Mis-sold Endowment whilst in Military overseas

John_P

I have had a little battle with my the FSCS regarding an endowment policy with Standard Life that I took out whilst serving at a UK RAF Military base in Germany in 1 Sep 87. Drake insurance Brokers were operating UK representatives ON Military Units selling Standard Life Insurance to service personnel. This insurance was not available to the local German population, just targeted at the UK overseas based persons, as we had nothing else at that time to secure money for house purchase on return to the UK after our tour of service.

I have found it very hard to understand the FSCS in that they issued a reference number and now they say cannot act.

Is there anyone out there who were / are in the same situation and have had better sucess.

I do think I am entitled to compensation not because of being a serving member of the forces but how I was sold the insurance and not having a choice that I would of had if I was in the UK. This has been mishandled and I would like to hear other peoples thoughts.

toonfish

What is the actual basis of the complaint?

Pre-mortgage endowments were very popular for service personnel - not saying that was right but just wondering why you believe it was wrong for you?

John_P

toonfish wrote: »

What is the actual basis of the complaint?

Pre-mortgage endowments were very popular for service personnel - not saying that was right but just wondering why you believe it was wrong for you?

Claiming compensation for the misold policy, as I was told that the time of buying all the good stuff about projected plans and never the possibility of loosing money.

toonfish

John_P wrote: »

Claiming compensation for the misold policy, as I was told that the time of buying all the good stuff about projected plans and never the possibility of loosing money.

OK, firstly the investment performance is not a valid reason for complaint.

If you were guaranteed a return that has not materialised it may be upheld or if you can demonstrate that investment risk was not discussed and this policy did not meet your risk profile then you may be successful

John_P

toonfish wrote: »

OK, firstly the investment performance is not a valid reason for complaint.

If you were guaranteed a return that has not materialised it may be upheld or if you can demonstrate that investment risk was not discussed and this policy did not meet your risk profile then you may be successful

Verbal guarantee? how am I able to prove that, it seems very difficult when you are trying your best but end up not getting anywhere. I see invividuals around me sucsessfully claiming and because the FSCS say that Drake Ins were operating outide the UK and therefore not entitled, I seem not to have a case even though they only targeted / sold Standard Life products to UK Military persons.

Is there anything possible that I can do?

EdInvestor

AFAIK you have fallen through the crack, as overseas sales are not regulated by onshore UK institutions and thus misselling rules and compensation do not apply..

I agree it's unfair as these UK affiliated salesmen were often allowed to operate on UK owned territory by the UK Govt, via the MoD.

But the UK is often unfair to its expat citizens abroad, as those who suffer discrimination over getting their state pensions increased are well aware. :mad:

dunstonh

You are not I'm afraid.

Regrettably, FSA authorisation (as it is now. PIA and SIB previously) only extends to UK and not overseas territories. This means you get no FOS protection or FSCS protection if you purchased outside of the UK.

Whilst you may consider it unfair, the logic is understandable. FSA authorised firms pay towards the FSA, FOS and FSCS. You bought yours overseas from a firm that didnt need FSA authorisation and probably didnt have any. So, why should the FSA authorised firms pay for those that are now?

I agree it's unfair as these UK affiliated salesmen were often allowed to operate on UK owned territory by the UK Govt, via the MoD.

Bases should be treated as UK but they were not. When things improved in this country a lot of sales people found themselves unable to operate in the UK so they went abroad where there was little or no regulation. Ex pats and servicemen were particularly hit. However, these people were not UK authorised individuals usually.

toonfish

John_P wrote: »

Verbal guarantee? how am I able to prove that, it seems very difficult when you are trying your best but end up not getting anywhere. I see invividuals around me sucsessfully claiming and because the FSCS say that Drake Ins were operating outide the UK and therefore not entitled, I seem not to have a case even though they only targeted / sold Standard Life products to UK Military persons.

Is there anything possible that I can do?

It doesn't look like it unfortunately - I would have thought that working on UK bases they would have been subject to UK rules but evidently not.

turbobob

I think the critical thing here is that the policy was sold to you in 1987. That means that it is before there was any investment compensation scheme and therefore you have zero chance of compensation from the FSCS. Any policy sold before 28 August 1988 will not be covered by the FSCS regardless of any other issues.

Dunstonh may have a point about overseas brokers. However I do remember that I used to deal with one or two brokers who were operating overseas at the insurance company I worked at (late 90's). At the time we required them to be SIB authorised to do business with them, even though they were based overseas.

John_P

Do you know what! I have talked about the wrong policy date. the one that should have been discussed was signed on the 1 Dec 1989 and not 1 Sep 87, different policy stated in my previous correspondance. what a fool I am.