Think You Were Missold Your Endowment Complain Now!!!! [CLOSED]

EdInvestor · 7 August 2005 at 11:19AM

HI viney,

There are rumoured to be several challenges to the legality of the timebar under way - so can only suggested you watch the personal finance pages of the press for any changes (the Mail on Sunday is often a good paper to get, well informed on these issues).

Also, interest rates are now falling so maybe your aunt could remortgage to a better deal with a lower rate? At the same time she could surrender the endowment and pay it against the mortgage, thus reducing the capital owed, plus pay the endowment premiums into the mortgage as well.(I assume this is a unit linked endowment and she doesn't need the life insurance).

This might help cut the overall outgoings/reduce the shortfall.

zantos · 22 August 2005 at 9:21PM

Got my reply at last. Although my IFA had never filled in my view of risk regarding an investment it was ASSUMED I would be happy with losing money on an endowment because I had a PEP!! Therefore it was ASSUMED that the risks had been explained to me.
Regarding the fact that the only illustration done for me were a 25 year and a 20 year projection when even the latter that I accepted finishes after my 65 birthday - "well you would have known that when you took out the policy".
Basically the whole procedure is biased and in favour of what can only be classed as protected "Insurance salesmen" as according to one statement the ombudsman can't comment on the advice received - if he can't then who can? I thought the whole procedure was to investigate the advice etc that was given to make the sale? It's quite amazinr that the items shown on my client information shos a PEP mortgage at being a lower rate of investment so why would I have gone for an endowment mortgage if I had such a disregard for risk? IFAs a protected species under the protection of their own kind!

dunstonh · 22 August 2005 at 9:34PM

Basically the whole procedure is biased and in favour of what can only be classed as protected "Insurance salesmen"

Its funny because its a totally opposite view to those in the financial services industry who believe that the ombudsman is too forgiving of the many false claims put in.

mamazaac · 23 August 2005 at 7:31AM

My parents-in-law's endowment has resulted in a shortfall. They spoke to the Ombudsman who said that they had to contact C&G 1st which they did. C&G have now made them an offer which they say brings the balance down to what it would have been if they had had a repayment mortgage instead. This is approx half the shortfall, so they are still about £1,300 short of the final amount. However, C&G have said that if they take it further through the Ombudsman this offer will be immediately withdrawn!! This sounds to me like some kind of blackmail as they seem to be trying to restrict their right to refer the matter to a higher authority. Obviously my parents-in-law are worried that if they go to the ombudsman, the ombudsman may not uphold their claim at all or will order a lower payout.

Are there any experts in this sort of thing who could suggest whether they should accept or reject the offer? And whether they should make an official complaint about the bully-boy tactics the C&G are using to the Ombudsman or somewhere else?

Many thanks

Poppy9 · 23 August 2005 at 8:05AM

I took out my endowment in 1985. I still have original letter from Estate Agent FA showing a comparison between Repayment mortgage and endowment mortgage. Endowment would produce a £17,697 surplus and a repayment none. The total monthly contribution for a repayment mortgage (including insurance) £149.56 and endowment £153.83.

We cannot make a claim because we were sold pre Jan 1988. Estate Agents taken over by Principality BS will not entertain our claim because of this. Standard life say not their problem as we bought from IFA. I even wrote to my MP who passed it on to one of their committees who wrote back saying tough luck basically.

defender_of_the_weak · 23 August 2005 at 9:15AM

Viney

There are a couple of possible issues here. When was the complaint lodged and had Abbey formally notified her of the deadline, they may be mis-interpreting the time bar rule.

The only reason FOS will ignore the time-bar is if there are exceptional circumstances that have prevented her from dealing with this sooner. These are normally, but not exclusively clasified as long term illness, disability family bereavement, postings overseas etc

defender_of_the_weak · 23 August 2005 at 9:25AM

Mamazaac

The offer is to put them back in the position they would have been, not meet the total expected shortfall. I am assuming that there is still some time to go on their mortgage.

With regard to referral to FOS they will ultimately only consider the offer made to see if has followed the FSA guidelines and if C & G have, they will make them re-offer the £1,300 again. Yes C & G along with many of the other major financial institutions are now 'hardening their stance' AKA bullying the public on the endowment issue. We are seeing this more and more with major institutions encouraging our clients to break express contracts and attempting restraint of trade.

I appreciate that some of the IFA posters and other on this site may not like the presence of complaint handling companies but as long as the big companies continue to treat people the way they do quite frankly there is a need for them. I would also point out that most companies charge too much for the service but that is a separate thread.

They have no interest at all in treating customers fairly with regard to their past failings and would rather you all went away without bothering them.

viney · 23 August 2005 at 9:47PM

HI Defender OFW

The complaint was lodged in July 04 and their was no formal notification of "this is the deadline". The deadline is Oct 03, they claim they send the first letter Oct 00.

the reason she did not complain earlier is because she genuinely did not know their was a timebar not that she could complain, but that is not a valid excuse.!

defender_of_the_weak · 24 August 2005 at 8:03AM

I am afraid Abbey have won by default. I believe, although I cannot be certain without seeing the paperwork that they may have incorrectly applied the 3 year rule in this case. However, on the bottom of the rejection letter there will a paragraph stating that you only have 6 months from the date of the letter to refer the case to the Financial Ombudsman and that time has now passed.

I don't think I can offer any help but if anything is different, let me know.

viney · 24 August 2005 at 9:04PM

your right the letter did say 6 months to take to the ombudsman and she did that within that timeframe. But ombudsman says as the complaint was sent late to abbey, gives us a good reason why we should investigate it.

Think You Were Missold Your Endowment Complain Now!!!! [CLOSED]

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