Relationship over, ex keeping ‘joint savings’

[FieldRunner]

First of all, I know I’ve been really stupid here. Ex and I have broken up, we had been together for nearly 4 years and been saving for a house for about half of this time. Ex works in finance and persuaded me that we’d be better pooling our savings as would receive higher interest. I transferred a set amount to him each month to put into an account which he said would be a fixed interest rate. Basically it transpires that a few months in he changed this to be invested in to a Stocks ISA. He says it isn’t simple to give this back to me as the money is tied up and value is volatile as it’s the markets (I don’t really understand this).

Does anyone know if it’s hard to get this money out of a Stocks ISA? I don’t know what to do next, he is ignoring my messages now. I’ve transferred over £15,000.

contact the CEO of the bank he works for and explain the situation and make it clear their employee has YOUR money and you want their help getting it back and are prepared to kick up merry he’ll to get it. They will help you I think as won’t want their company involved in any of this

And this is a prime example of why asking on MN is not the best idea. Posters saying “he’s kinda got a point” and then going on to reveal they know absolutely nothing 🤣

A stocks & shares ISA is a type of savings product.
A regular ISA with a bank is one where you save cash & in return receive a fixed rate of interest. Sometimes there are restrictions on withdrawals within the period, sometimes it’s easy access and sometimes it’s totally locked away for the duration of the term on that account. This isn’t what he’s set up.

A stocks & shares ISA is one where you pay money in (as part of your ISA allowance), and that money is used to purchase shares in a company. Or, you can buy into funds. Funds are essentially pots which are managed by a professional - they may be called ‘FTSE100 tracker fund’ as an example. You select that fund, and your money moves up and down in line with the performance of that fund. You can get less or more than you put in, it depends entirely on the markets. These tracker funds would buy shares in multiple companies, and so the performance is based on the markets in that fund more generally.
Each fund has a risk profile, the lower risk funds typically have less volatility and smaller returns. The higher risk funds typically have more volatility (the values go up and down more dramatically) and have the potential for higher gains and bigger losses. The level 7 he mentions could be in relation to the risk.

That said, you can pull your money out at any point (usually). It just takes a few working days to filter through the system.

The alarm bells ringing here is he’s used an ISA which is an individual savings account. He works for a bank, and it sounds like he’s given you financial advice, and then taken your money for personal gain. This lacks integrity and someone in his field should know better than to blur the lines in this way. I would contact citizens advice in the first instance, because clearly at the heart of this you have been misled into making investment choices which were bad for you. This could have (and should have) serious ramifications for his job.

As a general rule he can remove money from a stocks isa straight away without any issues, he may lose a portion of his isa allowance but that’s not a monetary value for this isa (just means he can’t then reinvest up to the isa limit).

The investment is worth what it’s worth at this moment. You should hopefully have earned interest and possibly it will have increased if the stocks have done well.

Ask him to show you an online statement of the value then ask him to transfer half of that amount to you. Don’t let him fob you off without you seeing an up to date statement. He should be able to access this online in front of you

You could ask him "what is the value of my contribution if you sold today"? (with evidence e.g. a screenshot of the ISA account balance.) If you agreed to it being invested in the stock market then you may be willing for him to sell today and return your half even if there's a loss so that you definitely get something. If you had thought he was putting the money somewhere safer then you probably have grounds to ask for your full contribution back.

Of course it's possible the investment is doing fine but he just doesn't want to give it to you...

All this is totally irrelevant.

Maybe he’s testing the waters to see if you accept what he’s saying - that he can’t access the money. Just be firm - message him and tell him you know how the accounts work (google it) and say you still want your money back so you can move on with no ties. Accept that you may lose a little money, but insist on seeing the closing balance so you know he isn’t pulling a fast one on the amount due. . I’m assuming you know him well enough to know if he has a skewed moral compass. If he doesn’t have form for being dishonest, then just pin your hopes on him behaving fairly.

I messaged him again earlier and he said it’s easier to speak over the phone about it, he seems reluctant to put anything in writing. He said he will call me tonight and explain.

It's your money. By putting it into a S&S ISA in his name he's effectively stolen it. Do you have anything in writing about the original arrangement? Presumably your bank statements show the payments.

I'd tell him he needs to pay you back now or it will be a police matter. It has been a volatile time for equities but a) that's his problem and b) most have pretty much recovered now.

No nothing in writing at all, we always discussed verbally. My bank will show a monthly transfer though.

He is so far ahead of you OP, honestly.
Listen to what he tells you.
Get another phone and record it for note taking purposes.
Have someone quietly, silently witness the call with you.

Listen to his bullshit. Text it back and say fine, you will involve the police and the bank management.

He thinks you are an awful idiot.
Prove him wrong.

Any man asking for monthly savings is a walking red flag.

Can you have someone dependable sit in an witness the phone call?
You need to box clever quickly.

Seek legal advice as it sounds like he plans to defraud you.

He already has

Record the phonecall!

Also probably late now but never trust a “partner” with money in this manner. It will be a fight to get it back.

It’s theft because he clearly has no intent of giving her her money.

It’s fraud because she did not provide him to “invest”. She pooled her savings with his assuming it was to be in a savings account not an investment vehicle. That he does not have her money is not her concern. She did not give it to him to invest. She needs to seek legal
advice immediately.

Be wary of recording him @FieldRunner

If you record him without consent then

1 The recording may be inadmissible in any future proceedings so pointless
2 You will breach GDPR

Whatever he says is likely to be irrelevant

Ask him when he is going to repay you. Just keep returning the conversation to that.

If he verbally accepts he needs to do this then you can quote that in your letter before action and subsequent money claim.

You can always record the call. But also, take notes as he’s talking, and email him summarising the points discussed.

If he is telling the truth about where he works seeks legal advice. I work in financial services and am also an accountant. I am subject to stringent checks at employment and ongoing and a fraud case / investigation would see me lose my job.

Give him a deadline for return of your money and in the interim seek legal advice.

There are two scenarios here... either he did this in good faith, it's lost money and he's embarassed/trying to delay until it's gone up again and he plans to give you your money. This is probably fairly unlikely, but could be true.

Or he has no intention of giving you the money/all the money and will try and confuse you and mess you around into not giving it you back.

Personally to find out how genuine he is I would ask if he would meet with you, plus your dad or a financial advisor of your choice and go through the statements for the account and the current status of your money to agree a plan for returning it. Sometimes softly softly works. If he won't agree to this I'd do what the other posters are saying and go a more legal route.

Not with a stocks and shares ISA. He can simply sell them online.

It’s a crime if he does not return her money. Whether she can prove that is a different story.

I work for a wealth manager and S&S ISA’s are a big part of our investment products.

Depending on the fund manager and ISA type, he should be able to access funds without penalties. Most funds pay out on a T+3/4 basis meaning you receive your money 3/4 days after you request a redemption.

He’s been dishonest with you saying pooled funds attract a higher interest rate. An individual can only invest 20k a year so you’d have been better having separate portfolios.

Tell him you’ve taken advice and that you want him to withdraw your funds immediately and pay you the cash within a week.

😂

Yeah it’s really not as simple to contact a CEO and depending on the size of the bank they would ignore you.