Pension topic
Investment blindly pursues high-yield, careful pension money "floats"
【Realistic Challenge】
Unable to help "acquaintances" flickering and pursuing high returns, leading to frequent cases of "investment and financial management" disputes involving the elderly
【preventive solution】
Choose a formal financial institution for financial management, do not "follow the trend" investment with small profits; keep written evidence and claim rights in a timely manner
After many years of savings have been invested in wealth management companies for financial management, how can they fall into a "trap" or even get a lawsuit?
In recent years, cases involving "investment and financial management" disputes among the elderly have occurred from time to time.
A few days ago, the Beijing Second Intermediate People's Court notified some typical cases, reminding the elderly to be cautious in investing and managing money, and reducing related disputes.
Trap a high yield and low risk?
"Pay 2% of the income on the 10th of each month, which is 2,000 yuan, and pay 4% of the loan dividend on the 10th of each month, which is 4,000 yuan." "If the payment of interest and dividends is delayed, each day of delay should be based on the borrowed amount. According to the standard of 1% per day, liquidated damages will be paid until the principal and profits are paid off."
Hearing of such a good thing, Mr. Chen, who is 85 years old, signed a "Loan Contract" with a salesperson of a company who came to promote wealth management products in September 2017, stipulating that the company would borrow 100,000 yuan from Mr. Chen. Mr. Chen received income and dividends from the acquisition of non-performing asset packages.
Mr. Chen thought that the investment of 100,000 yuan was too little, so he added another 50,000 yuan that month, but after receiving high dividends for two consecutive months, the salesperson could no longer be contacted...
In fact, the monthly interest rate agreed by Mr. Chen and the company in the "Loan Contract" is 2%, and the dividend is 4%, totaling 6%, which has exceeded the legal limit.
According to the newly revised Regulations of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws to the Trial of Private Lending Cases, the upper limit for judicial protection of private lending rates is 4 times the quoted rate of the one-year loan market, compared to the previous 24% and 36% %dramatically drop.
Calculated on the basis of four times the 3.85% quoted rate of the one-year loan market released on July 20, 2020, the upper limit of judicial protection for private lending rates is 15.4%.
If the elderly encounter a financial product with a monthly return rate of 6%, the annualized rate will reach 72%. Such financial products are obviously illegal, and the excess is not protected by law.
Trap 2: Can the "Letter of Commitment" be guaranteed?
After Mr. Li retired, he served as a consultant for a wealth management company, responsible for the development of wealth management clients.
In July 2017, Mr. Li introduced that Uncle Liu and the wealth management company had signed the "Customer Wealth Management Custody Agreement". Uncle Liu transferred 1.788 million yuan of wealth management funds to Mr. Li's account. Later, Mr. Li will total 10 people with a total of more than 12 million yuan. Wealth management funds are transferred to a wealth management company account.
In the meantime, in order to convince relatives and friends to purchase wealth management products, Mr. Li issued the "Integrity Commitment Letter", promising that if the wealth management company breached the contract, Mr. Li himself would bear the legal responsibility and pay the investors' principal and interest.
After the wealth management company failed to pay on schedule, Mr. Li was also sued by the investor to the court.
After the court's first instance and second instance judgments, it was determined that the letter of good faith commitment had legal effect.
In reality, “salesmen” of wealth management companies often issue “commitment letters” or “guarantees” to others in their own name in order to solicit customers, promising that the wealth management company will not repay the loans when they are due, and they will bear the responsibility for repayment.
Once the wealth management company "runs away", the salesperson shall bear the relevant responsibilities as agreed.
In the same way, the elderly should also be cautious in recommending wealth management products to others, and try to avoid issuing documents similar to "commitment letters" or "guarantees" to others in order to avoid corresponding legal liabilities.
Trap 3 is an opportunity to follow the trend of investment?
Uncle Liu and Uncle Xu have been neighbors for many years. After they retired one after another, they both had certain savings in their hands.
In July 2018, Uncle Xu introduced to Uncle Liu that "foreign exchange" is now very profitable, and he invited Uncle Liu to go to an overseas foreign exchange company for on-site inspections.
Later, Uncle Liu entrusted Uncle Xu to hand over the investment of 70,000 yuan to the person in charge of the foreign exchange company in Beijing.
With the assistance of Uncle Xu, Uncle Liu also downloaded the company's App and registered an account so that he could check the capital gains at any time.
Uncle Liu did not expect that the "documentary system App" was closed for no reason before it was used, and it has not been used again until today.
Uncle Liu believes that it was Uncle Xu who introduced him to invest in financial management. He entrusted Uncle Xu to invest money in the foreign exchange company. Therefore, Uncle Xu should be responsible for the safety and income of the investment funds.
Therefore, Uncle Liu sued the court to order Uncle Xu to return his investment of 70,000 yuan and interest.
A commission contract is a contract between the principal and the trustee that the trustee handles the affairs of the principal.
In this case, when Uncle Liu had the right to make investment decisions, Uncle Liu performed the transfer operation through Uncle Xu, but it could not prove that the purpose of the transfer was to entrust the other party to invest.
Therefore, it cannot be proved that there is an entrusted investment relationship between Uncle Liu and Uncle Xu.
In the end, the court did not support Uncle Liu's claim that Uncle Xu should return the investment funds and interest.
Behind the case
The elderly invest in pursuit of high returns
Mostly related to the introduction of "acquaintances"
A set of data reported by the Beijing Second Intermediate Court shows that from 2017 to 2019, the Beijing Second Intermediate Court heard a total of 195 "investment and financial management" civil cases for seniors over 60 years old, and the number of cases is increasing year by year.
The pursuit of high returns is an important reason for the occurrence of "investment and financial management" disputes among the elderly.
In most cases of disputes, the elderly credulously believe in the "100% high interest" and "guaranteed 100% high return" promises of the "financial management party" and blindly invest in pursuit of high returns.
According to Ge Hong, President of the Third Civil Division of Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court, almost all "investment and financial management" cases involve the elderly’s years of savings, demolition funds, or real estate under their names, ranging from hundreds of thousands to hundreds of thousands. Ten thousand yuan.
For example, some elderly people have invested their years of savings or demolition funds in a lump sum or in batches to "investment and financial management" companies for financial management, and some elderly people "lend" real estate certificates to others, and cooperate in handling mortgage and even transfer procedures. In order to obtain the so-called "interest".
The data also shows that "investment and financial management" disputes involving the elderly are mostly related to the introduction of "acquaintances".
In the case, some elderly people were introduced by neighbors to sign investment and financial management contracts with "investment and wealth management" companies or were matched to sign "borrowing" contracts with other people; some elderly people could not withstand the persuasion of good friends and followed the trend of "investing" projects; Some elderly people sign investment and wealth management contracts after being sent rice, noodles, and oil several times by the staff of wealth management companies; some elderly people take the initiative to solicit relatives and friends after receiving high dividends in the early stage. To earn "commission fee" and so on.
Reminder
Manage your finances rationally, not greedy for small profits
Keep evidence and claim rights in time
The judge of the Beijing Second Intermediate Court hereby reminds the elderly: manage your finances rationally and establish a sense of risk.
First, don't easily believe in high-yield promises.
Don't be greedy for small profits, and don't easily accept small favors such as "financial management" sending rice and oil, especially be wary of "financial management" high interest promises.
Second, don't blindly "follow the trend" in investing.
For the introductions of neighbors and friends, we must be rational, don't "judge" others "divide", and avoid blindly following casts.
Third, it is necessary to understand the "financial management products", understand the corresponding qualifications, business items, and repayment capabilities of the "financial management party", and require them to provide guarantees when necessary, and handle the corresponding ownership registration.
Finally, if you really need financial management, it is recommended to choose a formal financial institution and sign a financial management contract at a fixed financial place to conduct investment and financial management.
In addition, pay attention to retaining evidence and claim rights in a timely manner.
Documentary evidence should be retained as much as possible, for example, the counterparty issued an IOU or "financial management contract", etc. If there is an expectation of interest and repayment period, it should also be clear.
Payments should be made by transfer as much as possible to avoid cash delivery.
In the event of a breach of contract or the possibility of an overdue breach of contract by the “financial management party”, it is necessary to claim rights in a timely manner to avoid the risk of losing the victory due to exceeding the statute of limitations.
Finally, you should communicate more with your children. If necessary, you should learn more about the specific situation of relevant "financial products" with the help of your children, or seek the help of professional institutions and personnel to prevent risks.
Text/Xi Yuan