Missold endowment?

leftieM

My parents took out an endowment in 1989. It was a unit linked policy with Standard Life. My mother says that she went and asked for an endowment as some guy writing in the Irish Times at the time said they were great. She didn't ask for a unit linked policy - she was given it. She asked the guy in the building society (Irish Permanent as they were known - Rep of Ireland BS) what the difference between an endowment and a repayment mortgage was and he told her there wasn't much difference. In 1992 she read about how rubbish unit linked endowments were so she asked to change to a with profits policy. They moved her onto this and increased her premiums. The endowment has always underperformed so in 1997 she switched to a full repayment. Lucky for her - the policy is going to significantly underperform.
Was she missold? She never sat down with an advisor and she admits that she was all for an endowment. She says that at the time she knew that the endowment might not make extra money but she had no idea that it might not pay off the mortgage.
is it worth pursuing?

dunstonh

My mother says that she went and asked for an endowment as some guy writing in the Irish Times at the time said they were great

She asked for the policy. There is a good chance that the documentation would support that.

In 1992 she read about how rubbish unit linked endowments were so she asked to change to a with profits policy.

Whoops. As it happens, unit linked policies are not too bad at all with a decent fund spread. Again, she asked them to do it.

Was she missold? She never sat down with an advisor and she admits that she was all for an endowment. She says that at the time she knew that the endowment might not make extra money but she had no idea that it might not pay off the mortgage.
is it worth pursuing?

Unlikely as no advice was given. However, it would depend on how it was documented by the selling company.

leftieM

My poor mother! She used to follow the advice of some guy in the paper and unfortunately when he got it wrong so did she. I doubt he's £20000 euro worse off though!
I won't tell her about the unit linked policy. The poor woman is kicking herself as it is.
I forgot to mention - the policy matures a couple of months after my dad retires. Isn't this a mistake?

dunstonh

I forgot to mention - the policy matures a couple of months after my dad retires. Isn't this a mistake?

No. Its not possible to exactly match month of maturity with month of retirement. So there is usually a difference. Indeed, if you look at the mortgage redemption date, you will probably find that is a different date as well.