Act now on mis-sold endowments: new article

mayb_2

Well said Crazy Saver and I think dunstonh will continue to post - wont you dunstonh? Can't let people like me go unchallenged. A debate is where two or more people discuss something after all and no point if we all agree on everything.

In relation to another post I believe that there are areas where no cold calling zones have been established and in these areas you can call a special police hotline number and report it. If you don't report it at the time and you buy from the cold calling seller I think you would be back to normal contractual law. If you feel you have been mislead by any company regulated by the FSA then you can complain to the FSA about them. If it is a legal matter I believe you can complain to the Law Society. The individual complaint can go to the FSA as they cover different areas from the Ombudsman, and have some power over the companies they regulate - including getting your money back if they have failed to follow FSA regs. Don't forget the small claims court is free and as it is lower than £5000 it might be worth trying that - go to your nearest Citizens Advice Bureau and they may be able to help with that.

I think there are sharks in every pool and you just got ate by one!! Hope you can sort it out and thanks for the warning as it may prevent others becoming fair game.

dawnwool

Our claim took absolutely ages through the Financial Ombudsman, and then they were unfairly biased towards the Financial Adviser - from what I have been reading, they usually unfairly favour the Adviser. The claims being paid within months are the ones where the banks sold the endowments and they seem to pay up almost immediately. It seems if you went to a Financial Adviser like we did, the claims for compensation dont get paid, very unfair!

dawnwool

Can anyone tell me if they have found the Financial Ombudsman to be unfairly biased towards the Financial Advisers in compensation for missold endowment claims? Our claim has been totally rejected as the adviser has said he has paperwork stating we ticked a box to say we were risk takers, totally untrue! This was back in 1990 when we were a young couple buying first home, we went to a financial adviser because we didnt have a clue about mortgages. We were told our policy of around £50k would give a return of £70k+, no mention of this not happening. Is there anyone I can complain to as this is totally unfair.

dunstonh

from what I have been reading, they usually unfairly favour the Adviser.

No. They usually favour the consumer.

It seems if you went to a Financial Adviser like we did, the claims for compensation dont get paid, very unfair!

Having an endowment is not a mis-sale. Statistically, IFAs were better on the documentation and did meet the requirements more than the tied agents. So, if you have an endowment and it as correctly sold then you are not going to get a mis-sale awarded.

treliac

dawnwool,

If a box was ticked without you being aware of it, can you not make a case for yourselves? It would be very easy for an adviser to tick a box because it was on a form and expected of them. Seems far too simplistic for a judgement to be based mainly on this action. I imagine you are or are going to appeal?

Also, are you able to establish your attitude to financial risk by other means, such as whether or not you have made other financial investments. Your financial lifestyle should be presented in your defence. I think it is necessary to make a very strong case in support of yourselves and, where possible, to anticipate the sort of argument the adviser/company might make.

This thread gives lots of information that has helped us to prepare our complaint, which is still at the early stages with the Ombudsman though, so don't know how it will progress.

Fact still remains, I believe, that the average endowment mortgage house buyer would not have known there was a chance that their house would not be paid for at the end, that salespeople would have at the very least played this down. Few people would have been willing to gamble on the most important purchase they were ever going to make.

Other than making an appeal through the FOS, the alternatives may be to go to your MP, to take legal advice possibly with a free or fixed fee initial consultation.

treliac

I am very appreciative of all the regular contributors and for your different perspectives given here. There’s bound to be polarity of thinking when you consider where we’re all coming from.

Those of us who feel cheated and forced to pay the cost for the rest of our lives, who remember or are still living a financial struggle that we shouldn’t have had to endure and, to add insult to injury, are now having to do battle with dishonest companies who will use any tactic to wriggle out of making honest retribution. (They will never lose out – there will always be a new ‘virgin’ clientele to do business with).

And then those in the field now, who understand what happened in the past and happily share the knowledge and expertise gained through practice. I have learnt so much that I wouldn’t otherwise have had access to. I hope you realise how much we value the time you give to share your insider knowledge.

So I thank you all and hope the conversation goes on. It gives a point of reference for people who want to dip in and out for advice as their complaint progresses and, importantly, as it has become for me, gives somewhere to learn, turn ideas over and to feel supported in taking on the industry’s giants.

Inevitably, very strong feelings are going to be expressed and vented. At the end of the day, these should not be directed or accepted in a personal way even though that’s not easy when you think of what’s at stake and the defensiveness we all feel about our own position.

Anyhow, thanks again – I feel a part of a special community here and hope it continues for as long as there are those of us who need it.

treliac

mayb_2

I have to tell you dawnwool that you are not alone in your experience, we and others on this site found the Ombudsman favoured the Company when deciding whether our endowment policy was a missale. Did you actually sign the paper that said you were risk takers for instance. This would have been what they called a fact find and you can ask the company for a copy of this.

We were totally unaware that such a document existed at the time or our purchase - so we asked the company for any documentation when making our complaint to the Ombudsman and they sent this fact find to us - there were things on it that were simply untrue and we had not signed it although it requested a signature. The Company agreed that they had shown us no illustrations at the time of sale but insisted that we had been given all of the literature at the time. When we asked for a copy of this they said they didn't have one. We raised other questions, which received similar sort of replies. Yet the Ombudsman found in favour of the Company in face of, rather than because of, the evidence.

I don't think we will ever get over the unfairness of this decison. We, like you knew we were not liars and never had before, or to this day, invested in anything at all - let alone something with a risk attached.

This was not a mortgage endowment so the amount promised had no figure in writing anywhere - only our word. It was to be our pension and we ended up with it being worth less than we had paid in premiums. If this had been allowed as a missale then it would open the floodgates to others. I believe the Ombudsman is a damage limitation exercise for the financial institutions.

Clare_D_2

We had an endowment policy (Scotish Widows) sold to us in 1992 by the Clydesdale Bank advisor when we took out a mortgage with them. Several years later it became apparent that it would not perform so we took out ISA to cover shortfall. Then again a bit later on the shortfall grew. So we cashed the lot in and remortgaged to a repayment. So we now dont have the policy does that mean we cant make a claim?
Secondly when our daughter was born we saw a salesman from Abbey life as we wanted a savings plan for her for 18 years for her education . The salesman told us a savings plan was not the best option and sold us an 18 year endowment in both our names as he told us this would see more return at the end. Is there a claim to be made here as the endowment was sold instead of a savings plan not instad of a mortgage?

mayb_2

Forgot to mention you can ask for the actual Ombudsman to look at your case again. Just send whoever you were dealing with a letter requesting this and it has to be done.

Hope that helps anyway - it is a bit of a lottery out there and you never know you may be a lucky winner.

mayb_2

ClareD ours was a similar situation re your savings - you can claim but unless you have something in writing giving the amount you should expect to receive it would be hard to prove - as we found. Because we had taken out an endowment mortgage two years before we took out what we believed to be a savings plan, and despite the fact that we had been compensated for a missold endowment mortgage and the Ombudsman knew this, it was said we knew what we were doing because we had the experience of buying an endowment mortgage. With this sort of reasoning we didn't have a hope. We had also cancelled my pension plan on the same day we took out this savings plan for our pension - but the Ombudsman failed to accept the link between the two.

I don't think that is a reason for you not trying however - the dam may burst one day and you might be the one that makes the difference. Try to get hold of copies of any paperwork they have and sort out what you have and make a claim. Ours was done a few years ago so things may have moved on a bit or you may just strike lucky.

If the policy of the Ombudsman towards these claims changes, or someone takes up the cudgels on our behalf (are you listening Martin - please) it will be known through this site and I would head back into the fray myself. Each claim made puts a little more of a spotlight on these issues. Good Luck, because right now that's what it's about.