David Hankins from Treharris got back £8,350 from Lloyds

In 1996 Mr Hankins was aged 44 and had saved some money which he wanted to invest for his retirement. He approached his bank, Lloyds, and met with a financial adviser.

Mr Hankins was advised to place his money into a Personal Equity Plan (PEP) as investing in shares over the medium to long term can sometimes produce good returns. The fund recommended was the Equity Income Fund and David left his investment in place for 16 years. At age 60 the value of his investment had grown to £6,624.

David saw our ad on the internet and contacted us asking if we could help because his investment had not lost any of the capital. We reviewed the advice David was given and determined that the Equity Income Fund was not suitable for him as a first time investor because it contained too much risk.

We sent our claim to Lloyds explaining why Mr Hankins was advised wrongly. After investigating the case they agreed with our findings and paid him £8,371 to compensate for the unsuitable advice he had received. This amount covered the returns David could have received if he invested in a more suitable fund with less risk.