Friends Provident International Reviews 260

Linda H
went above and beyond to help me resolve some issues I was having tracking down policy information

I would highly recommend using this company, Linda and Stacey were polite helpful and professional.
Thank you

Linda from customer service took her time to answer all my questions as clearly and accurately as possible. It was very clear she wanted to help - one of the best customer service I've received.

There is no zero star option, which I can give otherwise I would have given 0 stars. Cheaters. I don't know how UAE Government allows such fraudulent practices.

I invested in Royal Sun Alliance international - flexible growth plan.

Royal Sun Alliance were taken over by Aviva (IOM) and some international offices were broken out into various offices.

Aviva sold to Friends Provident

Which was then broken up

For whatever reason, my account was tranferred to FP Hong Kong Office

I received a statement in 2014, nothing since. Wasnt overly concerned - was following fund growth which was good. but Decided to chase up a statement in Jan 2024

They have no record of my plan, none. Current value should be £45K but they cant find my details becase of "System Changes"

FP response far from timely - taking 11 months to respond to my review.

Admission of poor performing products.
Admission of the business model of encouring the practice of mis-selling via a network of “independent financial advisors”

FP tell me this, why would anyone based in the UK who has had this so-called investment examined by a qualified IFA in the UK & assessed as an overpriced rip-off product, continue to work with an unqualified advisor in Latin America? Obvious flaw in the advice below is that I terminated all relations with the 3rd party that mis-sold this product over a decade ago. Why would I want to work with a dodgy offshore advisor ever again?

If this is such a great product, why not buy it off me for the price that I origionally invested in 2012? This product & the funds it tracks is total tiolet, that's why.

Scammers and thieves. They promise ‘guranteed’ minimum conservative returns of 15% per annum and draw up a great picture of what your investment will return after many years of locked-in investing. You will only lose money over time not just in non-performing funds but also in extremely high service charges for the only service of losing your money. When you try to withdraw what is left, they will make it so difficult, it’s obvious they just want to feed off your hard earned money. Stay away from these scammers.

As so many others say, this fund prayed on inexperienced teachers overseas. Fees really are not clear and monthly performance is hidden. My investment is 14 years old and is worth a third of what it was, that's before the surrender fees. At sign up, I was assured the policy could be surrendered after initial 18 months. I was also told all fees were paid in first 18 months except a small 4GBP monthly fee. LIES. All of it. There are enough reviews on here saying the same. This should be a class action case against a poorly run investement company who have basically enabled blatent mis-selling on an epic scale. If I had the resources, I'd sue just to make them stop selling these mirror funds which never make any money even when the trading climate is good. Many of my colleagues are in the same boat. The fees will basically eat most of your investment by the time 25yrs is done. Stay away!

Do not, I repeat, do not trust this sham of a company with a cent of your money. It's my biggest regret in my investment life. They have no customer service, no returns, all fees, high staff turnover and they absolutely refuse to give my money back until after the 20 some odd year period. So all they need to do is get you on board, hope you forget about it and hold you hostage.
Just don't do it. If there were zero stars as an option, that's what I would give them.

Updated since last reply on March 20:
Thanks for the great advice around this being a long term investment. I had no idea!
I have contacted FPI to find the original agent, but they are long gone. I've been told that no one has been managing my account since 2017.
7 years with no representation of my investment, no contact to initiate action of any sort?
Still waiting on resolution.

Stay away from this...
I realized lately that i made a big mistake by buying saving plans with FPI. First you will not understand the fee structure and the salesperson will easily make you excited about the returns and upfront benefites... When comes to reality their charges will kill your capital. I suggest one should invest some time and money in learning about investing and do it yourself.. don't give away your hard earned money to them..

I liked that I could make a one time deposit way back in 1985 into Lloyds Life who were subsequently taken over by FPI , after successive buy outs by other insurance based firms over the following few years , and benefit from strong capital growth. I dislike very much that capital growth on my policy not only ground to a shuddering halt in early 2021 but has since gone into reverse losing one third of its value as of today.

While my own particular one time lump sum investment made 38 years ago still shows reasonable capital growth overall due to the bulk of that time being in predominently global bull market periods (and I suspect with FPI also under , shall we say , more enlightened management), I feel for those recent investors who just started making deposits in the last few years and who must have lost their shirts as of today. Sure , all financial markets have suffered since the Covid pandemic hit but one hopes FPI's previous good performance may still get back on track over the coming years.

No idea what’s happened to FPI customer service over the last couple of years but it’s beyond appalling and I can’t believe that management of a company of this size isn’t dealing with this.
Withdrawals are impossible. Keep changing goalposts, staff are rude and obstructive. Takes weeks and weeks to access cash. THIS IS NOT A ONE OFF!
I’ve amended my withdrawal dates to accommodate their new rules (holding on to cash extra 10 days) and still not received my money. I’ll be looking to recoup late payment charges and interest payments from my bills I can’t pay.
My FA and I are making arrangements to move my not inconsiderable investment.
Just look at the other reviews.
FPI please sort yourselves out!

FPI are great for depositing money. That's it though. Withdrawals are late, Innacurate. Their customer service is absent...non existent unless you count a holding email. They are a disaster.AVOID!! I regret I still have dealings for the next few years. Every month is a fight with a different excuse.

I have been investing with FPI for over 20 years and am reasonably pleased with the returns but, in May of this year 2023 I tried to liquidate my funds. This was just at the time they spent weeks and weeks transitioning to a new web-site. No one could log in the entire time. I sent an email to customer support asking for guidance on retrieving my money. I got a single response asking for the account number and promising to send me a list of required documents...nothing ever arrived. Later I called and was given a list of requirements: certified copy of a utility bill to prove my address, certified copy of my personal bank account, picture of my passport with me in the picture, Individual Self Certification Form, Request for Payment Withdrawal form. I have all of these but no instruction of how to send them or who to send them to. The secure email portal isn't working either. When I send, it says "email successfully sent" but then there is nothing in my Outbox and no one has responded for weeks. Even when I send directly from my email to directly to customerservices, no one responds. Now I am up at 1:00 in the morning to call the office and I only get a voice message telling me to send an email...this is starting to feel like fraud.

I have never encountered such a horrendous and unprofessional company. Despite providing clear instructions to cancel the auto debit option on my credit card, this company proceeded to debit the amount and is now delaying a lot to refund it. Their slow and careless response to the client is truly shocking and unbelievable.

Just reviewed my latest statement from FP International & my policy has lost 15% in the last financial year. How is this possible with the stock markets all showing record highs? The fees are also excessive & surrender valuation is a joke, I'd be losing another 10% meaning I'd get back a lot less than i've paid into the policy. Worst savings plan ever....

Don't invest in the Premier Saver plan. Absolute nonsense. The fees account for minimum 4-5% of your total unit value. So you need you collective mirror fund choices to grow by at least 4-5% just to break even and that's before you factor in inflation. I finally bit the bullet and surrendered my plan handing them a huge surrender penalty on top of what they've already earned off me. Despite this I can still invest what's left and make it back over the next 15 years by merely investing in a basic S&P ETF tracker. I have learned the hard way to better read the fees structures on these products.

If you’re in search of a reliable, high rates of profits, look no further than Friends Provident International. Their team of seasoned professionals consistently exceeds expectations, offering cutting-edge solutions and exceptional customer service. We are thrilled with the results and highly recommend to invest to Friends Provident International.

Very poor performance due to very high charges on the policies.
Very dissapointing results after 7 years.
High surrender value.

Another duped expat investor! I signed up to this through an 'advisor' whilst living in Argentina. Whilst initially the product seemed to make good returns it soon stalled and I'm now barely in profit after 10 years. I worked out I'm paying c. 5% fees so its very hard to make anything. I ditched my advisor (who was also getting fees from me) and switched to low cost funds. I hope for the best but its not looking good. Whilst I'm making gains with funds held with other providers, my FP International funds are going down. Don't make the same mistake as me!

I am overall happy with FPI. Markets have been extremely volatile for the past few months but managed to make good returns. The credit also goes to the adviser as he manages it actively. I am also able to consolidate my company shares and cash together on one platform. The best part is the withdrawal flexibility without any penalty which helps me book my holidays every now and then by booking profits. I will highly recommend FPI.