too late for compensation on endowment?

wazza

Hi, just learned that one can claim compensation regarding misselling of the endownment mortgage. Somewhere on this website is a link where one can print off a letter of complaint.

in my case my endowment policy was taken out in sept 1990. it was with lloyds. Over the past few years have received letters stating there is a shortfall etc. Recently received a letter from scottish widows regarding my endownment policy shortfall. first of all has scottish widows taken over lloyds? back of the scottish widows letter there is a section that says i have till oct 2006 to complain.

I take it that i have till oct 06 to complain. do i ring them and ask for FSA pack or do i sent them a letter from the webiste suggested by MSE?

this is all confusing to me and i am trying to get the grasp of things so any assistance is gratefully accepted

thanks in advance

dunstonh

first of all has scottish widows taken over lloyds?

No. Scottish Widows was bought by Lloyds. They merged their black horse life company into Scot Widows a number of years ago. They now market Scot Widows products although they are usually cut down versions and more expensive than the retail IFA version which is still their main source of business.

I take it that i have till oct 06 to complain. do i ring them and ask for FSA pack or do i sent them a letter from the webiste suggested by MSE?

There is no pack. You have to inform them that you consider it a mis-sale and why you consider it a mis-sale. There are templates to help you.

As it happens, the old BHL policy isnt that bad. It has quite a good life fund range and you can switch funds. The potential for growth to achieve target on this endowment will be good. I seem to recall that there may be increased allocation rates on this endowment too in the later years.

I wouldnt rely too heavily on the projection rates if they are under 6%. I would also suggest you get the funds reviewed. Particulary if you are in the bog standard "managed" fund. They have about 15 other funds available and you can mix and match. A number of the others are certainly better options.

wazza

Hi, do i send a letter like the one somewhere on this website where one can print off a letter of complaint or apply for a FSA complaint pack? Do i send it to scottish widows?

dunstonh

The FSA complaint pack wont tell you what to write. It will give you an understanding of the proceedure and it will tell you the style of the wording but not specific to you. They dont have template letters.

The one on this site or the Which? letter but amended to suit the reason for your complaint should be good enough.

A little warning. It may or may not apply. Black Horse FS did at some point in the 90s issue a comparative repayment mortgage vs endowment mortgage cost printout showing the cost of both. They also, if the advisor did what BHFS compliance instructed them to, put a warning about endowments in the reason why letter saying that the mortgage would only be paid off if x% per annum was achieved and if it wasnt, there would be a shortfall. This reason why letter was then signed by the client.

I don't know at what point in the 90s that came in. Probably later rather than earlier. If you still have the original reason why letter, you could verify that first. If your complaint is that you didnt know and there is a document signed by you saying that you did, it will hit your chances.

wazza

thanks dunstonh. will get a letter from a link from this website. am i correct in saying to send it to scottish widows office?

dunstonh

wazza wrote:

thanks dunstonh. will get a letter from a link from this website. am i correct in saying to send it to scottish widows office?

Lloyds Bank policies were issued out of Chatham. Last I heard, they still deal with the administration of the bank sided of things.

The last one I looked at was around September last year and I wrote to the Chatham office and got responses back from there.

LloydsTSB
Mountbatten House
Chatham
Kent
ME4 4JF

wazza

thanks for the info