Act now on mis-sold endowments: new article

dunstonh

In 1989, I'm not even sure there was a disclaimer required for execution only business. It's probably whey they havent got one.

Employees of insurance companies and advice firms do have less protection than the normal consumer.

At the end of the day, you didnt seek advice and were not given advice. Therefore its hard for you to prove a complaint saying you had bad advice.

squinn

I hope I am doing this correctly,this is my first post.

We had always had a repayment mortgage and were moving house.A close friend of mine suggested I saw a financial advisor before taking on a new mortgage. I wasnt sure exactly what these people did as I had always gone through the Buliding Society, but agreed.My friend said he had a relative who did this and she would come to the house and have a chat with us no strings attached.
The advisor proved to be very nice and convinced us that an endownment mortgage would be best for us as it would be cheaper to pay each month.Without going into detail I believe we were mis-sold our policy and think I should do something about it.

My dilema is this,if I make a complaint would the individual FA be contacted ?This could make things very difficult with my friend if he got to find out,as I sometimes see his relative at family occasions etc. If this is indeed the case I think I I would rather leave things as they are.

dunstonh

My dilema is this,if I make a complaint would the individual FA be contacted ?

Usually they are yes.

madkingsoup

No matter how nice this advisor was, if she mis-sold you your endowment and you have lost money as a result, then that is her negligence/inadequacy and you shouldn't have to suffer because of it. I guess it depends how much your shortfall is, but in a social situation it should be her, not you, who feels embarrassed.

Alternatively, the moral is: never mix business and friendship.:o

Art_2

squinn wrote:

I hope I am doing this correctly,this is my first post.

We had always had a repayment mortgage and were moving house.A close friend of mine suggested I saw a financial advisor before taking on a new mortgage. I wasnt sure exactly what these people did as I had always gone through the Buliding Society, but agreed.My friend said he had a relative who did this and she would come to the house and have a chat with us no strings attached.
The advisor proved to be very nice and convinced us that an endownment mortgage would be best for us as it would be cheaper to pay each month.Without going into detail I believe we were mis-sold our policy and think I should do something about it.

My dilema is this,if I make a complaint would the individual FA be contacted ?This could make things very difficult with my friend if he got to find out,as I sometimes see his relative at family occasions etc. If this is indeed the case I think I I would rather leave things as they are.

Don't be afraid of complaining. How many times has this advisor been introduced to a client in this way and mis-sold them. As a friendly gesture it may be good to mention to the advisor in advance what you are doing.

If you don't do anything it's going to cause you problems in the future. Why should you suffer a financial loss for someone elses misconduct.

Regards,
Art.

Jockanory

Hi everyone,some advice please,I have rec'd a final decision letter from Zurich(previously Eagle Star) offering me £699 as compensation for an endowment shortfall,this figure is the difference between an endowment and a repayment mortgage upto the present date,despite my protests,that i have been over paying my mortgage each month to try and cover any shortfall(and will still be paying over for the next 6 yrs until it finishes) they won't budge on this final offer.
Should i accept or has anyone else been in similar circumstances and got any advice for me.

dunstonh

Should i accept or has anyone else been in similar circumstances and got any advice for me.

The calculation used is set by the FSA. Every time you ask for a recalculation, you risk the figure being reduced. A recovering stockmarket, improving surrender values and policy anniversarys can impact.

Unless you feel the figures input are incorrect, there is little point going for any more.

corners_2

HI

I wonder if any MSE-ers can help me with this one, we have a claim going through longer with the Ombudsman, for a mis-sold policy, and the FOS have asked me to provide proof that we extended our mortgage at the time - I've spoken to the Halifax and they will write to me with that information, which I'm waiting for.I've already had a letter from them which confirmed we extended the term but now they want more detail, and the Halifax have been really helpful.

However, we had a second mortgage which was capital & interest which the adviser included with the Endowment cover, and the company, First National Bank have been taken over by GE Capital. I've written to them but as I've not heard anything yet I wonder if anyone has any other suggestions as to how to get proof that the mortgage was capital & interest?

The reason I'm struggling with this is that we moved house and paid off both mortgages [the First National Loan was paid off earlier] so I no have a relationship with either of these institutions. I've tried ringing FNB but got nowhere.

Any suggestions how I can prove to the FOS that the loan was capital & interest after all this time? [It's giving me another headache today]

fusion_2

Firstly, as a newbie, I'd like to say a quick hello to all members. I found this site about a month ago and it has saved me over £1000 already - thanks martin and all members.

I have recently complained about the mis-selling of our endowment poicy taken out in 1990 with Legal and General for an estimated £50k (currently about £22k!). Whilst digging through the paperwork to fill out our questionnairre from L&G I was bemused to read the contents of the letter that accompanied our original policy namely:

---

Dear M&L

RE: Endowment policy XXXXXX

Please find enclosed your policy which I forward on to you for safe keeping.

Please remember it is important to keep the policy going as it will pay for your house on maturity.

Please keep the policy in a safe place as the company will require it at the maturity date before paying out the benefits.

If I can be of further help...... etc....etc

---

This letter had no terms or conditions attached to it (or even an e. and o.e.)

We have never missed a payment with L&G. Does the line in bold have any legal ramifications (obligate L&G to pay for our house?)

I'm not a legal eagle but seeing this did raise my spirits somewhat.

All comments welcome

Mat

dunstonh

I have recently complained about the mis-selling of our endowment poicy taken out in 1990 with Legal and General for an estimated £50k (currently about £22k!).

25 year endowment? 22k over 16 years of the 25 is about what you would expect. Endowments grow on a curve, not a straight line.

I'm not a legal eagle but seeing this did raise my spirits somewhat.
All comments welcome

I'm not sure what you are getting at. You can find the cover letter but not the document that went with it. It's probable that you gave it to the lender as in 1990 most lenders would want the policy docs.

Back in those days, the policy documents were almost seen as proof of ownership. Nowadays, policy documents have very little meaning and most companies dont ask for them back.