Act now on mis-sold endowments: new article

defender_of_the_weak

Pre 88 endowments sold by IFAs have nowhere to go. I am afraid you have to put up with whatever it brings. Disappointing but the facts I am afraid.

zippedup

rambo65 wrote: »

Since nobody has replied I thought I would try again -

Has anybody had any dealings with winterther life? Has anybody won any cases for endowments with them?

rambo

my husband and i had an endowment with colonial who then changed name to winterther. we havent proceeded anything yet.

can anyone advise me if its too late now?

dunstonh

You have three years from first being notified of a high risk of shortfall before you are timed out.

safetygirl

Hi, we previously thought we were not mis-sold our endowment because we took it out in 1998 and endowments were already under scrutiny at that time, however, we took an endowment anyway because i thought i would need to be able to move my mortgage easily as i may need to move jobs to different areas and therefore wanted a 'portable' solution and was informed that endowments were ideal for us.

But we have just found out not only is the endowment now performing so poorly that we have been advised to cut our losses and get rid, we now find out that the endowment was 'unit linked' and therefore is unable to be sold on the open market.

So its only now after all this time that we think we have a claim for being mis-sold the policy.

I would therefore be grateful for any other forum expert's views on our chances on this. Thanks Safetygirl

dunstonh

But we have just found out not only is the endowment now performing so poorly that we have been advised to cut our losses and get rid, we now find out that the endowment was 'unit linked' and therefore is unable to be sold on the open market.

Unit linked endowments are actually better. They have better potential, although it does depend on your fund choice. Many have seen target busting returns over the last 4-5 years to get themselves back on track. That is on track by what is required and not by what the projection says.

performance is not grounds for complaint. Having unit linked is not grounds for complaint. Indeed, had most had unit linked, then there wouldnt have been this problem.

Not knowing risks would be your main hope although you would expect a 1998 plan to be better documented to confirm risk.

safetygirl

Thanks dunstonh.
I am not entirely sure that the company still exists - does this make a difference to the claim?

safetygirl

we also went through an IFA to get the best advice in the first place! no offence.....

maryellen_2

Hi, hope some kind person may be able to offer advice.
My partner(then 27) and I then (then 32) took out the above in 1996 with London and Manchester through a Life Broker (Park Saunders) who approached us directly and offered only this type of life cover. Cover £150,000 Premium £70 per month with a review after 10 years. We are now considering cashing this in with a current value of £6656 after a surrender deduction of £1326 but I have the following queries.
1. Do we have a misselling claim as this was not the right policy for us and no advice was given?
2. Who would we claim against as Park Saunders were an intermediary but they were responsible for the advice?
3.How relevant is the fact that we never had a 10 year review?
4.Does it matter that London and Manchester was sold?
Finally if we have no claim is this a good time to cash in?

dunstonh

1. Do we have a misselling claim as this was not the right policy for us and no advice was given?

It isnt an endowment so same rules do not apply. You say no advice was given so you cannot complain about advice. So, based on that you hve no misselling claim.

2. Who would we claim against as Park Saunders were an intermediary but they were responsible for the advice?

You said there was no advice given. So you are responsible.

3.How relevant is the fact that we never had a 10 year review?

You did. Most investment backed WOL plans have a 10 year review. That would have taken place and you would have been informed if changes were required.

4.Does it matter that London and Manchester was sold?

No.

Finally if we have no claim is this a good time to cash in?

It isnt an investment/regular savings plan. It is life cover. The "investment" element is irrelevent and isnt there for you to get a lump sum out it. If you do end up with some value, then it is luck.

1cat2fish

Hi
We made a claim against The Leeds Permemenant building society in 1996 via the Halifax (which took over the leeds) for miss selling. The FSO didnt find in our Favour although were sympathetic (not much use when you've been told your endowment will pay off your mortgage by the mortgage advisor and then find out you'll be six grand short) They more or less said its our word against theirs.
A couple of days ago we received a letter from the Norwich Union with whom we hold the endowment policy. It read ......time is running out if you want to complain about the way your policy was sold to you......you need to act quickly, or you may lose your right to complain.

If you received advice to buy from us or one of our representitives please make your complaint to us by 1 oct 2007.

If you received advice to buy from an IFA we suggest you contact them now.

What I would like to know is, can we have another go at claiming?

We did have a final response letter but we felt so despondant at the outcome we didn't take it any further.

Can we complain direct to Norwich union as The leeds permanent was one of its' representitives?

There is so much more information available to help people make a claim now than there was back in 1996. I'm sure if we had the information then we would have had a better outcome.

I am so pleased that school children are to be taught about finance maybe they will be a bit more savvy when they need a mortgage than we were 16 years ago.