Act now on mis-sold endowments: new article

dunstonh

Trouble is, I've got to find the guy now. If I'd known this before I wouldn't have wasted valuable limitation period time waiting for the FSCS to get back to me. (I think I may be too late now actually.)

1 - check the FSA register to see if he is still trading. You can do an individual search on there.

2 - ask the insurance company for the name and address of who they are paying the renewal commission to. Unless you have signed it over to someone else, then he will still be getting it.

Windymiller_2

Hi,

I am after some help with my mis-sold endowment.

{History}
I received a 'Red Alert: High risk of shortfall' in May 2005 for an endowment taken out in 1999 with Royal & Sunalliance (now Phoenix) of upto £8000 on a payout of £38,600. I sat on this not being too sure what to do next until I was then told about this site from a friend about 2 months ago and with the advice therein made a complaint to Phoenix beleiving the endowment was mis-sold. This was then followed up with a questionnaire sent to me from Phoenix.
!!/History}

I have just received a reply letter from Phoenix whereby they state they uphold my complaint that the mortgage was mis-sold and that compensation, if any, is based on any financial loss I have suffered.

They then state the method for calculating compensation involves compairing the amount of captial I would have repaid under a repayment basis against the surrender value of the policy.

They then list of several figures which I am not sure I could quantify (but can give if it helps) with the outcome being an overall gain to me of £1000, and so, although the complaint is upheld as there is no financial loss, no redress is due.

I have a few questions about this:

1) First off, does this sound correct about compensation, is it on financial loss only or are they pulling a fast one on me?

2) I am a little confused how I have a shortfall notice of upto £8000 on the final amount yet they are saying I have a gain of £1000. I am not sure if I have missed something here, but are they saying my endowment is performing well enough to pay the final sum? or are they saying cash it in now its making money and use that money to reduce my mortgage and convert it to a repayment basis?

3) Does anyone have any advice on what to do next? As I said above, I feel I have missed something here and think I should do something but not sure what.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

dunstonh

1) First off, does this sound correct about compensation, is it on financial loss only or are they pulling a fast one on me?

It sounds correct.

2) I am a little confused how I have a shortfall notice of upto £8000 on the final amount yet they are saying I have a gain of £1000. I am not sure if I have missed something here, but are they saying my endowment is performing well enough to pay the final sum? or are they saying cash it in now its making money and use that money to reduce my mortgage and convert it to a repayment basis?

The shortfall is only an example. It could be more it could be less. Even the best endowments there are would show a shortfall in the first 5-10 years almost by default because of the projection method used.

A 1999 policy would probably be unit linked or unitised with profits and they havent done too badly and you would have benefited a lot from the stockmarket crash.

3) Does anyone have any advice on what to do next? As I said above, I feel I have missed something here and think I should do something but not sure what.

You are not financially worse off and are therefore not out of pocket and missing out on anything.

Not all endowments are bad. Although you should get yours reviewed to make sure as old R&SA with profits plans are weak. Later unit linked ones were not too bad.

Head_above_water_2

defender_of_the_weak wrote:

Head above water

Your complaint should go to Friends Provident. From the era you describe cornerstone were working as appointed representatives of FP so FP take responsibility for the advice.

Defender,
Reply from FP - "no way Jose !" Time barred Alleged that I was informed in Jan 2000 that there was a high risk of not meeting target amount and action should be taken - no other correspondence enclosed.

Advice re FOS, please ?

defender_of_the_weak

Head above water

FOS will only consider your case if there have been exceptional circumstances that have prevented you from dealing with this in the 3 year timescale. Exceptional being long term illness, bereavement, serving overseas etc or if FP have not kept up to date with your address if you have moved and notified them of same. If none of the above apply then FP will object to FOS looking at your case, and FOS will not change the position.

The only option then would be to challenge the time bar in the small claims court

flyer

3 years ago I put in a claim against the Halifax which they denied.

About 4 weeks ago, they wrote to me saying they would like to re consider their decision and asked me to fill in a questionnaire. I sent this back last week and, today, I have received a cheque for nearly £3k with a full explanation of how they arrived at that figure.

Now call me cynical if you wish, but why did they write to me and why have they sent me this money so quickly?

They say that if I cash the cheque I accept their offer in full and final settlement.

Any thoughts??

dunstonh

Now call me cynical if you wish, but why did they write to me and why have they sent me this money so quickly?

They were basically told to investigate old cases again. During that checking and asking for the information, someone looked at it and decided that it was so bad, it wouldnt matter what you said so no point waiting.

They say that if I cash the cheque I accept their offer in full and final settlement.

Which is correct and quite normal.

flyer

so it's legit and I should accept??

mark.from.oac

Hello Windymiller ... slightly late with this reply but it might help ...

It sounds like you may be confused (which is understandable given the complexity of the issue, lack of clear guidance and the insistance of the main players involved in the endowment mortgage problem to complicate issues in an attempt to put consumers off the idea of claiming) ... hopefully the following should make things clearer for you.

There was a thread from someone a few weeks ago which gave some detail into how these calculations are carried out but the basis is as follows:

To arrive at a redress value your lender or policy provider to whom you have complained should calculate the payments you have made to your Endowment mortgage and subtract from this amount the payments you would have made if you had taken a Repayment mortgage. If this number is positive you have made a Loss on payments.

They figure out the difference between your Endowment mortgage and the Repayment mortgage balance (Always a positive figure)

They add the loss from payments to the difference in balances, and then subtract the surrender value.

If this final figure is positive you are due this as redress. If this is negative you have made a saving by taking an Endowment mortgage rather than a Repayment mortgage.

Your policy may have a shortfall of £8000, but this does not affect the redress calculation which is where the £1000 seems to have come from. They are not related in any way and is not advice on what to do with your policy or if it will pay your mortgage, you will need to seek separate advice on that issue.

If you want more clarity in your calculation you can always request the calculation print out from your provider.

As for advice on what to do next, you can try https://www.exasoft.biz/MFWebUser/ which will allow you to run the calculation yourself for a small fee, you should also have had a leaflet or letter informing you about the Ombudsman service who you can write to if you believe you have not been treated fairly.

ff999

ff999 wrote:

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?

I posted the above back in May, and did send my complaint on to the FOS.

They have upheld the rejection of my complaint, on the grounds that I was out of time in June 2003.

How can anyone be subject to a time limit without actually being told that the clock has started ticking?
I really really was waiting for the colour coded letter. I had no idea that the reprojection letters were the colour coded letters. I even telephoned Windsor Life during the time asking when I would get my colour coded letter, and they said they were being sent out - they never said 'Actually you mean the reprojection letters!' And then they actually sent me a colour coded letter, Ooh thats the clock ticking I thought, best complain now. My complaint was with them within a few weeks. What a waste of time.

I'm so fed up, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to send a letter back to the FOS to send a rocket up their private parts. They actually gave me a timelimit within which to reply! Oh the irony....

So ANYONE out there who is dawdling about complaining - DO IT TODAY.