Act now on mis-sold endowments: new article

mayb_2

From what dunstonh has said bella you should have had a warning letter 6 months before you were timed out - if you didn't get one I assume you can claim now.

BellaBargains

mayb wrote: »

From what dunstonh has said bella you should have had a warning letter 6 months before you were timed out - if you didn't get one I assume you can claim now.

My statement in Jun 07 had the time bar date on it, I didn't see it as it was on page 6 (my bad, I should read these things). It's the only time they gave me the date as far as I can see, but it was 6 months before the cut off.

dunstonh wrote:

A lot of Standard Life policies pay surpluses even though the projections suggest otherwise. Projections are not very reliable at the best of times as they can often leave things off or assume rates which are much lower than those being achieved. Although with some companies (not SL) the rates used actually overstate the potential.

I suspect we'll keep it going for the time being as our mortgage is fixed on a reasonable rate until next October - then we'll see what happens (we're with Northern Rock, so I guess we will be remortgaging!) If the rates are high then, it might be time to cash it in. The annoying thing is - I held onto it for years in case SL demutualised, then when they did, I discovered only half of it was with profits and I only got about 200 shares lol. You live and learn, maybe now I will read things instead of trusting what I'm told, like I did as a niaive 22 year old!

muppetwithnomoney

Can Scottish Widows tell me that I do not have grounds for compensation on an endowment policy as I did not complain by 5 August 2006? They have sent me a letter stating that because they notified me of a high risk with the policy in 2003, I did not act quickly enough and therefore a time bar was laid down.

I know I wasn't that quick on the uptake with this, however I think this is a bit unfair. Can anyone give me any advice.

thanks.

dunstonh

muppetwithnomoney wrote: »

Can Scottish Widows tell me that I do not have grounds for compensation on an endowment policy as I did not complain by 5 August 2006? They have sent me a letter stating that because they notified me of a high risk with the policy in 2003, I did not act quickly enough and therefore a time bar was laid down.

I know I wasn't that quick on the uptake with this, however I think this is a bit unfair. Can anyone give me any advice.

thanks.

That is correct. You have three years of being told of a high risk of shortfall or red alert. They also give you further warnings on later statements of your expiry date to complain by. If you miss it then you are out of time.

On the up side, most of Scot Widows endowments are unit linked and you would expect most of these with terms of 25 years or more to come in on target or thereabouts. Not the case if you have a SW WP fund though.

Biffer

dunstonh wrote: »

That is correct. You have three years of being told of a high risk of shortfall or red alert. They also give you further warnings on later statements of your expiry date to complain by. If you miss it then you are out of time.

On the up side, most of Scot Widows endowments are unit linked and you would expect most of these with terms of 25 years or more to come in on target or thereabouts. Not the case if you have a SW WP fund though.

I just got a letter back today from Scot Widows about my With Profits fund. They're also saying I missed the deadline to file a complaint. In my case it was the 22nd August 2006. I did read these shortfall letters and switched most of my mortgage to repayment, but it wasn't until this year whilst reading the MSE articles, that I realised I had grounds for complaint.

In the MSE article it states -
You have either six years from when you bought your policy, or three years from the date you realised it might have been mis-sold – whichever is longer.

Well it wasn't until this year that I realised that you could complain about mis-selling. In view of this, is it worth me going to the FOS?

dunstonh

Well it wasn't until this year that I realised that you could complain about mis-selling. In view of this, is it worth me going to the FOS?

No point complaining. It will be rejected due to time bar.

It doesnt matter that you didnt know you could complain because you are told you can complain in the very first document you receive when you set the policy up. The provider also tells you multiple times that your window for complaining is also ending. The FOS only tend to overturn timebars if they have not been followed correctly or you have a justifiable reason for missing it (i.e. in hospital for 3 years or lost memory, out of country and no mail sent on etc).

mayb_2

Sorry to hear that Biffer, unfortunately these financial firms are being allowed to get away with murder with this time bar thing. It doesn't mean they are not guilty only that they are being protected from having to pay for it.

So many people still have no real concept of what is going on with their mortgages and will be excluded from their right to complain by this rule. The latest news is that more people are defaulting on their mortgages because of the latest increases. The whole consumer industry is starting to feel the pinch. So now there is a little decrease in the bank rate - I don't think that is going to help anybody as too little way to late. The point being that you and your mortgage are not the people they are interested in helping unfortunately. It is the institutions with the money.

anandp

Hi,

Read the numerous stories on here about successful endowment mis-selling claims and wondered if anyone has had any success with claiming from the FSCS instead of with the lender.

In my case, the adviser was an independent firm which has now gone out of business and hence the FSCS is the next port of call.

Anand

dunstonh

anandp wrote: »

Hi,

Read the numerous stories on here about successful endowment mis-selling claims and wondered if anyone has had any success with claiming from the FSCS instead of with the lender.

In my case, the adviser was an independent firm which has now gone out of business and hence the FSCS is the next port of call.

Anand

If you are not time barred then the FSCS will review your complaint. You actually stand a greater chance of success as there isnt documentation available usually as the advising firm doesnt exist to provide it. However, expect to wait upto 2 years to get a response as there is a backlog.

anandp

Hi,

I have already had my case reviewed by the FSCS (they were surprisingly quick about it actually).

I expected it to take at least a year, but worked out in less than 6 months at the end.

The offer wasn't great though - less than £100 (including a £9k reduction for DTA) which I found frustrating since it is optional and always has been with my lender.

Just wondered if anyone had had any other experiences with the FSCS.