Barbican ISA Bond Review - Is it a Scam?

By J Drew -
One of the latest ISAs being advertised by Review My ISA is called Barbican ISA claiming to offer a fixed rate of 7%. However if you look at the small print you will find out some worrying details.

Barbican ISA Bond Review - Is it a Scam?
Barbican ISA Bond Review - Is it a Scam?
Despite the claim that the ISA is regulated and authorised by the FCA it is important to note that this product is not protected by the FSCS so you could lose all your money if the investment goes wrong as investors in London Capital and Finance have found to their cost. This ISA is promoted on Facebook by "Mark's Money Matters" who seem to have a track record for promoting misleading investments that are listed as savings.

 The key point is that despite all the references to SAVINGS this is not a savings product but an investment where you can lose all your money and the value is not guaranteed. Even the interest rate is not fixed as they could go bust before the end of the term as LCF did.

We are not suggesting that Barbican ISA is a scam or is likely to go bust but their advertising is certainly against the spirit of FCA regulations where the risks of investing are not made clear to those looking to put their money into the product.

Remember - not all ISAs are cash ISAs. This is an investment ISA investing in Peer 2 Peer loans so your money is not guaranteed.

Having done a bit more digging on the page "Mark's money matters", it looks to be run by a friendly "Mark" who posts photos of him & his wife along with tips about flights and general chit-chat and claims to be a retired bank manager living in Cotswolds.

Curiously Facebook insight shows that it's managed from Ukraine and Estonia as well as the UK so maybe Mark isn't who he seems. Wonder if it's stock photos?

Comments

  1. Unknown7 October 2021 at 07:30

    My investments have matured but no response from the company, phone number not valid.
    Do you know who is the regulator to contact ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. J Drew7 October 2021 at 09:23

      Unfortunately it's an unregulated investment so there is no regulator. If you're not able to contact the sellers then it looks like it might have been a scam. You could contact the Mark's Money matters page as they promoted it

      Delete
    2. Anonymous21 May 2022 at 02:13

      I got all my money back from barbican . So it wasn't a scam . They just have hardly any staff so take a while to reply and only operate via emails

      Delete
    3. Anonymous29 November 2022 at 01:38

      I can’t get them on phone & not responding to emails, how did you make contact?

      Delete

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