Sylvia Allison from Sleaford got back £1,286 from Royal London

In 1999 Sylvia was introduced to a financial adviser when she was aged 22. Sylvia, sensibly, wanted to save for the future and thought it was a good idea to discuss this with a professional.

She was advised to invest a lump sum of £1,000 and to top this up with £50 per month from her earnings as a nursery nurse. Sylvia struggled to afford this but managed to keep this arrangement in place for nearly 4 years and put away a total of £2,300. However, because the money was invested in a Stocks and Shares ISA the amount she got back was just £2,121 resulting in her losing almost £180 across this time.

We sent our claim to Royal London explaining that Sylvia should not have been advised to take this risk with her savings as she was committing money which she could not afford into the risky UK Growth Fund.

Royal London looked into the advice given to Sylvia and agreed that it was not suitable for her at that time. We asked Royal London to refund the money lost and calculate what returns could have been achieved if Sylvia had kept her money in a no risk savings account. This resulted in a pay out of £1,286.