Act now on mis-sold endowments: new article

Crazy_Saver

dunstonh wrote: »

You have to feel sorry for those with larger amounts but switching to repayment as early as possible or at least arrange funding for the shortfall as soon as you can means that for most people it wont be a problem.

For one wonderful moment there dunstonh I thought you really understood what it's like for the average person faced with a massive shortfall.

We have done as advised by you and many other people on these boards and switched to a full repayment mortgage. But contrary to your belief, it is a major problem to us as we have had to extend our mortgage term by an extra 10 years in order to cover the £32,000 shortfall. This means we will still be paying off our mortgage when we hoped to be mortgage free in order to think about our children's university fees.

Plus, although it's not an actual problem, we were rather looking forward to the estimated £40k lump sum to spend on ourselves.

You mentioned in one of your earlier posts that we may not be getting the promised "lump sums" but we are getting the equivalent in the value of our property. But we never thought we would have to sell our home in order to achieve the promised amount.

dunstonh

We have done as advised by you and many other people on these boards and switched to a full repayment mortgage. But contrary to your belief, it is a major problem to us as we have had to extend our mortgage term by an extra 10 years in order to cover the £32,000 shortfall.

Your shortfall is hardly typical though. Its nearly 10 times more than the average. To be honest, I have never come across a shortfall that high. Being in cheap east anglia most endowments tend to be for relatively small amounts around the 30-50k mark. Much more in line with the national average.

You mentioned in one of your earlier posts that we may not be getting the promised "lump sums" but we are getting the equivalent in the value of our property. But we never thought we would have to sell our home in order to achieve the promised amount.

Blame the Govt. Fiscal policy is controlled by them

Crazy_Saver

dunstonh wrote: »

Your shortfall is hardly typical though. Its nearly 10 times more than the average. To be honest, I have never come across a shortfall that high. Being in cheap east anglia most endowments tend to be for relatively small amounts around the 30-50k mark. Much more in line with the national average.



Blame the Govt. Fiscal policy is controlled by them

Actually, I'm not far from East Anglia and the £32,000 shortfall represents over 50% of our original mortgage/endowment. I suppose if I were to be truly honest, I probably wouldn't have kept fighting my case if the shortfall was nearer the national average, as we more than likely would have been able to accomodate the shortfall somehow. But £32,000 is a lot to find.

Still, the FOS said they would be in a position to reply after the 10th February regarding our decision not to settle.

Who knows what tomorrow might bring!

mayb_2

my shortfall was for £25000 dunstonh - almost half the value of the mortgage we had at the time and a good way into the repayment period. I live on the edge of the area you speak of - hardly top end when it comes to house prices and as Crazy Saver says - why should we be forced to sell what is our home, rather than just a house, in order to pay the mortgage or release some money for a pension. We had to add university expenses to our mortgage as there was simply no cash anywhere else.

Those on repayment mortgages at outset will not be in the position we find ourselves through no fault of our own. Neither are house prices as good as they have been in the recent past because of the actions of the finance industry. Something else we cannot control.

East Anglia prices if what you say is correct, is hardly going to make it the norm or average example. What of those people living in London and the South East for instance?

You speak of your own experience and I would sugest, wihout wishing to offend you or anyone else, is a one limited to people of a different ilk than the norm posting on here and I am not referring to their IQs.

Meetings of people all trying to avoid paying out on their missold endowments are not likely to reflect the position of the people claiming a missale. No doubt they would prefer to find that they are not culpable. Unfortunately I would sugest it is more likely that they were, if only through misleading their salesforces, not training their advisors and generally believing their own stance that these things would never fail. Equally the FOS and FSA are working hard to protect the industry from its own mistakes. A mistake in itself as their failure to deal properly with the banking crisis clearly illustrates.

For too long the finance industry has been king in this country - our flag ship operation was used to skating on ice and drawing rabbits out of hats - now they are exposed and who knows what will happen next. Who wants to take a chance with them again?

grumpynotoldman

Ooh it's getting very touchy and I can understand why! Having just surrendered 3 FP endowments which wouldn't have hit £37K when they should have produced £60K, I'm bitter and twisted. We will save £3K in premiums so 33% shortfall. I just didn't want to pay them any more money for mismanaging a zombie fund with no prosepect of fair return. Early retirement pension lump sum saved the day. Financial products=toilet paper! The old type beginning with an I and finishing with 3 letters laz in any ordure you prefer.

mayb_2

Yep I remember that but in its time that was a luxury and we often had other papers that weren't fit for anything else to use instead. I leave you to work out which ones they might be but it might not be the one you first thought of.!

Sorry to hear about your problems grumpy but appreciate the comments. I don't consider myself to be bitter or twisted actually. I sorted my mortgage missale out without a battle and I used the money from my failed pension and savings plan (endowment in reality) to go on a cruise I much enjoyed in order to feel that we had used the money for something we had planned and saved for. That does not mean I condone or ignore the plight these companies have left us in.

I will fight in any way I can to ensure that justice is done for others as well as myself.

Having your initial tentative enquiries quoshed out of hand is not the purpose of this site, so I feel unable to condone the sort of negative comments that are often made about our stupidity and lack of honesty or any other derogative and unhelpful remarks. I will always challenge such thinking which is going to prevent many deserving people from making their claims. This is a site to support those in trouble with their mortgages, not to back up the attitude and intentions of the finance industry and those who are supposed to control it.

Anyone listening to the news yesterday can be left in no doubt about their aims and abilities to do the job.

claudiaderi

Where can I find this, please?
Claudia

dunstonh

Who knows what tomorrow might bring!;)

Nothing by the sounds of it. Or perhaps an instant holiday was in order or perhaps you are drowning your sorrows and in no fit state to post

Misselling endowmment claims letter template
Where can I find this, please?

Dunno. Have you tried compiling your own letter. Apart from the fact most endowments are now time barred from complaints, the figures do show that personalised complaints tend to get better results than templates that state a load of things that may or may not be applicable. You dont have to write war and peace. Indeed, just a handful of lines saying why you think it was mis-sold is all that is needed.

mayb_2

I think you made my point with that post dunstonh.

Try this link to the which site and other helpful information claudia:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/endowments-miss-sold#howdoi

rebecca1

First post - please bear with me if I have posted incorrectly

I have 3 endowments as follows:

Scottish Mutual for £6250.00 taken out 28.06.1988
I wrote to Scottish Mutual and they said there was no selling agent for this policy - does this mean that I have no one to claim against so I can't make a claim? I do seem to remember sitting in an office being given advice from somebody!!

Scottish Mutual for £48,750.00 taken out 09.12.1986
This was taken out by one of their selling agents, Scottish Mutual say they do not hold an address for this agent - I called the FSA this morning to track tem down and they ceased trading in 2004 - does this mean I can't take any action even against Scottish Mutual? Also, as I took the policy out before 29 April 1988 it was unregulated so can't claim anyway?

Scottish Amicable (now Pru) for £70,000.00 on 1st January 1992
I wrote to Scottish Amicable in 2004 and expressed my concern over mis-selling, filled in one of their questionaire forms and they replied saying that as I did not request or receive advice from a rep of S/A signed a form to confirm this and no commission was paid in respect of this sale - they are unable to uphold my complaint. Is it possible for me to take this further with the Financial Service Ombudsman and will I get anywhere.

Any help here would be gratefully received, this forum seems to have a lot of positive ideas - Thanks Rebecca :rotfl: