Comments on: Inland American Real Estate Trust: Buyer Beware

By: Pat

Pat — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 12:33:27 +0000

My husband and I purchased 30,000 worth of Inland America in 2008. We were told by our Ameriprise Financial Advisor that our investment would be held for 4 years at a guaranteed share price of $10.00. Since our initial investment, the share price has dropped to $7.220 per share. With the 4 years completion date coming up in October, I inquired about pulling the remaining money out of the investment. I was informed that there is no open window to withdraw the funds and that I would have to wait until there was one. I am curious to know if anyone has been successful at getting their money out of Inland Investment. And, if so, how they accomplished this. I have received and offer from CNG Partners, but would not choose to go that route. Any advise from anyone who has been successful, would be greatly appreciated. My husband is retiring this year and it was out belief that we would have access to our money this year. Sounds to me like a Ponsey Scheme.

By: Samantha

Samantha — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:42:52 +0000

I just found out that my elderly parents put $6000 a couple of years ago into this Inland American Trust thing through a FA at Cathay Bank. I am now trying to get them out of it as they are on super limited income since my dad retired several years ago. I don’t even know how they got conned into doing this but I’m sure the FA advised them that it was a no risk thing. Argh! They often shamefully take advantage of the elderly and immigrants who think banks are to be trusted! Shame on them. I think we should start a class action lawsuit.

By: valerie

valerie — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 03:44:38 +0000

My Mother, in her late 70s-early 80s was duped into investing in Inland American by her Financial Advisor at Ameriprise, located in Pennsylvania.
My Mother had a high school education and knew nothing about finance except that she trusted her FA. After learning of her portfolio positions and huge losses she suffered a few years back, I confronted the advisor and demanded to know why my Mother was positioned in such risky investments. I had the FA’s number, but she had my Mother conned into thinking that her investments were safe. I don’t think my Mother even realized that this FA got a commission for forcefeeding her investments that Ameriprise was peddling.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 22:21:34 +0000

In 2007, I sold my business and wanted to invest the proceeds conservatively. My Ameriprise consultant put $45,000 in the Inland American REIT, $45,000 in the CNL Lifestyle REIT, and the remainder in various annuities and mutual funds. I approved of the REIT investments because they were toted as the safest long term investments available. Here I am, 5 years later, and the Inland American REIT has lost me over $12,000. What a scam. Shame on Ameriprise for their poor consultation practices. As soon as I have the ability, I will liquidate the Inland American REIT shares and part ways with Ameriprise. I am in agreement with Vicki from an earlier post- eventually a class action law suit may very well come into play for either Inland American, Ameriprise, or both.

By: mabel

mabel — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 17:08:53 +0000

My ex-money manager at Pacific Rim put 70k into inland america without telling me the illiquidity,or the high fees that are not apparent from the reams & reams ………. of paper they send. He gave me the impression it was a great investment. I can’t seem to be able to dump this,and do not even know what the actual value of the account is or how to liquidate it.

By: vicki

vicki — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 00:46:15 +0000

i INVESTED 30.000 WITH INLAND AMERICAN. CMG PARTNERS SAID THEY WANTED TO BUY MY SHARES, AND IT SOUNDED GOOD I WENT THRU THE PROCESS, AND THEY SENT ME A 13,000 CHECK IF I HAD KNOWN WHAT THEY WERE GOING TO DO I WOULD NEVER HAD DONE THAT.I NEEDED MY MONEY. tHEY NEED TO BE SHUTDOWN THEY TAKE ADVANTAGE OF PEOPLE.

By: Marie

Marie — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 02:13:26 +0000

I also invested $10K in this REIT several years ago at the advice of my financial advisor at Ameriprise. Just received a letter that the only way the shares can be repurchased is if I die, then my beneficiaries pay a 10% per share penalty when they are repurchased by Inland. Seems something must be illegal about not having access to my own money. I certainly wasn’t advised of the risks involved in this investment(???) vehicle. Shame on you Inland. Don’t be surprised if you get hit with a class action suit. We want our money back!

By: Dororthy

Dororthy — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 02:52:26 +0000

Mary,
We are in the same situation, only with Hines REIT. Did you know Ameriprise was fined $17.3 million by the SEC for not disclosing incentives it received in the sale of REITs. Apparently they are the only ones to make money on these bad investments. They made $30 million in incentives and were fined $17.3 million so still came out ahead.

By: Mary

Mary — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 17:34:38 +0000

Several years ago, I put $50,000 in Inland American through an advisor at Ameriprise. I was recently divorced, financially struggling, and made it VERY clear to the Ameriprise person that I was a “risk adverse” investor. Filled out the forms. You know the drill. Nonetheless, he sold me this REIT…and in my naieve vulnerable state at the time…I trusted him, and bought it. Now, it is a completely illiquid investment and I wish, wish, wish there were some way to get at least my initial principal back. Let alone, the “missed opportunity” I would have had for that 50K over the past 5 years…if it had been invested more wisely. Boo on Ameriprise. I get the offers all the time from CMG and others. Not doing that yet. Won’t take pennies on the dollar for my investment. I think Ameriprise needs to step up to the plate and take care of the folks who were duped to buying into this highly commissionable, risky, investment. All I know…it wasn’t right for me.

By: Jim

Jim — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 02:45:04 +0000

I also received the offer from CMG LLC, look them up on the internet – they are pretty questionable (Google- CMG complaints). It seems they make most of their money on short term payday type loans at extremely high interest. It looks like CMG is trying to make another scam. I was also concerned and looked for recent press on Inland to see how healthy they are, they recently purchased several properties worth several million – this does not sound like a company that is in dire straights. CMG is feeding on the frenzy from nonpublicly traded REITS, granted it is a questionable practice but I would rather take the risk and hold them then blow away a >$7,000 loss. When the economy reverses (hopefully) these properties purchased for discounts will be worth much more.