Thoughts on Finance, Current Affairs and General Consumer Ripoffs - Damn Lies and Statistics

Are Top ISA Rates Too Good To Be True? If you search on Google for "top ISA rates" or "best ISA rates" then one of the promoted adverts and sometimes one of the high ranking results is a website called Top ISA Rates. Are Top ISA Rates Too Good To Be True? Best ISA rates Review If you click through and look at the products advertised on the Top ISA rates website then you will see a variety of products listed but no differentiation on their risk or status. Worryingly their website states "Fully secured ISAs. Types: Fixed Rate Interest, High Rate Of Interest, Full Security." This is incorrect as the products listed as not fully secured or having full security. They are products where you can lose 100% of your money. Until recently the main product they promoted was a company called London Capital & Finance . However this company is now being investigated by Financial Conduct Authority and is not allowed to promote for new business or move any

Are Direct Property Investments selling scam bonds? It appears that Direct Property Investments have been selling or promoting bonds offered by MJS Capital now known as Colarb. There are many unhappy investors that are complaining that they have not been paid interest on their bonds and are unable to get their money back from MJS Capital. Remember for any investment - if you want your deposit to be guaranteed then you must use a company that is FSCS protected. Companies that offer unregulated products do not have to meet the strict criteria that applies to regulated companies so can make claims that would not be permitted elsewhere including the use of the word "guaranteed". If you are looking for “certainty”, “capital protection” or “security”, you should not invest in unregulated products with a risk of 100% capital loss.

With London Capital and Finance, another company offering high rate "guaranteed" bonds being placed under FCA restrictions preventing them from trading or accessing any of their investors money & assets without prior approval the spotlight may switch to Blackmore Bonds that are offering very similar high risk investments to retail investors. The Blackmore Bonds are not deposits and they have the risk as with London Capital Finance that you could lose all your money. It remains to be seen if LCF investors will get any money back from the company. Unlike LCF though the people behind Blackmore Bonds have a bit more history and a rather chequered past that potential investors may want to consider. Remember that these are high risk investments that should only be sold to High Net Worth or sophisticated investors, they are not suitable for those wanting a bank deposit. Blackmore bonds seem to be very keen to keep information about their company and their past hidden perhap

The FCA have now announced more information about their investigation into London Capital & Finance. They have stopped the company from taking any action on their assets including bank accounts without approval as well as stopping the company from marketing any products. Many investors are asking if this means they can get their money back or have lost any money invested with London Capital Finance. The truthful answer is that no-one knows at the moment. Many of the investment bonds were fixed term so you could not access your money until the 3 or 5 years was up. The bonds are very high risk so it is possible that they may be worthless like other mini bonds that have gone bust like Provident. However it's also possible that the FCA may give the company a clean bill of health and they continue trading. This may be unlikely as there was obviously a reason the FCA decided to act in the first place - most likely that the bonds were being offered to retail investors without clear

Great WTO summary lifted from Twitter: 'Debunking WTO and what “trading on WTO terms” really means...' As EU members, we participate in over 750 international treaties. Many relate to trade, enabling us to trade freely with the EU, the EEA, and 40+ other countries. Other treaties cover non-trade issues, from air worthiness certificates to drivers licenses, UK and EU citizens’ rights, food safety, environmental protections, workers rights, etc. On Brexit Day, we leave the EU. That means we lose all the benefits of its treaties. Those treaties are gone in a flash, as if we’d fed them into a shredder. (That’s not the EU being vindictive, it’s just how the Article 50 process works.) Even IF we have a transition period, the treaties will already be gone, but we will be shielded from the immediate shock by the transition arrangement. Right now, we share in trade deals with 78 countries (22 more pending). These deals cover 60.7% of all our of all our goods imports,

Blackmore bonds seem to be very keen to keep information about their company and their past hidden perhaps so that potential investors in Blackmore Bonds are unable to fully research what they are getting in to. Google shows the links that have been removed from their index on request by the subject of articles by claiming libel or defamation to Google. https://www.lumendatabase.org/notices/15945293# These links have all been removed and refer to discussions of Blackmore such as this one showing that they have not been audited and have an apparent hole in their accounts. It's not surprising that they want the articles hidden if they will deter new investors. https://pension-life.com/blackmore-global-fund-asset-liability-black-hole/ You might wonder if Blackmore Bonds and Blackmore Global are in anyway connected or if it's just a coincidence of naming?  Well it appears that the same person is behind both companies - Patrick McCreesh https://beta.companieshou

It appears that the FCA have finally taken some action against London Capital & Finance for promoting their bonds to investors that appear to be savings accounts and seriously underplay the risks involved in the investment. London Capital Finance - FCA FSCS Shutdown? The London Capital Finance website is now showing a message that the FCA have required them to remove all marketing material from their site. Hopefully this means that they will now need to look whether the investors of their bonds have been suitably advised of the risks involved and that they should be significant net worth investors to invest in the schemes. On its website LCF says its products are aimed at retail clients who are UK taxpayers and who fall in the category of either High Net Worth Individual, Sophisticated, Self Certified Sophisticated or Restricted Investor. This restriction doesn't appear on any of the London Capital Finance marketing material that is shown in the screen shots below: