Countrywide Tax & Trust Reviews 

If I could put a no star that would still be to many
After my mother passed away dealing with this company was awful, everything in the process of winding up the trust was painful and slow.
Questions unanswered.
House sale lost as the time they took to react was long and the guidance they gave was nonexistent.
From the day all moneys from house sale and investments went into the trust it took exactly SIX months for it to be paid out to us and as of today nearly Three months on we have still despite many phone calls not had a statement detailing where the money went or detailing their charges.
It should have been simple only two benefactors of the trust both in agreement and no inheritance tax to pay
My next step is to seek help from the financial ombudsman..
I can honestly say this has been the most stressful thing I have had to endure in my life please do not use this company.
Countrywide if you wish to contact me please do
The Trust was in the name of M M Rowland you have my email and contact number already...

Fantastic service. Very informative and an easy process to follow. Kinga was absolutely brilliant. She's helped us through the process, managed our expectations, advised us and we were very pleased with the end product. Kinga is top of her game!

Very professional company and great customer service, my case handler was Hadir and he was polite and talked me through the process in a professional manner in a way that I could understand the confusing nature of the legal jargon, he was also extremely efficient- thank you again countywide for another great job

Amelia Hagan was a pleasure to deal with, very thorough in her explanations & but my mind at ease throughout the whole process.

So CTTC: As you read reviews it's the sales people who appear nice and efficient... #BUT# once your loved one passes on their closure is lax to put it mildly. We were enabled into an 'emergency meeting' to hit the IHT tax deadline 1 year on. The agreed time-line of their output came and went.
Chase, chase and chase some more.
Do not use under any circumstances!!!!

Clear communications, easy electronic signature and speedy actions.

I have dealt with Chad Nagra on many occasions, over a number of years, regarding a probate issue and more recently, trust matters. I can say that Chad has gone above and beyond to deal with these issues. And I am very grateful to him. He is a credit to your company and I would totally recommend him to family and friends.

They were efficient and informative. they dealt with my issue immediately

I’m so pleased with the quick response by Mr Ali which answered a question I had about my trust and will. Really appreciate the clarification!

It was awful until Mr Ali took over. Then things went smoothly.

After 14mnths of being in continuous contact with this company to sort out issues regarding a trust whilst trying to process two bereavements (husband and brother), also trying to cope with caring for my son who suffered a bleed to the brain and a stroke, I was near on having a second mental breakdown. Despite trying to explain my circumstances to three previous case holders and getting absoultely nowhere!, my case was eventually passed to Hadir Ali. Within a matter of weeks the issue has finally been resolved. I cannot express how much peace of mind this has given me. Hadir, has excellent customer service skills. He responded quickly, efficiently, courteously, and anything I did not understand, he explained in detail with patience. Nothing was too much trouble. He would be an absoulte asset to any company and Countrywide are in my opinion extremely fortunate to have him as an employee given the massive impact this matter had taken on my mental health. I now feel I am,if some what delayed able to grieve my husband and brother and continue to care for my son. This man deserves recognition for finally allowing me to put this matter behind me and move on.

Our experience was that our many trusts, with CTTC as trustees, were created over the years, with hefty fees, and then a number of changes to our circumstances were ignored. We found that they could not tell us why a number of the trusts were created, and got it wrong for others.

On receiving the mountain of documents, our view was that CTTC is led by people of limited integrity who were “milking” us because we trusted them and were easy targets. The whole episode has confirmed our opinion that they are an organisation who collectively are of low integrity, willing to defend their position with obfuscation and obstruction when they are found out. The client's best interest appears low on their list of priorities. Their understanding of the HMRC trust registration criteria was woolly and they did not understand the HMRC systems properly.
We felt we had to have them removed as trustees and go to a reliable firm of solicitors to sort all this mess out.
Our complaint was robust, evidence-based and offered suggested ways to improve its client interactions. Their response was dismissive.

There have been numerous Trustpilot comments recently about the limitations of CTTC in slow service and failing their clients and families. We would also recommend you review a Negligence Verdict secured by Hay & Kilner against CTTC in September 2023.

If you are considering using CTTC, we recommend avoidance. If you are a client now, then make sure they have got it right by reviewing all your documents with someone who knows their onions.

Received appalling service from Countrywide when I had to deal with my late mothers' trust account and property sale. They strung us along for months and months, making us jump through hoops, demanding paperwork and identity checks over and over paying fees along the way. My own solicitors were tearing their hair out having to deal with these people - even to the point where my solicitors were telling THEM what the correct up-to-date laws were because they were working to older systems and laws.

Absolute amateurs who have zero interest in what will benefit you. We almost lost the sale of a house because Countrywide didn't lift the Land Registry restriction they had put onto the property (!) until literally the last 10 minutes on the Friday afternoon, the last day to sell, before we would lose the sale.

And after having a request for more information from CW, I am refusing to engage. Suddenly they are interested in what I have to say now that I have given them a low rating - yet were not remotely interested in engaging with me during the period of time when I needed them to and when it was their job to do so.
Do not allow your parents to open Trust accounts with these people, do not allow them to hold the sale of their property to ransom until you have paid their fees. DO check with the Land Registry to see if CW have underhandedly slapped a Restriction Order onto the property deeds which restricts you from selling your late parents’ home until yet more fees are paid.

These people may work within the laws, even though they barely know them and frankly need to re-educate themselves. But they do not care one jot for you, or your loved ones’ trust accounts - they just want all the fees before begrudgingly giving you what you wanted and asked for 9 months earlier. Avoid at all costs.

I am very happy with the outcome today thanks to the customer service team and to Zak.
He was very helpful and professional with the way he treated my concerns.

Hadir has managed to restore my faith in Countrywide! After a fairly disappointing(to say the least!) experience last time, not only has the work been completed quickly and efficiently, communication has been the winner as Hadir has shown that if clients are communicated with, they are much happier!!’

What an experience.
We decided to 'do our will' we explained to the company drawing up the will that we intended to 'equity release' in the future and we were told that this would not be a problem, LEGACY WILLS then (I assume) instructed Counrywide to set up the trust.
However when we then attempted to Equity release, we were told that this would NOT be possible, we even spoke to Country wide who also agreed with this, they advised to 'dismantle' the trust would be the best thing to do.
From start to finish the communication was SUPERB, the meetings were easy for us to follow and the whole process has been completed 2 months earlier than we expected and we also have the equity release competed at the same time.
THANK YOU countrywide

WOW,WOW,WOW. If only my parents knew what they were signing up for.
So far, my experience has not yet been all downhill but it does seem to be heading that way. As I read through these reviews, it is clear that those with the positive review are all from the initial sign up process. Which is to be expected, great sales guys right! get that money!! "Did I meet your expectations? All I ask is you leave us a review". That's the common story, sound familiar?
All the bad reviews all stem from after care service. I was not present for the initial sign up but I can very much relate to all those who have suffered from extremely poor after care service.
My grievance has started as I wanted to remortgage the property to buy a second home but being in a trust faces it's own challenges. Don't get me wrong, being in a trust is more beneficial than not but these guys really tend to go out of their way to make it out as if it is the worst decision you could have made.
In order to proceed, I needed to schedule a meeting to discuss the policy, so £420, a multitude of security forms & signatures and 6 WEEKS later (I guess they need this time as they are busy dealing with complaints) we actually had a pleasant conversation. Yes, there was that conversation that Mr J BALL mentioned on 1st Sept 2023 about the extensive volume and variety of costs that would need to be paid should you want to withdraw from the trust AND that the costs would be doubled as mother & father are seen as individual entities....
Shortly after we received the post-meeting discussion, which again needed to be signed, and there were actions that needed to be completed on their side which simply needed for them to have a conversation with their financial advisors. 5 weeks and multiple chases later we're still no further forward. I mean really???? There does not seem to be any sense of urgency or compassion from the after sales department. Who monitors these guys? Their policies are really out dated. I mean if you look at their website and emails, they promote a program called The Parliamentary Review which is a journalist organisation that shut down over a year ago!
Anyway, just wanted to share my thoughts and perhaps stir up some activity in my own case but i'm not hopeful. We'll see. Hope you found this useful.

What can I say about this company they are lazy and it takes months to get back to you and when they do they are rude with you. They snap your head off. Just want answers. But their always in meetings. They advertise they are a good business and trying to get more people to invest in their trusts. But if you need anything out of the trusts you can't get a straight answer and I've been asking for months but they want invoices for everything. But then the companies I hired don't get paid.

I am a new Adviser to CTTC so was a little bamboozled. I have recently spoken to Zac in Accounts who was extremely helpful and attentive.

Thank you Zac, keep up the good work!!

Appointed by my mother. To take care of her estate and 2 disabled children .
1. Lost the lease to the property causing a £10000. Loss to the sale
2. As a joint trustee routinely iignore my emails and requests for update. Dedicated worker has no direct email and is never available to talk on the phone
3 Failed to pay out a penny 10 months after my mother's death
4 beneficiaries on benefits which was know at the time they took the money .Too frightened of litigation against themselves regarding capital amount allowed by DWP rules £6000 to actually pay beneficiaries anything at all .
5. Refuse to make the trust Disabled
6. Have failed to appoint extra lay trustees as requested. Saying there was no such request despite all attenfing a £300 e meeting and passing the required security checks .

I could go on and on and on endless list of woes

I'm afraid they are a total self serving extortionate shambles ,to big and to keen on lucrative new business to service existing clients properly. Stay well away .May god help you otherwise

Ashtonishing I have just been contacted by Tryst Pilot who in turn where contacted by Countrywide asking for more information or demanding the review be taken down!! Posted Sunday evening contacted at 08.11 Monday morning unbelievable response time . Confirms my worst fears new business is all they care about .