I have held this bond with Zurich insurance for six years and decided to cut my losses on its guaranteed date 03/07/13 and notified the company in advance of this date.I then received notification that the request would be processed on the due date but now 21 days later I still have not been paid and each time I contact them there is some excuse for the delay in payment.This does not do much to give one confidence in this company particularly in the uncertain financial times in which we live. Wondered if others have been experiencing similar problems
Delay in cashing Zurich guaranteed 100 bond
- Thread starter evanio
- Start date
Well first of all ZFSG is not a bank and secondly it has assets in the region of 380b and is one of the biggest 100 public companies in the world, so there should be very little concern on that side.
Next you need realise that what you are doing is not the norm, although I expect many customers may have taken this course of action. And I would not be at all surprised if most of the work needs to be done manually. So I would not be at all surprised if it took four or more weeks to work itself out.
Exactly what excuses have you been given?
Next you need realise that what you are doing is not the norm, although I expect many customers may have taken this course of action. And I would not be at all surprised if most of the work needs to be done manually. So I would not be at all surprised if it took four or more weeks to work itself out.
Exactly what excuses have you been given?
I agree with you regarding the unlikelihood of being paid but still find it unsatisfactory that a company of the magnitude which you state cannot repay an insignificant amount in relation to their assets in three weeks.As regards what I am doing not being the norm, I have held this bond for six years during which time it has not earned one cent, perhaps you could advise a more profitable course of action. I am sure you realise that a guaranteed return represents a loss of up to 20%
With previous experience in working in the financial services sector I know the madness that ensues when one of these types of products/funds matures. There will be absolutely a pot load of people all trying to do the same thing. As it's an investment they have to do all appropriate anti money laundering cheques, exit tax calculations etc. Multiply this by a large number of requests received on the same day & you see the reasons why this takes time. Most people start jumping up & down when things aren't processed as soon as they'd like but these companies are reputable & will have very rigorous internal checks for these types of transactions. Bear with it but yes you are correct there is a stage where turnaround becomes a bit unreasonable. Just remember, as with all calls, go easy on the person at the end of the line, it's not always necessarily their fault.
M
mercman
Guest
This is rubbish. They are in the job and the encashment request has been acknowledged. Place your question in writing immediately requesting when the funds will be paid to you. If this fails send a letter to the Ombudsman requesting full value and interest, no matter how small the amount is.
ClearFinance
Registered User
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- 51
Are these not the ones invested in the dynamic protected funds where you could only encash the plan after a certian date??they had to be locked in for some time and the capital was guaranteed in them?
Steven Barrett
Registered User
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- 5,330
Zurich Life's service has gone to pot, with delays all over the place. I was waiting 5 weeks to get some pretty basic client information off them. Then I got multiple copies of the same info!
Evanio,
You've just got to keep on them. Ring up and find out how exactly what stage your encashment is at and get an estimated completed date. All their work has due completion dates, so they can easily tell you.
My opinion is that tracker bonds are very poor investment products.
50 tracker bonds matured in 2012. Here are the stats on their performance:
Top Performer: Wealth Options Prospector:
98% return over six years; 12% p.a.
19 products matured with 0% return - 38% of all trackers
14 less than 0.5% p.a. - 28% of all trackers
Average of 50 was 0.96% p.a.
66% of all trackers that matured in 2012 earned a return of 0.5% p.a. or less!!!!!
Evanio,
You've just got to keep on them. Ring up and find out how exactly what stage your encashment is at and get an estimated completed date. All their work has due completion dates, so they can easily tell you.
My opinion is that tracker bonds are very poor investment products.
50 tracker bonds matured in 2012. Here are the stats on their performance:
Top Performer: Wealth Options Prospector:
98% return over six years; 12% p.a.
19 products matured with 0% return - 38% of all trackers
14 less than 0.5% p.a. - 28% of all trackers
Average of 50 was 0.96% p.a.
66% of all trackers that matured in 2012 earned a return of 0.5% p.a. or less!!!!!
Brendan Burgess
Founder
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- 53,744
Hi S
That is interesting data. Is the underlying report in the public domain?
Brendan
That is interesting data. Is the underlying report in the public domain?
Brendan
Steven Barrett
Registered User
- Messages
- 5,330
I'm not sure. I got it from a slide in college. The source is iCubed. He's always very accurate with his information.
Steven
Steven
Steven Barrett
Registered User
- Messages
- 5,330
I'm not sure. I got it from a slide in college. The source is iCubed. He is always very accurate with his information so I would take his word for it.