Dawn
Elsheik
Fadil
Elsheik
June 26,
2000
Ms.
Cheryl Storey
USC
Education Savings Plans
50
Burnhamthorpe Rd. W. Suit 1500,
Mississauga,
Ont. L5B 4A5
Dear Ms.
Storey,
Re:
Agreement No. XXXXXXXX for Seryne Elsheik
Thank
you for your prompt response on behalf of USC regarding our daughter's RESP
investment. However, in regards to
the reply we received from Mr. Aquino, the USC representative who reviewed the
plan at the time of signing, we are not satisfied that the contents of his
written reply are entirely true.
Allow us
to explain the situation in detail. On April 10, 2000, I (Fadil) met with a
financial agent, Pam McCoy, with the Bank of Montreal, to discuss the transfer
of daughter's RESP. The bank requested authorization and/ or transfer details
from USC. I spoke with Ms. Coulombe and according to her the amount of funds in
our daughter's RESP was only $520. I attempted to clarify this, explaining we
had invested $2,300, excluding the government grants, during the last twenty
months. Ms. Coulombe replied she was aware of this and proceeded to explain that
80% of our investment had been paying what she termed "Enrollment Fees". My
response to Ms. Coulombe was the impression left with us regarding enrollment
fees was that they were annual "Administration" fees according to Mr. Aquino.
After discovering my daughter's education savings were depleted in this manner,
I felt deceived and distraught. Further investigation into the issue of
"enrollment fees" revealed a charge of
$100 per unit, means by which the investment is measured, was applied
totaling $3,160 for our daughter's RESP.
Regarding
our initial meeting with Mr. Aquino, there was no mention or discussion of "Fees
Structure" as described in Mr. Aquino written reply. However, the material
discussed included projected education tuition fees, benefits of initiating an
RESP with USC, the options for each type of RESP and a lengthy and difficult to
comprehend 47 page document was provided to review
independently.
Consequently,
being overwhelmed at the estimated cost of our daughter's education we met once
again with Mr. Aquino. At this time, documentation was provided to demonstrate a
projected return at the end of an eighteen-year period according to investments
of either $100 or $200 monthly. We proceeded to make inquiries regarding applied
fees. Mr. Aquino response was " at the end you won't even notice it. ".
Elaborating further, Mr. Aquino implied these costs were annual administration
fees for USC, and depository fees were received by the financial institution for
direct payment of the funds withdrawn. We inquired specifically regarding the
transfer of the RESP. Mr. Aquino then stated the only instance in which we would
experience a moderate financial loss was would be upon cancellation of the plan,
but transfer to another RESP could be done without financial penalty. The
contract was presented and signed.
After
several deposits of $200.03 monthly, our financial situation no longer allotted
us to invest this amount and therefore was readjusted to $100.33. According to
Mr. Aquino's letter he stated he discuss available options, solutions and the
negative impact of canceling of the plan completely at this point in time. We
have no recollection these avenues were explored during that conversation. That
was the last contact with Mr. Aquino who was not available for several months,
and no other USC agent had contacted us.
We feel
we have been deceived and the entirety of your plan was not disclosed in an open
and honest manner. We are hopeful the situation can be resolved prior to Aug
15th/ 2000 without legal intervention. Our desire is to have the
funds returned / transferred to another RESP. However, if our request is not
fulfilled we feel a responsibility to increase the awareness of the general
public, regarding how monies
intended for children's education are retained for "fees" unitizing all possible
media resources available.
Thank
you for your time and consideration in this matter.
Sincerely,
Dawn
Elsheik
Fadil Elsheik
cc.
Mr. Don
Barkley
Mr. Dale Parkinson
Mr. John Bates
Mr. Tim Bowman
Mr. Drew Pallett
Mr. Thomas Condon
Ms. Laura Coulombe
Mr. Edrido Aquino