Columbia Threadneedle Investments Reviews 157

I'm 65 years old; never heard of Columbia Threadneedle in my life. I was contacted out of the blue to verify my address and personal details in writing. Scam was the only thing that came to mind..I contacted them by phone and, apparently, 22 years ago I invested a small sum of money with a financial institution that I totally forgot about; it was transferred to C/T., hence the correspondence.
After verifying personal details, the sum was disclosed to me.. I made it clear to them I wanted to cash in the whole amount, several thousand pounds.
Same procedure as mentioned by others in their reviews...a little old fashioned maybe, but that's how they do it, I suppose... Bank details rejected on the phone, so proof of original recent bank statement was sent by post.
After 10 working days or so, the full amount was transferred to my bank account and the documents sent by post returned
So, maybe I was just lucky, but I found the service impeccable

After reading negative reviews of the company I held low expectations after I was contacted out of the blue to inform me that they held an investment of my cousin who had died two years ago and for whom I was executor. After speaking to the help desk to confirm my identity I sent a copy of the Grant of Probate and received a cheque within 4 weeks of the initial letter therefore my experience was very positive.

My son is trying to close his CTF account with hardly anything in it due to them taking annual management charges and now they are asking for a certified copy of his passport to withdraw the cash! Ridiculous. Criminal for charging these annual management charges on a CTF in the first place.

Don't, I repeat DON'T invest with this HORRIBLE company! Trying to get money from these people is like trying to get blood out of a stone! Send in the paperwork after my father passed away. Ooops you didn't send in this paper. I send it in, Oooops you need this other paper! I finally lost it on the phone and somehow my share was deposited the next business day. Now I'm fighting for my disabled sister who has been trying to get her share for a month and a half. She sent in every paper under the sun. She paid $30 for a certified death certificate AFTER I had already sent one in. She sent a cc of her birth certificate, a cc of her marriage license, a cc of her drivers license, a cc of her original social security card and a cc of her current social security card. She's gone to 4 DIFFERENT banks, she went to hers 4 different times and keeps getting rejected for the MSG signature. I am currently on the phone with them now as I write trying to help her. Another sister was planning on using the money to open an account with Columbia. When I get finished talking to her I'll make sure that she doesn't put a penny in any account associated with this place. Boy they don't mind taking your money but come time to get a distribution and you'll died before you get your money and then the process will start over with your beneficiary and god only knows what paperwork they'll need!

*** Update to my review - I contacted the email address mentioned in the review and an excellent lady called Susan.P picked up my sons case and had it all resolved in a week. She was very good and I wish she had been involved from the start****

Awful antiquated company. My son turned 18 and they are making it impossible to take your money out of his fund. Their online login is a technical joke and they want documents certified as if you are applying for a mortgage or a new passport. Of course they don't have any systems in place to do it electronically as they just want to put you off long enough to put you off withdrawing your money. And of course every delay means they charge more of a pro-rata management fee. I will be reporting this firm to the ombudsman.

I had to liquidate two accounts which belonged to my late Mother. Columbia Threadneedle delayed and obstructed every attempt to settle the affair. I thought at first it was just plain incompentence, but it seems as though the real reason is more dishonest. I had to make an average of two phone calls a week over two months to get them to release the funds. They prefer the money sit in their accounts earning interest rather than releasing them. I am glad I will never have to deal with them again.

Initially faced similar difficulties as other reviewers when trying to withdraw my money after turning 18. The online verification for ID was easy, but my bank details repeatedly got rejected. After multiple unsuccessful online attempts, I called customer service. Turns out they use a separate company for verifying bank details, making online verification unreliable. However, calling them directly to manually verify your details resolved the issue quickly and smoothly.

Regarding performance, after just under 18 years invested by my parents, I made around 75% profit—decent, but notably lower compared to broader markets like the S&P 500.

Overall, the service was solid once I spoke directly to them. I'd recommend just picking up the phone if you encounter issues online.

I can confirm that all the comments everyone has left are 100% what I am currently experiencing. No reply to written formal requests to have funds paid out. I’ve sent a formal complaint and have given CT 5 working days or I’m taken it straight to the FCA. I’m not waiting weeks let alone months to have funds released.

Terrible service. Have been trying to sort out a simple proof of address to access my online account for over a year. They take weeks to get back to you. Is there anyone working there?

We've been trying to close our daughter's Columbia Threadneedle CTF for MONTHS and move funds to another provider's JISA (Wealthify). Columbia Threadneedle finally told us they closed the CTF and sent a cheque to Wealthify 4 weeks ago, but it was never received. And upon further investigation it transpires CT have been ignoring all attempts by Wealthify to investigate this and resolve the missing funds issue. 1) Where are the funds? Nobody knows. 2) Why don't CT cooperate and answers calls or emails? Nobody knows.

I opened an account with Columbia Management over thirty years ago for my new daughter. When she started college and was of age, I attempted to turn it over to her and they would not allow me. She is now doing graduate work in UK and Columbia Threadneedle will not permit her not I to access the account for tax forms!! This is a worthless company.

Avoid engaging any type employment with Columbia Threadneedle.

Avoid at all costs - this company specialises in the phrase "the cheque must have got lost in the post..."

We supplied and had verified (at a cost from The Post Office) all the details for a Child Trust Fund withdrawal and on the date of my daughter's birthday, she requested a withdrawal. We had to phone as the previously verified bank details would not be accepted on the website. The agent could not make them work either, despite them being verified and said they could "investigate" which might take "some time".

The alternative was they could send her a cheque instead (in 2025?) which would go out on Friday and be with us the following week.

Four working days later, the cheque has not been received and the agent I spoke to earlier suggested it may have been "lost in the post.." and to wait until the end of the week and if it has not arrived, then they would need to cancel that one (which takes 8 working days?!) then issue a new cheque (3 working days).

Convenient that so many cheques get lost in the post with this company...all the while the money is still say earning interest for weeks in their account.

DONT GO ANYWHERE NEAR THIS COMPANY!!
THEY DONT WANT TO GIVE YOU YOUR MONEY!!!
I turned 18, 5 months ago and I still have not got my money. I emigrated to Australia, and these people have done nothing but mess me about to delay/ stop me accessing my Child Trust fund.
They have asked for I.d one piece at a time,then write to me telling me they will review it within 5 days.
. I then receive another I.d request in the post, three weeks later asking for a different document or the j fine I sent was not good enough.
After 5 months they then decide to ring me asking me my security questions.
Apparently I answered my own security questions wrong!! And so he could no longer speak to me. I have sent 3 complaint e-mails which have been ignored.
I then recieved another phone call last week which I was unable to answer as I was working and have heard nothing since.
I don’t understand if they gave all my documents, why they just cannot send me my money.
They are obviously holding on to it for their own gains.
This service is a disgrace.
If I do not hear from them in writing within 7 days, I am taking my complaint to the Ombudsman and will be taking screenshot of all these complaints too!

My 3 daughters ended up with CTFs with this company following acquisitions - they bumped up charges and ultimately turned the original £250 into £300 after 18 years. Just with inflation the £250 would be around £425 today.
They then made it extremely awkward to withdraw money. Absolute charlatans - do not touch

WOULD GIVE A -10000000000 STARS IF I COULD , DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY .
My parents sent up a CTF account for me when I was younger and at 18 I needed to withdraw the funds. At first all seemed okay until I was logged out of my online banking account and given an error code and told to ring . I rang up and let them know and was told I needed to verify my adress and identity . I was told I could send a copy of my passport and a bank statement with my address . However this was not sufficient , I got my statement and passport then certified and put onto the document form which was not made clear on the website . After about a week I then gained access to MY OWN account . I then went to withdraw my funds however I then AGAIN had to verify that MY OWN bank details matched my address so I put in my account details when I was hit with another error. I was then told my withdrawal was processed , so I then rang up again to ensure it was however was then told I was going to recieve a cheque which I never requested . A cheque with a significant amount of money floating in the post is not ideal when you are about to go abroad for 3 months . So I then rang again and the woman over the phone told me that she had processed to cancel the cheque and that I would receive the money via bank transfer as I gave her my account number and sort code etc and I would recieve this within 8 business days. I then received an email to say that my funds would be transferred to my bank account. Meanwhile my money is consistently going down in value .it is now 9 buisness days later I am now away and LUCKILY my mum opened my post to see a cheque from this company inside . If she hadn’t opened it god knows what would have happened. I have never experienced a more incompetent company before in my life and I urge you to not use it.

I opened two 529 accounts 10 years ago. Spouse was joint account holder, unfortunately passed away 2 years ago. I need to reassign partial funds from child A to B as B is currently in school and needs funds. I speak to representatives, follow their guidelines and apply after getting medallion signature et all. Couriering charges too. This is my second round of form submission for the same intent based on reps/manager's input, someone calls and says form is not correct, and says that "the representative that I spoke to previously didnt add comments so I was given wrong instructions"!! If I speak to a manager, I am told to call her private # which doesn't even ring second time. All this with each call taking 180+ minutes and reps dropping calls. Truist bank made me open AC with them and made commission for opening (which I found out later). I have spoken to Tawan, Tia, Parris (names given by them) and many more in 2025 alone

Columbia Threadneedles LUX spielt offenbar das gleiche Spiel wie die "Kollegen" in US: Die Kundenbetreuung ist ausgelagert zu IFDS / International Financial Data Services. Seit September vorigen Jahres versuche ich, mein Investment zurück zu erhalten. Gleich wie bei verschiedenen anderen Investoren: Mal fehlt dies, mal fehlt das oder es ist etwas nicht vollständig. Außerdem wird ständig versucht, meine Unterschrift bei "Anlage" oder "Zweck der künftigen Geschäftsbeziehung" zu bekommen - obwohl mehrfach darauf hingewiesen wurde, das keine Geschäftsbeziehung erwünscht, sondern die Rückzahlung meines Eigentumes gefordert wird.
Bislang alles ergebnislos.
Letzter Termin war 7. Februar 2025.
Meine anwaltliche Vertretung wird diese Woche Klage auf Herausgabe meines Eigentumes erheben.
English translation:
Columbia Threadneedles LUX is apparently playing the same game as its “colleagues” in the US: customer service is outsourced to IFDS / International Financial Data Services. I have been trying to get my investment back since September last year. Same as with various other investors: sometimes this is missing, sometimes that is missing or something is not complete. In addition, there are constant attempts to get my signature under "Investment" or "Purpose of the future business relationship" - although it has been pointed out several times that no business relationship is desired, but that the repayment of my property is demanded.
So far everything has been fruitless.
The last date was February 7, 2025.
My legal representation will file a lawsuit for the return of my property this week.

OK. Here is an update on my review I posted on 25th Jan: "I feel the company is so inefficient and it has given me so much extra work at a difficult time. In April my mother died. As her executor I phoned the company immediately and they listed a number of pieces of information I should put in a letter, along with a death certificate. Rather than writing it all down when I was upset, I requested that they wrote to me with a list of what was needed and what the process would be. However, they were unable to do this. Once I sent the death certificate they said they needed the certificate of probate. This took several months. Once they received this I had to phone them a couple of times to get the withdrawal forms. It was only then that they mentioned they needed ID from myself and my brother. I sent them completed forms, including bank details as requested. Today I have had a letter from them saying that I need to send documentation so they can verify my bank account. This will involve a 30 mile round trip to my nearest branch. My complaint is that they have drip fed me the information with me doing all the chasing. There was no reason why they couldn’t have said back in April what information would be required."
So I did the 30 mile round trip to the bank to get the account authorised. I sent the document to Threadneedle which they notified me they had received. The next step was for them to pay the money withdrawn from my late mother's account into the authorised account. However today, out of the blue, I received two cheques made out to myself and my brother (the other executor)! We don't have a joint account (obviously) and I can't pay it into the account it is destined for as that is only in my name, so I've just spent an hour on the phone with them trying to persuade them to stop the cheques and pay into the deignated account. They say this will take up to 8 working days. In the meantime we're loosing out on the £200 a week it would have been getting in interest if it had been paid into the correct account...

I took out my investment from Columbia and got a check in the mail. I deposited the check into my banks atm. The check was accepted but not yet cleared AND THEN TAKEN AWAY. but get this, $8,166.02 (exact check amount) dollars of my own money was taken away leaving me in over $6,000 in overdraft. HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE??????? I am livid and scared and this has been an absolutely horrid experience for me. I am beside myself at the moment.