COVID-19 – The Impact On Your Savings
We recognise that some of you may have questions about your savings and investments with us following the outbreak of COVID-19. We’re working to provide you with upfront and transparent information to help answer some of the questions you might have about your investments with us. If you still have a question and we haven’t been able to give you the information you are looking for, please get in touch and we’ll be happy to speak to you in person.
What does COVID-19 mean for my investments?
At Kingston Unity, we deliver long-term savings and investment solutions for our Members. When we say long-term, we’re talking five years as a minimum, usually longer. When we invest the Society’s With Profits fund, we are seeking a low to medium risk investment with the aim of achieving a return over the long term. We achieve this by investing in a range of different assets, including equities, property, Bonds, Gilts and cash.
It is these fluctuations in market activity that our With Profits fund has been designed to weather and we are very confident that we will remain robust and in good shape throughout these uncharted waters. Many of our products also offer guarantees on your initial investments.
Some answers for you
Below, we’ve tried to answer some of the questions you might have including the impact on future bonuses, your investment protection and payment holidays. If you can’t find the information you need, please get in touch and we’ll be happy to help.
On our Investment ISAs, we guarantee that you will be able to withdraw 100% of your initial investment, plus any bonuses we have added, less any withdrawals you might have made, on the 10th anniversary or each 5th anniversary after that.
For our Investment Bond holders, we guarantee 101% of your initial investment, plus any bonuses we have added, less any withdrawals you have made, on the 10th anniversary or each subsequent 10th anniversary after that. Check your product information or get in touch with us and we will be able to help with any questions you might have.
To protect our Members who continue to save with the Society, we are currently applying a Market Value Reduction or MVR to our With Profits Investment Bonds and ISAs.
MVRs are designed to protect the investments of Members who are not withdrawing their money or surrendering their policies.
You can learn more about the MRV we have applied and pick up the answers to some more commonly asked questions here.
The current climate could have an impact on any future bonuses, however any previously declared bonuses are guaranteed and once applied cannot be taken away.
This includes our bonus declaration for 2019, which can be found here.
You can learn more about how our With Profits fund works here.
Your plan will have a Guaranteed Lump Sum, calculated at the start of your plan i.e. based on the monthly premiums and the number of years it will be open.
This will be paid on maturity, along with any bonuses, as long as all premiums due have been paid. Annual bonuses are declared at the end of each year and depend upon the performance of the With Profits fund. Once added, a bonus cannot be removed.
In recent years we have sent out your With Profits statement before sending ISA statements. However, this year, given the current situation we have delayed them slightly.
Our aim is to have these sent out by the end of June 2020, however, we would like to ask for your continued patience, as this is reliant on services that may be impacted by the Corona Virus. If you have any questions about your account, you can contact the team on 01924 240164.
The Society is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). If we cannot meet our obligations, you may be entitled to compensation from the scheme.
Further information about compensation arrangements are available from the FSCS website fscs.org.uk or by calling 0800 678 1100.
We understand that COVID-19 may have impacted on you financially, and whilst we don’t officially have payment holidays there may be options that are available to you.
Much of this will depend on what products you hold with us, so the best thing to do is to call the team on 01924 240164 and they can go through with you on an individual basis the choices you have and the possible impact of these choices.
The outbreak of the COVID-19 has seen the closure of non-essential businesses, schools and nurseries. Stock markets have fallen by circa 30%. As the unit-linked investments you hold are predominantly invested in a UK Top 250 company shares tracker fund the underlying assets supporting your investments will have had a similar reduction to the market as a whole.
We appreciate this may be unsettling, especially when you can see your investments fall as a result. The nature of long-term investments means that stock market fluctuations are common. We do often see the stock market rebound relatively quickly following a fall and with it the recovery of the fund.
Read our post how we are holding our nerve through these uncertain investment markets.
Don't keep your concerns to yourself
With everything going on at the moment, it's understandable that you might have some concerns about your savings with us. We are here to help. Our Business Services team are here to chat to you about any issues that you may have and provide you with any further information that you might need.