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

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  • Before I knew about the 'mis-selling' of endowment claims, I was sent a letter by the firm with my endowment, (Friends Provident), asking if I was mis-sold...

    As they still claimed to be on track, I replied 'no', I was fully aware... Since then, I've received the letter about 'possible shortfall'...

    Would a 'mis-sold' claim be futile as they'd just send me a copy of my returned form? Or is there anything I can do?
  • dunstonh
    dunstonh Posts: 116,027
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    As they still claimed to be on track, I replied 'no', I was fully aware... Since then, I've received the letter about 'possible shortfall'...

    Would a 'mis-sold' claim be futile as they'd just send me a copy of my returned form? Or is there anything I can do?

    You mean you want to attempt a false claim now? You can try although no doubt it will be queried how why you changed your mind.
    I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.
  • Tried to claim. Went through FSA and Ombudsman since Company we bought it from has sold it. Claim turned down as we have not made a loss. Our policy has £2000 more than we have invested. I would say it was a huge loss considering its been invested for 18 years! Policy due to mature in 7 years but underperforming by about £7000-£12000 so will probably have to extend mortgage now:mad:
  • dunstonh
    dunstonh Posts: 116,027
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    Tried to claim. Went through FSA and Ombudsman since Company we bought it from has sold it. Claim turned down as we have not made a loss. Our policy has £2000 more than we have invested. I would say it was a huge loss considering its been invested for 18 years! Policy due to mature in 7 years but underperforming by about £7000-£12000 so will probably have to extend mortgage now:mad:

    If you havent made a loss, then you are no different to where you would have been on a repayment mortgage as that is the comparison. In which case switch to repayment mortgage and keep the same term. If the payments are more, then this suggests that the endowment mortgage option was cheaper on a monthly basis (which was a common reason for people chosing endowments).

    The claim wouldnt be turned down as you havent made a loss. It would be upheld if mis-sold and the calculation would then be made to see if a loss has been made. So its possible to have an upheld complaint and no payout but i cant see how the financial position of the endowment has any impact on the mis-sale response.
    I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.
  • zantos
    zantos Posts: 66
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    I have an endowment that matures AFTER I am 65 and which will produce about 50% of it's expected value, if I'm lucky. My IFA said as he managed my pension at the time he thought I should have been able to afford payments after I retired. He refused to pay any compensation. Complaining to the FSA resulted in being told they have a TWELVE MONTH backlog of claims to investigate! I now have ONLY nine months to wait for a decision!
  • dunstonh
    dunstonh Posts: 116,027
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    Complaining to the FSA wont do you any good. If you disagree with the provider/advisor/advice company/network/PI company (delete as appropriate), you have the right to go to the FOS (financial ombudsman service). The FSA are the regulator that set the guidelines.

    Most IFAs do not asses their own complaints. Directly regulated IFAs will but those belonging to networks will have the complaints assesed by someone in the network.
    I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.
  • EdInvestor
    EdInvestor Posts: 15,749 Forumite
    Hi Zantos
    I have an endowment that matures AFTER I am 65

    This is normally grounds for a successful misselling complaint.

    My IFA said as he managed my pension at the time he thought I should have been able to afford payments after I retired. He refused to pay any compensation.

    Definitely worth taking this one on to the Ombudsman IMHO.
    Complaining to the FSA resulted in being told they have a TWELVE MONTH backlog of claims to investigate! I now have ONLY nine months to wait for a decision!

    You should be complaining to the FOS, not the FSA.

    https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

    Which does of course have a large backlog of complaints, as you would expect.
    Trying to keep it simple...;)
  • Just to wrap up afew points. The standard defences to post retirement endowments are:

    He had enough income in retirement and therefore it was affordable until aged 73 or whatever

    or

    he did not have enough income before retirement to be able to fund the mortgage over a much shorter/or any shorter term.

    So you are pretty much damned either way

    Small IFA companies review their own complaints and the independent assessors used by the networks are often outsourced companies whose remit is to turn down as many complaints as possible.

    IFAs and networks are the very worst at dealing with complaints often taking in excess of a year to complete a review before turning the case down, then when you place the case with the Ombudsman they drag their heels again in the hope that you will eventually give up.

    My advice to anyone whose case has not been reviewed within a three month period is to take the case to the Financial Ombudsman unless your given a realistic prospect of having things resolved within the following few weeks
  • bbford
    bbford Posts: 717 Forumite
    zantos wrote:
    I have an endowment that matures AFTER I am 65 and which will produce about 50% of it's expected value, if I'm lucky. My IFA said as he managed my pension at the time he thought I should have been able to afford payments after I retired. He refused to pay any compensation. Complaining to the FSA resulted in being told they have a TWELVE MONTH backlog of claims to investigate! I now have ONLY nine months to wait for a decision!


    my mum 2 months ago complained about her standard life policy for the same reason as you.
    We just used the formulated letter by WHICH and within 21 days they have offered her £7,370.
    Her endowment was started in 1987.
    HTH
    DON'T GIVE UP.
    How much ?????????!!!
  • viney
    viney Posts: 286
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    my aunt has an endowment with abbey life, which has performed very badly. she is financially niave and has no idea about shares etc.

    Abbey life refused to investigate as we were outside the deadline. I helped her to a complain to the ombudsman. The ombudsman has now written to say basically "you are outside of the deadline, give me a good reason why".

    other than her not knowing she could complain, I have none.

    Can anyone help. She is financially struggling with the mortgage as a result and she genuinely did not understand the product at the time and even now.
    All that glisters is not gold, except moneysavingexpert.com
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