Re: Investments through UNFCU

['Rohini De Silva' via xUNICEFers]

So sorry to hear of the loss to some staff on credit union advisor investments. Contact has to be made direct with UNFCU. I don’t see how any individual agency can get involved. Perhaps the AFICS at hq or at country level can take it up too?.  Carlos may have some advice.

A lesson on investments is not to put all your eggs in one basket..many of us have learnt this through experience. 

I hope those affected will have some resolution.

Rohini

Sent from my iPad

On Nov 15, 2020, at 5:38 PM, Alejandro Gonzalez-Richmond <basi...@gmail.com> wrote:



This is a really serious issue. I am very surprised to see nearly zero comments about it. 

On Nov 15, 2020, at 03:46, Neena Gupta <neena....@gmail.com> wrote:



Dear Members:

At the outset, I apologize for sending this email to all members, but I would like to use this forum to share my concern as follows:

A few years ago, UNFCU's financial advisors had persuaded me to invest my savings in UNFCU in Northstar Financial Services, based in Bermuda.  I had accordingly invested all my savings in this Company, which in turn had invested it in various international mutual funds.  Initially, a statement of my investments used to come from Raymond James, but a couple of years ago, these stopped coming.  Inquiries to UNFCU did not reveal anything.  Last week, I received an email from Liquidators of Northstar, informing me that this company is under liquidation.  UNFCU's investment advisor did not provide me with this information.  They have stopped communicating with me through email, but only give assurances verbally.  

Needless to say, this came as a great shock to me.  I do not know the true state of affairs and am totally in the dark.  I am only hoping and praying that my hard earned savings do not get lost.

If any one of you has faced a similar situation or have any information, please do get back to me.  I will really appreciate it. 

Again, I apologize for sending this message to all, but since all of us have savings with UNFCU, it is indeed of concern.

thanks and regards,

Neena Gupta

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[Editors XUNICEF News and Views]

Investments through UNFCU

Inbox

Amar Raj Sehmi

2:42 AM (14 hours ago)

Neena,I sail in the same boat and getting similar response from UNFCU advisors. At the outset it appears that money is locked until liquidation process is compl

sharif alam

12:48 PM (4 hours ago)

to Amar, neena.unicef, me

Dear Both

I received the below feedback from a colleague:

“ Raymond James stopped being UNFCU's investment advisors some time ago.

They sent a mail announcing the same and asking us to get to them and change our investments to the new services managed by Community America Financial services. 

Maybe the folks missed these.”

FYI. Regards. 

Sharif Alam, NY

PS. Copied editors only. 

Sent from my iPhone

On Nov 15, 2020, at 04:42, Amar Raj Sehmi <amar...@gmail.com> wrote:

Alejandro Gonzalez-Richmond

3:38 PM (1 hour ago)

This is a really serious issue. I am very surprised to see nearly zero comments about it. 



['Stephen Umemoto' via xUNICEFers]

Many if not most of the "investment" losses I have  learned about over the years, among family and friends, involved someone seeing what looks like a great return or promise of  great appreciation, resulting in one putting  their saving there ... ALL of their savings.  The message is .... no matter how good it looks, NEVER put all  your eggs one basket. 

On Monday, 16 November 2020, 05:15:35 GMT, Magi Abdel Latif <mor...@hotmail.com> wrote:

More on investments

Sent from my Galaxy

-------- Original message --------

From: Maria Diaz <elsiefr...@gmail.com>

Date: 11/16/20 02:49 (GMT+01:00)

To: Alejandro Gonzalez-Richmond <basi...@gmail.com>

Cc: Neena Gupta <neena....@gmail.com>, "xunicef.com" <allme...@xunicef.com>

Subject: Re: Investments through UNFCU

This is in response to the comment that there was no comment regarding this wipeout of the investment of one of our colleagues.

Ralph also put all our money savings in Raymond James. When you are in the UN, your choices are either to invest in your home country, which might have an unstable economy, or look at a bank that you know. So we looked at the interest rates offered by the investment bank associated with the UN and put our little savings there.   But, fortunately for us, we were building our retirement home and had to withdraw all the money. Our Financial Manager with Raymond James called us, asking us for the reason why we were withdrawing our investment.  Then he looked at our profile and agreed that, at our age and at this point in our lives,  we should not be putting our money on investments in the money market, and in securities. 

I will probably receive flak for this, but, maybe we should get regular financial advice for the small money we are saving each year. As UN, we are just worried about the welfare of the people we serve.  And of course, the banks will always push for investment in their financial portfolios. This is why I was surprised when the Financial Manager with Raymond James agreed that we should not keep our money invested in his company, given our age and retired status.  We should also know that investments are not covered by the deposit insurance.  Etcetera. At least, with the stock market, you are constantly aware of the direction where your money is going. But with these trust fund deposits (UITF), etc. you forget the small print when you made the deposit which said that this money could go down or up, at your expense.

Sorry someone had to experience this. 

Maria Diaz

  

On Mon, Nov 16, 2020 at 6:38 AM Alejandro Gonzalez-Richmond <basi...@gmail.com> wrote:

This is a really serious issue. I am very surprised to see nearly zero comments about it. 

On Nov 15, 2020, at 03:46, Neena Gupta <neena....@gmail.com> wrote:



Dear Members:

At the outset, I apologize for sending this email to all members, but I would like to use this forum to share my concern as follows:

A few years ago, UNFCU's financial advisors had persuaded me to invest my savings in UNFCU in Northstar Financial Services, based in Bermuda.  I had accordingly invested all my savings in this Company, which in turn had invested it in various international mutual funds.  Initially, a statement of my investments used to come from Raymond James, but a couple of years ago, these stopped coming.  Inquiries to UNFCU did not reveal anything.  Last week, I received an email from Liquidators of Northstar, informing me that this company is under liquidation.  UNFCU's investment advisor did not provide me with this information.  They have stopped communicating with me through email, but only give assurances verbally.  

Needless to say, this came as a great shock to me.  I do not know the true state of affairs and am totally in the dark.  I am only hoping and praying that my hard earned savings do not get lost.

If any one of you has faced a similar situation or have any information, please do get back to me.  I will really appreciate it. 

Again, I apologize for sending this message to all, but since all of us have savings with UNFCU, it is indeed of concern.

thanks and regards,

Neena Gupta

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['Robert Hanawalt' via xUNICEFers]

Dear Neena,

I was surprised then sorry to read your message about your investment with Northstar that you made with the UNFCU. Let's hope you have not lost your savings but you will, unfortunately, have to wait to have some satisfaction.

When you invested your money with UNFCU, you signed a disclaimer stating that you recognize that UNFCU has no responsibility for the quality or success of the investments you make with them. As this is imbedded in the very small print that most of do not like to read, it is there just the same and to effect the investment, you agreed to it.

The liquidators will take quite some time to carry out their work and in the end, you will get a only portion of your investment. That is how such things go and all you can do now is wait until you hear from the liquidators. Eventually, you may be asked to prove the amount of your investment to the liquidators and then perhaps asked to join in a counter lawsuit against Northstar to more quickly reclaim your investment. The counter lawsuit will be just one group of lawyers talking to the liquidator's group of lawyers and accountants. It may not speed up the return of your funds but it might recover more of your investment for you.

Years ago, I had an investment in an off-shore bank in the UK that went into receivership and I had to wait several years only to get 25% on each pound sterling. In other words, the 75% of my investment was lost. Fortunately, the amount was not that great and I was still working and could save the same amount or more actually. The wait was eternal, 4 or 5 years as I remember but the disappointment was impressive.

In the meantime, you can wait to see the news from the liquidators but you can also insist that UNFCU gets involved on your behalf as the investment agent. You will have to be rather aggressive with them because even though they are a credit union, they essentially act like a bank and banks only respect their own bottom lines and really have no interest in their customers except for how the customers can help them.

I am sorry to be the prophet of doom and gloom on this subject but I wanted to give you a glimpse of the process you face. I feel so very sorry for you and hope the affair comes to a conclusion quickly.

Best of luck,

Rob Hanawalt

_________________________________

Robert Hanawalt 

1818 16th Street, NW 

Washington, DC 20009 robert_...@yahoo.com 

Skype: robert_...@yahoo.com  

202-999-9714 (mobile) 202-518-3034 (land)

On Sunday, November 15, 2020, 04:42:36 AM EST, Amar Raj Sehmi <amar...@gmail.com> wrote:

Neena,

I sail in the same boat and getting similar response from UNFCU advisors.

At the outset it appears that money is locked until liquidation process is completed possibly for few months or years and once liquidation is completed, (1) you may not get anything, or (2) partially or (3) full since these are invested in mutual fund houses and are supposed to be in segregated accounts through Trysts/Subtrusts.

Web search also revealed that North star and Omnia both from Bermuda are under liquidation and some law firm has filed a legal suit on behalf of collective investors.

We should hopefully get some clarity by end of this month through liquidators (North star and UNCAF is not answering satisfactorily), otherwise consider similar lawsuit collectively of enough number of victims are around (I don't know how and at what cost).

On Sun, 15 Nov, 2020, 14:16 Neena Gupta, <neena....@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Members:

At the outset, I apologize for sending this email to all members, but I would like to use this forum to share my concern as follows:

A few years ago, UNFCU's financial advisors had persuaded me to invest my savings in UNFCU in Northstar Financial Services, based in Bermuda.  I had accordingly invested all my savings in this Company, which in turn had invested it in various international mutual funds.  Initially, a statement of my investments used to come from Raymond James, but a couple of years ago, these stopped coming.  Inquiries to UNFCU did not reveal anything.  Last week, I received an email from Liquidators of Northstar, informing me that this company is under liquidation.  UNFCU's investment advisor did not provide me with this information.  They have stopped communicating with me through email, but only give assurances verbally.  

Needless to say, this came as a great shock to me.  I do not know the true state of affairs and am totally in the dark.  I am only hoping and praying that my hard earned savings do not get lost.

If any one of you has faced a similar situation or have any information, please do get back to me.  I will really appreciate it. 

Again, I apologize for sending this message to all, but since all of us have savings with UNFCU, it is indeed of concern.

thanks and regards,

Neena Gupta

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['Stephen Umemoto' via xUNICEFers]

Did You Purchase Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda) Ltd.? | Securities Lawyer

Did You Purchase Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda) Ltd.? | Securiti... Losses Due To Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda) Ltd.? All payments from Northstar Financial Services (Bermu...

On Sunday, 15 November 2020, 22:38:22 GMT, Alejandro Gonzalez-Richmond <basi...@gmail.com> wrote:

This is a really serious issue. I am very surprised to see nearly zero comments about it. 

On Nov 15, 2020, at 03:46, Neena Gupta <neena....@gmail.com> wrote:



Dear Members:

At the outset, I apologize for sending this email to all members, but I would like to use this forum to share my concern as follows:

A few years ago, UNFCU's financial advisors had persuaded me to invest my savings in UNFCU in Northstar Financial Services, based in Bermuda.  I had accordingly invested all my savings in this Company, which in turn had invested it in various international mutual funds.  Initially, a statement of my investments used to come from Raymond James, but a couple of years ago, these stopped coming.  Inquiries to UNFCU did not reveal anything.  Last week, I received an email from Liquidators of Northstar, informing me that this company is under liquidation.  UNFCU's investment advisor did not provide me with this information.  They have stopped communicating with me through email, but only give assurances verbally.  

Needless to say, this came as a great shock to me.  I do not know the true state of affairs and am totally in the dark.  I am only hoping and praying that my hard earned savings do not get lost.

If any one of you has faced a similar situation or have any information, please do get back to me.  I will really appreciate it. 

Again, I apologize for sending this message to all, but since all of us have savings with UNFCU, it is indeed of concern.

thanks and regards,

Neena Gupta

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