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

 Investors in London Capital & Finance ISAs may have recently received an email from HMRC that they thought to be a scam message but in reality was genuine. HMRC previously stated that the LCF ISAs that were not actually ISAs because the bonds LCF sold were not a valid ISA product had been voided meaning that the investors would have lost that ISA allowance even if they had been compensated by FSCS or HM Treasury. HMRC have now come to the common sense conclusion that the bonds inside the ISA wrapper were voided but the ISA wrapper itself remains valid.  This means that anyone who invested in an LCF ISA will still have an allowance for the value of the compensation that they receive from FSCS or the government. The email explains the steps that need to be taken to ensure that the ISA allowance isn't lost although this is probably only really relevant for anyone who invested substantially above the annual £20,000 ISA limit. If you invested £5,000 you can just pay the money into

 The UK Government has today (19th April 2021) announced a new compensation scheme for investors in London Capital & Finance (LCF) where they will be compensated up to 80% of their investment to a maximum of £68,000. This ties in with the FSCS maximum compensation of £85,000 for failed savings & investment schemes. Any payments already received from the administrators (the 2.5% dividend) and any interest payments will be deducted from the compensation payments made. The government have stated that they expect payments to be completed within 6 months of the law enabling the compensation being passed in Parliament.. Some worked examples are below: Investor paid £10,000 to LCF just before they collapsed. No interest payments received from LCF.      Compensation from government = 80% x £10,000 = £8000. Investor paid £10,000 to LCF and received their 8% interest for a year so a total interest of £800.       Compensation from government = 80% x £10,000 = £8000 minus interest already

 The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) have announced that they are investigating suspected fraud in relation to Raedex Consortium which includes the companies Buy2Let Cars and Wheels4Sure. This follows the companies going into administration in March 2021. One person was arrested and interviewed in connection with raids in premises connected to the investigation. This website has previously highlighted the dubious sales tactics used by Buy2Let cars to target investors (as shown by the ad below) and the speed of the collapse of the company when they were prevented from taking in new money would suggest that there may have been a Ponzi scheme at work if a constant flow of new investors were needed to keep the company afloat. A number of car leaseholders have posted on the MSE forums very worried that their cars will be taken away but also struggling with the servicing and taxing of their vehicles which was meant to be handled by Wheels4Sure the leasing arm of Buy2Let cars. It now looks like th