Act now on mis-sold endowments: new article

johnnycab

dunstonh,

I would be extremely grateful, if you can help me out.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=2485722&postcount=287

Cheers

kenne99

We followed the advice of this site and made our claim and having filled in the appropriate forms we were led to believe that the bank had to respond within 4 weeks. We received a call at the start of the week confirming a few details and were told that we would hear something at the end of the week. We have now received a letter saying that is taking longer than it should and we will hear in another 4 weeks what is happening and if they still don't know they will send another letter saying it may take another 4 weeks and so on...

I would be very gratefull if someone could tell me whether this is acceptable or not and if so how long should we be prepared to wait for a response?

Many thanks for any help that can be offered.

dunstonh

It can take upto 2 years if it goes to ombudsman. Although you should allow 3-6 months at this stage.

bellr

I have made complaints to two solicitor firms who also provided financial advice and recommended standard life policies in 1989 and 1990. Both have refused the claim because, "Our insurers have asked us to point out that in terms of a negligence claim the Limitation Act 1980 imposes a long stop date of 15 years, so that they would consider your claim to be statutte barred."

i.e I had 15 years from the date of being sold the policy to making the claim (so 15 years would be 2004 and 2005 latest). All of the advice I can see on long stops and time barring appear to refer to the deadlines specified by the endowment company, in these cases Standard Life. I was within the timescalse for this. I cannot find any specific statements saying if you were sold the policy more than 15 years ago don't bother.

I have asked the Financial Ombudsman for advice a month ago and am still waiting.

Am I wasting my time???

Any help appreciated!!

dunstonh

Am I wasting my time???

Yes. The FOS have no jurisdiction over solicitors for policies sold then.

ommapaul

I have had 2 endowments that I believe were mis-sold.

The first taken out in 1992 was with Hasbro, now called Countrywide. In Sept 2004 I surrendered the endowment. Is it still possible to claim for being mis-sold the endowment even though I've encashed it?

The second was with Commercial Union, now Norwich Union and was taken out in 1994. I am still paying into it. After reading Martin's column I sent them a letter as per the template on the Which website.

Norwich Union replied to my letter fairly quickly, saying that as I was sold the endowment through a local IFA they have passed the details of my complaint on. This was several months ago and I have not heard anything from the IFA.

I'm not sure how I should proceed. Who is ultimately responsible, Norwich Union or the IFA? Can I persue my claim against the IFA? If so do they come under the auspices of the FOC?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Cheers
Paul

vinno65

Hi omnapaul,
you might want to contact your IFA and gee him up a bit, perhaps he's forgotten to respond or NU didn't contact him.

regards Vinno

in_my_wellies

What a long tread, I think I must be very lucky.

Out of interest can anyone tell me if the endowments which fell short were sold by certain companies or after a certain date? I see many of them mention the early 1990's. Ours were taken on in 1983 and finished up £33.000 mortgage + £8.000 profit (was told £11.000 profit so not so far off prediction) Were we just lucky with the company (Scott Am sold to Pru) or was it timing?

Thank you

dunstonh

Out of interest can anyone tell me if the endowments which fell short were sold by certain companies or after a certain date? I see many of them mention the early 1990's. Ours were taken on in 1983 and finished up £33.000 mortgage + £8.000 profit (was told £11.000 profit so not so far off prediction) Were we just lucky with the company (Scott Am sold to Pru) or was it timing?

It is expected that most 25 year endowments will return to providing surpluses again. There will be some notable exceptions but this highlights the problem with short term views when you look at the performance just after a stockmarket crash.

doberryfirkin

I have recorded this question elsewhere but to no avail. Hope for some direction here. I have a number of endowments - some 1980's and one 1992. The 1992 was taken out to cover a future mortgage for 100k. In the event it did of course underperform by 30k - despite the wild claims of the IFA. I complained but since the IFA had gone bust, ended up, through the FSCS, being offered a derisory amount. Question is can I now go to the Ombudsman to claim mis-selling?