Act now on mis-sold endowments: new article

dunstonh

clanger1 wrote:

might be a silly question, but we keep getting statements for our endowment saying it is on track - should I believe them, is there any way I can still request a review with a hope of anything?

Many are still on track for surplus. Indeed, a unit linked one started around 1998-9 time, for example, would have benefited massively from the events that have caused others to go off track.

The only way to get a review is to take it to a financial advisor.

vinno65

Just a quick reply to sunshinesmadly. You have only had an amber letter so you have not lost your right to complain to FOS. People who have had red letters have. Just goes to show what a farce it all is as both letters are telling you exactly the same the same thing i.e. your endowment may not pay off your mortgage, only one letter says that you might still be on track at a certain growth rate. It is utterly unfair. If firms want to start a time bar clock ticking they should send you a letter to that effect. Pity anyone who had a so called red letter in 2000 and pre June 2001 most of them got stuffed without even knowing it
refards Vinno65

sunshinesadly

vinno65 - thanks for your posting, that's useful to know!

myk_2

I got a cheque for £2100 from the Halifax yesterday.... :j

I am so glad I finally complained (I had several letters warning me of the shortfall, but always thought "whats the point I'll never get anything").

If it hadnt been for this site and the Which? automatic complaint letter generator, I would have just accepted that I had lost out because of the 'crash'.

I am overjoyed with this result, its like winning the lottery

I will now be getting some new windows with this cash, and getting complaints in for my partners endowment.

Thank you so much MSE, I love you !!!

challenger_2

I will try and make this as clear as possible.......

We have 2 endowments - one with Standard Life and the second falling under the Halifax. We were told by the Halifax Property Services chap you set us up waht a great savings vehicle it was as we would get an additional payment above that of the mortgage. He did say the mortage pay-off was guarenteed.

We have now made complaints about mis-selling on each. After my husband suffered a back injury we paid off our mortgage from savings but still have a mortgage account with deed store.
We have kept both endowments running due to what we were told. We obviously have to replace the hard earned savings we have used to pay off the loan.

The Standard LIfe have offered us £120 as they say they have taken it to the time we paid off the mortageg and not over the full 25 year period. They have also said there is no evidence in the files available to them that shows miss-selling although it could have been!

The Halifax have now sent an endowment investigation questionaire which asks for all our details and authority to speak with Standard LIfe. For the Halifax I used the letter produced from the link on this site.

My questions are is it normal to have this questionaire or should Halifax have this info?

I have been told trhat Standard LIfe are pulling a fast one and should be calculating to the full term and that they may say there is no evidence to show mis-selling but the also isn't any to show it wasn't! Any feedback on how I should tackle this from here would be gratefully appreciated.

dreamylittledream

challenger wrote:

I will try and make this as clear as possible.......

We have 2 endowments - one with Standard Life and the second falling under the Halifax. We were told by the Halifax Property Services chap you set us up waht a great savings vehicle it was as we would get an additional payment above that of the mortgage. He did say the mortage pay-off was guarenteed.

We have now made complaints about mis-selling on each. After my husband suffered a back injury we paid off our mortgage from savings but still have a mortgage account with deed store.
We have kept both endowments running due to what we were told. We obviously have to replace the hard earned savings we have used to pay off the loan.

The Standard LIfe have offered us £120 as they say they have taken it to the time we paid off the mortageg and not over the full 25 year period. They have also said there is no evidence in the files available to them that shows miss-selling although it could have been!

The Halifax have now sent an endowment investigation questionaire which asks for all our details and authority to speak with Standard LIfe. For the Halifax I used the letter produced from the link on this site.

My questions are is it normal to have this questionaire or should Halifax have this info?

I have been told trhat Standard LIfe are pulling a fast one and should be calculating to the full term and that they may say there is no evidence to show mis-selling but the also isn't any to show it wasn't! Any feedback on how I should tackle this from here would be gratefully appreciated.

If you paid the mortgage off because you recieved a lump sum, the comparison calculations between your endowment mortgage and the repayment mortgage you should have been recommended will cease at that point. The loss you made in this comparison should be added to a refund of premiums on your policy from the date you paid off the mortagage to now, with interest on both amounts. These two figures are added together and then the current surrender value of your policy is subtracted. The result is your compensation.

If Standard Life have done this (and SL are usually pretty good a calculating redress correctly I'm afraid) then I'm afraid £120 is all you are entitled too.

The compensation payout is designed to compensate the loss you have madeby NOT taking a repayment mortgage - it does not cover poor investment performance or failure to receive additional bonuses...

The response regarding there being no evidence of mis-selling means nothing -they have upheld your complaint because they have insufficent evidence to demonstrate you policy was NOT mis-sold. The redress is the same in both instances.

As for the Halifax - the questionaire sets out in more detail why you are complaining and also they may well not have many of your details anymore. Most big lenders have lost many of their files. This also tends to mean they will pretty much automatically uphold your complaint as again they can not evidence that the policy was suitable for you when it was sold...

murphydog

We got the forms from 1 of the tv advertisers and asked our accountant about it. We were advised not to bother as" nobody I know of has ever got anything back". Read about it on this website, followed the links,produced the official letter and BINGO. It took 4 months but got a cheque for just over £2000.00 last week.
THANK MSE

challenger_2

Thnank you for the comments Dreamy, I'll certainly check out SL's workings they have provided. They have said in a summary that they have taken the difference between a repayment and an endowment for the time until we piad the mortgage up regardless of the term.
I should have emntioned that the forecast for the 2 endowments (linked to the same mortgage account) is £25000 short of £60000. We didn;t pay the morgtate off because we received a lump sum, we paid it out of savings which we have to replace if we are to survive into retirement.

scotti

Just an update from my January 28th query, we have just received from the FCSC (our FA went into liquidation) compensation of £27 yes £27, I kid you not.


We took out an endowment mortgage in 1989 and with the advice we were given, fully expected to have sufficient funds plus profits to pay the sum borrowed. (expected shortfall 11k)

I really do feel sick to my stomach and don't know what else we can do.

Is there anything else we can do or is this the end of the line?


Thank you all for your words of wisdom and advice

cheers scotti

londondulwich

Many thanks to Dunstonh and to the people who contribute to this website.

My mother has recieved an offer of £3750. I am a little concerned that Lloyds say that they are obliged to remove 20% of this for income tax reasons.

Surely my mother's tax affairs are her responsibility?

Can I allay this 'obligation' Lloyds feel towards her?