selective memory plain and simple.

Guest

I find this post interesting on many levels as it does ask questions. Yes I think the OP may have been illegally sold a plan by an IFA acting within the grey.

However, I think in a free society you can purchase anything you choose as long as it is not "illegal" then there is no problem. Now, in order to substantiate your claim you would need to be able to evidence that Royal London accepted your business from Switzerland in which case you probably have a case. However, since you are on here and not with the regulators, I suspect that you were complicit and you yourself entered into this contract with your eyes open. Like all life companies, RL have a compliance team that are there to make sure that all applications are legit meaning that if what you are saying is true, then the application would have been rejected, otherwise you really do have a case.

Unfortunately, you would rather blame everyone else for your actions (if indeed you are even a real customer). As for the "6% + 1.5% in costs" as you yourself have stated that the T&C's mentioned them once as "0.5% per month on initial units" you cannot say that you didn't know. Also, the graphs do indeed show the effects of this, it is under the "surrender value" section. All-in-all a very selective post demonstrating a very selective memory.

Let me ask you a question, when opening a current account with a bank, how many times in the T&C's do they mention each and every charge and cost? I will go out on a limb here and say once! With this in mind, why are you trying to hold this institution to a higher standard? Axe to grind?

Because it fits your narrative?

If you really are a legitimate customer, then shame on the adviser for glossing the whole thing, but most of all, shame on you for signing this without reading it. It's not RL's fault, it is yours.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-992432

Hear, hear! Too many little biatches on here pointing the finger because they have changed their minds

Guest

Get yourself a nice root

Guest

Just offered it and am trying to tell my partner this is a scam thanks for info

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-990201

People who buy overpriced products like this are lining the pockets of 'advisors' (salesmen) who will try every trick in the book to get you to sign up. Unlike in the UK, many jurisdictions don't require salesman to declare their commission in advance to potential customers.

This alone would ensure that the majority of 'customers' would see a red light when presented with a figure in print.

Whilst the product itself is legitimate, it is clearly designed to benefit the 'advisor' (front loaded charges) and the parent company itself (early exit fees). Perfect for those with little/no financial knowledge.

Guest

Credit Suisse - Money laundering, drug dealing, terrorist crooks!!!

Guest

Compensation payouts for rip-off mortgage fees

by BECKY BARROW

Last updated at 22:00 26 January 2007

Millions of homeowners can claim compensation worth up to ยฃ200 million after paying rip-off mortgage charges, the financial regulator has said.

The powerful Financial Services Authority slammed lenders for their 'exit fees' which have jumped 33 per cent over the last two years.

Exit fees, which can cost up to a staggering ยฃ295, are charged by nearly all banks and building socieites when a homeowner switches to a rival lender. One lender admitted the actual cost is just ยฃ65, but they have been stinging homeowners with charges of more than four times this amount.

All homeowners who have paid an exit fee since 1995 were urged yesterday to write to the bank or building society to demand a refund. The regulator said it expects all lenders to immediately give back the money to homeowners who have a valid complaint. The refund should be for the difference between the exit fee which they paid and the exit fee at the time when they took out the mortgage. Exit fees have jumped from as little as ยฃ75 two years ago to nearly ยฃ300 today.

Just one big lender, HSBC, does not make the charge. Experts said yesterday that the total cost to the country's mortgage lenders could be hundreds of millions of pounds. This week Britain's fifth-biggest lender Northern Rock became the first bank to put aside ยฃ15 million to pay compensation to its customers. It expects to pay out an average of between ยฃ50 and ยฃ60 to about 270,700 customers who paid its ยฃ250 exit fee.

Nick Gardner, a director of Chase de Vere Mortgage Management, said: "There is a cost in closing down a mortgage, but it is just a bit of paperwork. "But the majority of homeowners have to pay a huge exit fee. It is just a cash cow for the lenders." Many of the one million people who remortgage to a cheaper deal each year will be among the winners of the announcement. In theory, anybody who has redeemed a mortgage since 1995 could get a refund, but the vast majority will have redeemed over the last four years.

Ray Boulger, a mortgage expert from the brokers John Charcol, said the inflation-busting increases in exit fees did not really start until 2002. A typical exit fee is now ยฃ200 but the Financial Services Authority yesterday said the inflation-busting rises must stop. It has given a tough deadline to the lenders of 28 February to cut their fees which it said have been "increased unfairly", or face the consequences. Lenders have been given a choice: stop charging an exit fee or cut the exit fee to a more reasonable level.

If they continue to charge the current fee after the deadline, they have to 'objectively justify' why this is necessary. If this fails, they could face legal action. It will be very difficult to justify the exit fee, which experts say simply involves a small amount of straightforward paperwork. Louise Cuming, head of mortgages at the price comparison website Moneysupermarket.com, said: "The current level of fees already seems extortionate." On the eve of the FSA's announcement of the outcome of its investigation, which began in June last year, lenders have already begun to cut their exit fees.

This week, the Portman building society was the first to pre-empt the regulator's findings by reducing its exit fee from ยฃ199 to ยฃ145 from 1 February. Other lenders, such as Cheltenham & Gloucester, said they will charge the old exit fee when the customer took out the mortgage, rather than today's higher rate. For millions of homeowners, the biggest gripe is that they feel ripped off by lenders which could increase their exit fees after luring a customer with a good mortgage deal. As a result, the exit fee is an unwelcome sting in the tail for homeowners who are unlikely to have even realised that they faced this charge.

It is only since the FSA started regulating mortgages in October 2004 that all charges, including the exit fee, have had to be clearly spelt out to customers before they take out a home loan. Darren Cook, head of mortgages at the financial information firm Moneyfacts, said: "Most consumers are agreeable to paying fees if they are able to see a return, for example a lower mortgage interest rate.

"But exit fees have offered no tangible benefit to the consumer. They have often been tucked away within the small print of the application, leaving many consumer completely oblivious to their future obligation." To further confuse people, exit fees are further hidden by lenders who use lots of different names, such as the 'vacating fee', the 'sealing fee', the 'deeds release fee' and the 'redemption administration fee.'

Guest

I just opened an HSBC account and bought a few funds, they charged my 5.25% to buy into them!!! On top of that there is a 1.5%p.a.

management fee and they charge me 30 pounds a month for the privilege of having the account!!!!

I did some research and Barclay's Bank and Bank of Scotland do exactly the same!!!!!

But what choice do i have??? Money under the mattress?????

Arghhhhhhh!!!

Guest

PRESCOTT, AZโ€”Admitting that the fourth-year criminal justice major had caught them completely off-guard, administrators at for-profit college Chapman Technical University were scrambling to design and print a diploma to award a student who was actually on the *** of graduating, sources said Wednesday. โ€œOh, my God, this guy is just three credits away from actually completing our graduation requirementsโ€”we should probably have some kind of certificate ready, right?โ€ said student services coordinator Amanda Lenoch, noting that no one had made it this far in the schoolโ€™s bachelorโ€™s degree program before as she hurriedly scrolled through her word-processing program for any diploma templates.

โ€œJeez, whatโ€™s on these things? I suppose we should probably have our name and logo on there, and I guess his name, too. Something in Latin, maybe?

I have no idea. Man, Iโ€™m making at least five copies of this thing in case any more of these people come out of nowhere.โ€ At press time, representatives from the school were reportedly scrambling to find someone at the collegeโ€™s offices with some sort of academic qualifications to sign the diploma.

Guest

POCATELLO, IDโ€”Hailing our day and age as the โ€œsingle greatest moment in history to be a potato consumer,โ€ National Potato Council president Dan Lake declared Tuesday that the United States is in the midst of an unparalleled potato renaissance.

Drawing on his decades of experience as a celebrated cultivator, observer, and student of the root vegetable, Lake described โ€œa great flourishing of the potatoโ€ across America, a profound phenomenon the likes of which we may never see again.

โ€œIf youโ€™ve been lucky enough to get your hands on a Yukon Gold or Red Thumb in the past few years, I neednโ€™t tell you these are the halcyon days of the potato,โ€ Lake said during his keynote address at the Idaho Potato Conference, stressing that he spoke not in his role as a potato representative, but as a connoisseur and human being. โ€œAt present, every aspect of potato culture, from the field to your plate, is undergoing a great and exhilarating renewal, and for those who appreciate the finer qualities of this starchy tuber, the bounty will be breathtaking.โ€

Guest

If a car salesman in the UK sells me a used Mazda by wowing me with the performance but neglects to tell me that replacement parts cost more than a Vauxhall does this make the Mazda a bad car? Actually no.

What it means is that it is all the things I wanted, however it may not have been the best choice for my situation because guess what?., I don't live in Japan and a Vauxhall may not have been as fast or as cool, but it is better suited to my needs.

Same here, your adviser may have sold you something that was not the best thing for your needs, but that doesn't make the vehicle bad. This complaint is retarded.

telling me it is a great carRetarded post.

Guest

Swiss Crime

It is very common for thieves to work in pairs with one distracting the victim whilst the other one steals valuables. Visitors should take care of their belongings and not leave them unattended at any time. There have also been reports of passengers being robbed on night trains and this is another area for visitors to exercise some caution.

Visitors to Geneva - which is rated 'medium' for petty crime by one US government agency - should remain alert for pickpockets in public areas, including Lake Geneva's promenade; the vicinity of the "Jardin Anglais"/Mont Blanc Bridge; large shopping areas (such as Rue de Rive); Plainpalais area (open market); the Cornavin Train Station; Geneva's International Airport, including the train station at the airport; Les Paquis area; public transport (trams, trains, buses); while checking into or out of hotels; and in restaurants.

Guest

2.3 Clairvoyant or psychic services

Data on people with a weak spot for astrology,

fortune telling, divination, tarot, etc. is compiled

and exchanged.

Providers offering such services

send personally addressed letters to potential

customers. The addressees are urged to trust the writersโ€™ visionary or psychic powers. These companies generally operate under a false identity. There are endless variations.

The following are some examples: The mystic Maria Stauffer (name changed) sends personally addressed letters warning addressees against imminent disaster that she could avert through advice with her power to foresee the future. She says it is important to contact her by the date indicated in the letter, otherwise it will be too late. She furthermore says she has the ability to help the addressee obtain CHF 100,000, adding that it would be a great pity to miss such a unique opportunity. Maria Stauffer charges a small service charge of CHF 20 for her services.

You can pay by sending cash in the return envelope or by Visa, Eurocard, etc. The mystic Marie du Ciel (name changed) informs the addressee that he/she has inherited CHF 17,500 from a certain Alec Kiosma (name changed).

She promises a โ€œcosmic inheritanceโ€ for CHF 69. This includes in particular profitable lottery numbers.

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