Act now on mis-sold endowments: new article

Fullspizz

Ok, thanks for the reply.
TBH, if the plan looks like it is going to meet it's projected forecast then I'm happy with it.
One thing though, have the Pru covered themselves then by sending the amber letter to state it may fall short?
Seeing as you only have 3 years from the first letter and I have another 18 left on my endowment.

Thanks for the reply

girl_friday_2

this matter concerns my mother who is now 62yrs old. approx 14 yrs ago she found herself having to take over a mortgage due to a relationship split. the mortgage had been a repayment one and she felt that she better understood this type of mortgage and so asked for it when applying for the new mortgage. the application was handled by an agent of the Halifax who helped her to fill it in. she signed for the mortgage a short while later in the local branch of the halifax but prior to signing, she remembers being pressured by the guy who handled the signing part, into taking an endowment. she told him she didnt know what they were and just wanted the repayment type. she signed an agreement and thought all was in order until she received some paperwork through which said she had an endowment policy. she thought they had added it on as an extra to her repayment mortgage and so rang to tell them to take it off. they agreed not to take the money for the endowment and she thought that was all sorted.
jump forward 12 yrs and i noticed her mortgage statement for that current year. it showed that she was on an endowment mortgage and that she had nothing in her endowment account. i contacted the halifax who said she had an endowment mortgage and had never made any payments in, other than their calculated interest each month. i started to persue this on her behalf and had exchanged 2 letters with the bank when they sent a reply saying that as an agent had handled the initial paperwork, the problem was not theirs. they suggested that we talk to the agent. the agent (who also handles her various insurances) told her that she would have to check her insurance policy to see if she could claim in order to fight him, the agent! this all had a bad effect on her health, afterall she had worked herself into the ground to pay the mortgage as a single person. we estimate that she has paid in excess of 14k on a 20k mortgage. she'll never own this home outright now, the Halifax advisor told her this and then offered to put her on some kind of rental type mortgage(?). i thought it best to put it onto some kind of real mortgage product, so the mortgage is now on a tracker mortgage. but the money she has paid has gone to who knows where.....
i reluctantly put down the gauntlet on this but im itching to challenge them.
any thoughts?
does she have any rights here?

thanks for reading!

ff999

Can someone assist with the 'time bar' rule?

I took my policy out in late 1988, the company changed hands a few times in the ensuing years, and sent a regular statement each year, 6 pages of gumph.

Then the media interest took hold, and the main message I got from the publicity would be that we would get a colour coded letter from the company.
I only received mine in Dec05, I then complained in Jan06, and have been rejected by the company that now owns the policy as I am 'time barred' because the statements sent in the preceding years made it clear there was a shortfall.
So what was all the publicity about waiting for the colour coded letter?
Is there any point in me taking this further with the ombudsman?

vinno65

Hi FF999
Yes take your complaint to the FOS. Sounds to me like they are trying it on.
If they seek to rely on previous statements then why send you a "red letter"
All companies bound by the FSA have had a duty to send reprojection letters it seems pretty strange that you have only recieved one in Dec 2005.
Anyhow do complain to the FOS it would be interesting to see what their take on the matter is. It seems to me that you complained within a month from recieving your first red letter whic by any standard is pretty quick!
regards Vinno

ff999

vinno65,
Thanks for the support. I'll carry on. The letter from the company says that I was actually time barred in June 2003, and they are basing that on the annual statements that they sent me, which buried in 6 page of words, without using the word 'shortfall' was enough for them to start the clock ticking. So while I was waiting for the colour coded letter, time had allegedly already run out.
I also had extenuating circumstances (1 of which was working abroad for nearly 2 years) but these were rejected. I did read last week that some poor man who was having treatment for a serious psychiatric condition was also rejected as being time barred, his company feeling that he was able to attend to his own financial affairs. Really, you'd have to be in a coma, or possibly dead for the extenuating circumstances rule to work in your favour.
In that same article, I also read that the Ombusdman doesn't overrule on Time Barred rejections, so was concerned that I was wasting my time.
But I will carry on, and give an update in the future.

vinno65

Hi FF999,
the FOS can overrule a time bar. It will depend on whether the agree that these statments start the clock ticking. You have also got the option of taking the firm to court. It really does seem to me that they are just trying it on.
regards Vinno

Jess40

:T Received offer today for £6.5k which covers shortfall
Thanks:j

silvercar

girl_friday wrote:

it showed that she was on an endowment mortgage and that she had nothing in her endowment account. i contacted the halifax who said she had an endowment mortgage and had never made any payments in, other than their calculated interest each month......

we estimate that she has paid in excess of 14k on a 20k mortgage.....

so the mortgage is now on a tracker mortgage. but the money she has paid has gone to who knows where.....

Paraphrasing what you wrote, it sounds like you have an interest only mortgage with no money being paid into an endowment policy. Effectively all you have being paying is the interest on the borrowed money with no repayment vehicle. The 14k is interest payments!

Do check that the tracker mortgage is a repayment mortgage not an interest only tracker.

Your current situation is that you are starting again with a 20k mortgage.

I'll leave it to others to comment if you have a case, especially as you didn't actually pay into the endowment.

CaptL-S

Hi
This is my 1st time on so be gentle with me! I have at long last got around to following your recommendations for complaining about this so will let you know how it works out. Also (I know it is a separate subject) I have looked to switch our utilities and they reckon they can save us nearly £400 annually!!!!! I can hardly believe it. The usual cry "why didnt I do it before".
was heard!

dreamylittledream

ff999 wrote:

vinno65,
Thanks for the support. I'll carry on. The letter from the company says that I was actually time barred in June 2003, and they are basing that on the annual statements that they sent me, which buried in 6 page of words, without using the word 'shortfall' was enough for them to start the clock ticking. So while I was waiting for the colour coded letter, time had allegedly already run out.
I also had extenuating circumstances (1 of which was working abroad for nearly 2 years) but these were rejected. I did read last week that some poor man who was having treatment for a serious psychiatric condition was also rejected as being time barred, his company feeling that he was able to attend to his own financial affairs. Really, you'd have to be in a coma, or possibly dead for the extenuating circumstances rule to work in your favour.
In that same article, I also read that the Ombusdman doesn't overrule on Time Barred rejections, so was concerned that I was wasting my time.
But I will carry on, and give an update in the future.

Who is the life company? Not Zurich is it?

There are rules that reprojection letters have to confirm to - a life company can not simply rely on the annual statement.