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Hello Beagles,
I'm looking for a little bit of help regarding an investment I made into fundingcircle.com. I invested in the platform several years ago and put thousands into it as an investment under the understanding that I had access to my funds at any time and could sell on the second-hand loan market if I wanted. The website had the following statements on sign-up and I have screenshots to prove this wording, I just can't post them as I'm a new member here.
Quote "access to your money at any stage"
Another quote "access to your money at any time"
Another "Usually very fast to sell loans"
Another "No fees to sell loans"
To cut a long story short they first added new charges to sell loans (contrary to their messages on sign-up) and then closed the second-hand loan market entirely leaving all investors with a situation where they have no access to their savings for 5 years.
I went to the Financial Ombudsman, but they said that buried away in the small print it mentions they can suspend services at any time without notice. I took this to mean things like new loans or new investments, rather than do something which locks all investors into the platform for 5 years with no possible exit. The assurances on sign-up were much more prominent and made these promises and I believe on that basis they failed to articulate the risks and mis-sold the investment. It is being reviewed by an Ombudsman now, rather than by the initial team who handle complaints.
My next step is to take it to the Small Claims Court as I can't believe how badly this investment was mis-sold, nowhere in the risks or sign-up pages did it mention about the second-hand loan market was at risk of being withdrawn, neither did it mention anything about it in the terms. The screenshots below are what I thought I was getting into and it turned out to be very different.
I'm looking for some specific law in relation to not articulating risks at the point of signing up and lack of transparency. Can anyone offer any suggestions on specific laws that I can research which might apply in this case? Maybe you can suggest a firm of solicitors who might be willing to take on such a case?
Thanks in advance
I'm looking for a little bit of help regarding an investment I made into fundingcircle.com. I invested in the platform several years ago and put thousands into it as an investment under the understanding that I had access to my funds at any time and could sell on the second-hand loan market if I wanted. The website had the following statements on sign-up and I have screenshots to prove this wording, I just can't post them as I'm a new member here.
Quote "access to your money at any stage"
Another quote "access to your money at any time"
Another "Usually very fast to sell loans"
Another "No fees to sell loans"
To cut a long story short they first added new charges to sell loans (contrary to their messages on sign-up) and then closed the second-hand loan market entirely leaving all investors with a situation where they have no access to their savings for 5 years.
I went to the Financial Ombudsman, but they said that buried away in the small print it mentions they can suspend services at any time without notice. I took this to mean things like new loans or new investments, rather than do something which locks all investors into the platform for 5 years with no possible exit. The assurances on sign-up were much more prominent and made these promises and I believe on that basis they failed to articulate the risks and mis-sold the investment. It is being reviewed by an Ombudsman now, rather than by the initial team who handle complaints.
My next step is to take it to the Small Claims Court as I can't believe how badly this investment was mis-sold, nowhere in the risks or sign-up pages did it mention about the second-hand loan market was at risk of being withdrawn, neither did it mention anything about it in the terms. The screenshots below are what I thought I was getting into and it turned out to be very different.
I'm looking for some specific law in relation to not articulating risks at the point of signing up and lack of transparency. Can anyone offer any suggestions on specific laws that I can research which might apply in this case? Maybe you can suggest a firm of solicitors who might be willing to take on such a case?
Thanks in advance
