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