Endowment Compensation - Please Help

bigalzyirpal

Hi
Can anyone help please ? I am confused about who I should send my letter of claim for compensation to.
I had 2 endowments running on my Endowment mortgage, Irish Life for 12 years and Scottish Widows for 4 years I have had HIGH RISK letters for both of them.( i had to cash in the Scottish Widows one to help me to afford the replacement Repayment mortgage ).
I took the Irish life one out through a "Family Friend" financial adviser, whom suprise suprise no longer is in business. The second one was a top up when I moved house in 1999 and was arranged by a financial adviser attached to an estate agents we were using. I can't track him down either.
Can I direct my claim to the 2 Endowment companies or must I track down the "financial advisers".
I was resigned to thinking I couldn't make a claim if they were no longer in the business. I think I only have until the end of March before I am time barred.

dunstonh

Shame you cancelled the Scottish Widows one. That would have made bucket loads with a 1999 commencement date. It would be well above target now.

It may not be worth complaining about the Scottish Widows one as the surrender value at the time would probably have been little different, if not a little more given the years than the reduction would have been on a repayment mortgage. You could end up waiting up to 2 years to find that there is no compensation as the endowment was the better option.

To track down the advisors, you can use the FSA register. http://www.fsa.gov.uk/register/

bigalzyirpal

Thanks Dunstonh I know you are right about the Scottish Widows policy but I didn't really have an option as it was £70 a month on top of an increase in mortgage payments when I moved to repayment. I hung on to it for a year then gave in.
I tried the link you supplied for the FSA but unfortunatly it does not go back beyond 2001.
I have found paperwork from the Financial Advisor that has a trading address and also a letter header that says he was AN APPOINTED RERESENTATIVE OF IRISH LIFE, Does this mean I can sent my mis-sold compensation claim letter directly to Irish Life.

dunstonh

Yes, spot on. You put the complaint to Irish Life. And ASAP judging by what you have said.

shekelcatcher

Hi, If you have'nt put a letter together or want advice try this link. [URL=http://]http://www.which.net/endowmentaction/[/URL] I used the letter generator received a payout..Hope things go well for you

susi

Just tried the link and it dosent work for me, I really need to file for this too

shekelcatcher

hi check martins latest email newsletter speacial about mis-sold endwments.

scattercash_2

Hello, I have received a complaints form from Abbey, for completion, concerning two endowment mortgages that I took out with Norwich Union in 1987 - on the first page they ask me for details of my wages in 1987 and to set out my outgoings (not including mortgage payments) when I first took out the policies.

How on earth can I remember that? Any ideas what I should put (no rude comments thank you!)

Oh yes, they also want to know if I can remember the conversation that took place with Abbey when I took out the policies. Really there was no major conversation, I just converted from a Repayment Mortgage to the Endowment Mortgage because it was the "thing" at the time. What has happened now is that I am retired and the policies do not expire till 2012 - but I have paid my mortgage up and still pay the policies. Does that count?

Thanks for any help on these issues.

EdInvestor

If you don't know the answer to questions, just put don't know or not applicable. (They don't know either, that's why they're asking, and it's up to them to prove they did the right thing, not you to prove they did the wrong thing).

It is usually regarded as misselling if a mortgage extends beyond retirement and there is no clear evidence on the sale documents that the pensioner can afford to pay.

phbaker

I have two endowments, one with Norwich Union which is linked to my mortgage. I have started complaint proceedings for that one, the Which web site and letter generator Martin told us about helped loads. I am waiting for a reply from Norwich Union after completing one of thier questionnaires.

I have some confusion regarding a second endowment which was originally sold to me as a savings plan. Since taking it out I have linked it to my mortgage to help keep the monthly costs down in the short term. It too, is seriously under performing but I am not sure if i can complain about it because i didnt take it out with a mortgage originally. The sales pitch for the second one was the same as the first one, non existant! Does anyone know if I can complain about that one too?

bigalzyirpal

Thanks Shekelcatcher
I used the link to the 'which' site for the complaint letter generator as you suggested. It helps you stick to the relevant info and stay objective. I have sent it off to Irish Life on Tuesday so fingers crossed. My attempt at a letter would probably have went something like - A big financial adviser done it and ran away!