BEWARE! THE BANKS ARE OUT TO GET YOU!

[Stanley]

A good example of the modern obsession with big data for promotional purposes. The fact is that there is a growing view that it is counter-productive, it puts the target off.
Did you hear Paul Lewis' excellent [programme yesterday exposing the shortcomings, failures and insidious modification of the original plan to give people considering altering their pension provision a 'face to face advice session'. This is now 'guidance' and is a minefield containing subsidiary minefields. It is a disaster in the making. The only practical way to get advice is to pay for an IFA and this will be too big a proportion of the pot for many. It will all end in tears! I am reminded yet again of how lucky I was to stumble into my annuity in 2000. You can't get a deal like that now!

[Tizer]

"It will all end in tears!"...Too right it will, like many other initiatives that aren't fully thought out. Politicians have followed in the footsteps of commercial people by launching ideas without fully examining all the implications and without completing the planning and design stage. It's a business model now, `get it out there and let the market force the changes' - there's a false impression that this saves on development costs and helps beat the competition.

[Stanley]

The only people who are bound to benefit from these changes are the financial institutions. I suspect that the genesis of this cunning wheeze was the unpaid 'advisers' gifted to the government by the large banks and particularly the accountancy firms. It suits the Tory ethos of light governance and giving people choice. We were a lot better off when we were constrained by guidelines that forced us to nurture our savings. Now I've settled into my protected annuity I am pleased with it even though I was ripped off at the time by the benefit system forcing me to take it out early. Gordon Prentice questioned the Treasury for me and was very helpful but they had a loophole and used it.

[Stanley]

See THIS if you had any doubts about the value of the pensions rip-off to the spivs. There are reports that one financial broker has intimated that they can supply pension details of customers. So they have a value. Why? Obvious isn't it, they can be targeted by sharks wanting to get a share of the loot. There is going to be a lot more like this, the wolves are drooling!

[Tizer]

I had a cold call yesterday from someone wanting me to invest in buy-to-let and another today from one who was selling `home improvements'. They're all fired up by knowing people will soon be able to spend their pension money.

[Tripps]

I feel sorry for anyone cold calling you Tizer.

[Tizer]

Now, why ever would you think that, Tripps?

[Stanley]

Whenever, by mistake, I pick up a cold call I am always brief but polite to the caller leaving them in no doubt that they are wasting my time. I am always aware that these are (mostly) human beings desperate for a wage. I feel sorry for them because at their age I had a proper job, doing useful work and had a clear object in view, supporting a growing family. I was low paid but happy in my work and satisfied that I was doing a good job. I doubt if the denizens of the 'battery cages' that are modern call centres get anywhere near that level of satisfaction.
Having said that, many of them must know that what they are doing is in effect useless and non-productive work. They add no value and trade on the gullibility of the general population. Listen to some of the horror stories about the consequences and wonder how anyone could be so stupid or badly informed..... This is where the trouble will arise in the pensions pot rush. Many people are going to get roasted and all in the name of 'choice' and 'freedom'. The ultimate villains are the politicians who meddled with what was a fairly safe system. Remember this in May!

[Tizer]

"I am always aware that these are (mostly) human beings desperate for a wage."
You'll find more of the other kind appearing now, the ones who make a lot of money out of scams, drive fancy cars and enjoy conning old folk. The two I referred to above were smart cookies, very well-spoken, very clear and perfect English, but very forceful, exuding confidence and quick -witted.

[Pluggy]

I get a lot of calls that are just recordings going on about mis-sold PPI on my business line. I've started ignoring calls from 0843 numbers because they are invariably this type.

[Stanley]

I think I miss those callers Tiz because after 10AM I don't even pick the phone up. If I did, that class of call would get a short reality check!
Best thing to do Pluggy. Think of the load on the system these parasites create.... They should be exterminated.
I agree with the calls to get personal and give the possibility of a gaol sentence to convicted breakers of the Data Protection Act.

[Stanley]

See THIS for more evidence that the pensions changes on April 6th are generating some flak. People are waking up to the fact that it is, apart from being open to exploitation by spivs, a tax rip-off.

[Stanley]

Today's the day.... What are the odds that the spivs and dodgy 'advisers' are geared up ready to go! I really do think that what we are seeing is potentially a massive con trick. Paul Lewis was on Today this morning and raised the spectre of people with small pots being unable to get independent advice. He also mentioned that the tax take from the new freedom rules is estimated by the treasury to be over £2billion per annum.... Go figure!

[Stanley]

I heard a man on R4 yesterday saying that he and his wife were drawing their 25% out and taking a trip on the Queen Mary. Wasn't it handy them finding him on the day when the Rip-off started! Mind you, it does make you wonder how many people will have the same idea. I hope they can afford it.

[plaques]

Past performances have shown that any 'revolution' to existing systems will ultimately end in disaster. This is a prime example of where virtually everything has been planed to go wrong. No trial pilot scheme, no tapering in, no apparent government oversight and to cap it all a very very tight time scale. All a recipe for disaster. One perhaps good thing is that the Government didn't have to develop a new IT system to control it. On the other hand everything is in the hands of the Banks and Insurance companies. So if all goes to plan, or lack of it, nobody will know the extent of the disaster until its all over with.

[Stanley]

Exactly right P. I heard one theory that Osborne brought it in so quickly because it wouldn't give the pension providers time to react, evidently they didn't want the old system changing. Now it is in they are of course using it to their advantage, apart from the spivs, some of the banks charges for altering the account are eye-watering. Then of course there is the tax take.....

[Tizer]

BBC, 15 April 2015
"The Bank of New York Mellon's London branch has been fined £126m by the City regulator for failing to protect its customers' assets. It is the eighth largest fine ever imposed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). (The Bank of New York Mellon Group is the world's largest global custody bank.) The FCA said the bank's London and international operations had failed to look after their clients' investments."..."When Lehman's collapsed, it was difficult to sort out which money belonged to the bank, and which to customers. In this case, BNY Mellon failed to account properly for shares, bonds and other investments, and, according to the FCA, would have found it difficult to return them quickly to the right clients. "The firms' failure to comply with our rules was particularly serious given the systemically important nature of the firms, and the fact that safeguarding assets is core to their business," said Georgina Philippou,acting director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA. And she warned other banks and wealth management firms to take note. "Other firms with responsibility for client assets should take this as a further warning that there is no excuse for failing to safeguard client assets."

[Stanley]

Would that our regulators were as efficient and proactive as the FCA! The thing that strikes me is that the Lords of the Universe are having a wonderful free ride under the current 'economic miracle' Attention diverted from their role in the 2008 collapse by the blame game being practised during the election arguments. Add to that the looming bonanza for them in the pension changes and the artificially high level of the Stock Exchange and they have never had it so good. Trebles all round!

[Stanley]

The pressure seems to be mounting on the Post Office as more and more facts emerge about the dreadful mismanagement of their computer system, their greed for profit and their intransigence in not admitting any fault. I hope this has an effect. The injustice meted out to those who fell foul of the system include at least one suicide and many people ruined, some even gaoled. High time the government grasped this nettle.

[Stanley]

See THIS for a report on the loss posted by Wonga.... I can't say that this saddens me.....

[plaques]

This is really bad news just when I was thinking of borrowing some 20 grand to take part in Cameron's banking bribe sell off. Of course at interest rates of nearly six thousand %, Quote, "Wonga charged annualised interest rates of up to 5,853% ". I would have to be a bit nippy to make sure that the charges didn't exceed my profit. On the other hand I could go for £250 worth and make do with £12.50. (less dealing charges).

[Tripps]

If you want to get revenge on the bank - it seems that one of these would be useful.

[Stanley]

I remember following a van on the M way one day. On the back doors it had in large letters, 'Holemasters'. Don't know why but that tickled me.....
Why should the bank share sell off have a discount? That means the rest of us are subsidising it.....

[Tripps]

I remember reading on a blog somewhere last year that a chap was doing all he could to get Wonga to take him to court where he thought he had a good chance of having the matter dismissed on the grounds that it was an unfair contract. They did all they could short of court action, which never happened. . I remember thinking that a mass payment strike would have brought them down within weeks. Remember the KInder trespass.
I'm beginning to think I'm more of a lefty that I realised.
They say they may change the name - I suggest Bunce or Moolah.

[plaques]

Why should the bank share sell off have a discount? That means the rest of us are subsidising it...

Its all in the words. The promise, there we go again, was that the original loan / bale out would show a gain to the general public. So if the total return showed a profit the promise has been met. If one tranche has been sold at at reduced price the next must wait until an overall profit can be shown or until Joe Public has forgotten all about it. All smoke and mirrors.