Act now on mis-sold endowments: new article

dunstonh

The Freedom of information Act is nothing to do with this case, this does does not involve third parties and I don't see how the Data Protection Act can be invoked as a reason not to give this information either. So where is the similarity with Durant vs FSA?

Providers can refuse under the data protection act to give you the information if it is being used to obtain discovery of documents in litigation or complaints.

The freedom of information act doesnt apply as you say.

theboylard

On a brighter note, we've just received an offer for £3675.00 from the FSCS (I thought they sold sofas?!) for a low start endowment that started in '91 and was cashed in in '01.

Nice christmas pressie!!!

Crazy_Saver

Hi everyone.

What does FSCS mean?

dunstonh

Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

mayb_2

theboylard thanks for that much needed brighter note - perhaps there are some good guys out there after all. Or perhaps it was Father Christmas!

rayhigh

Hi all

My wife and I are really struggling trying to sort out a mis-sold endowment and wondered if we've done everything we can to claim compensation. Details as follows;

Policy started in 1989 for £40k from an IFA. We were told (verbally) the policy WOULD pay off the mortgage in 25 years PLUS a lump sum which would be in the region of £12k depending on how the markets performed etc etc. My wife did all the sorting as I worked away at the time. I only saw the IFA for signing the paperwork. Yes the endowment company sent lots of paperwork but didn't everyone ?

IFA retired in 1992 and ceased trading.

Endowment projection is £12k short. Red alert arrived a few weeks ago.

Financial Ombudsman can't help as they say the IFA was regulated by FIMBRA until he stopped trading.

Financial Services Compensation Scheme can only help when firms are in default.

We contacted a couple of the firms who help getting compensation and they say we've done what they would do so they can't help !

FOS said the only option is to take a small claim against the IFA. I've contacted him with the "Which" letter and reply came back that we would have received all the paperwork from the endowment company that outlined everything and if we had any reservations then we could have cancelled !

Surely we can't be the only ones in this situation. There are so many good news stories on here that we're thinking we've missed something somewhere.

Can anyone advise ?

Thanks... Ray

dunstonh

Can anyone advise ?

End of the road. Clients of FIMBRA members who did not go on to become regulated by the PIA (now the FSA) do not get the protection of the FSA or FOS.

A court action is your only possible outcome but if the adviser was part of a limited company and that company has ceased to trader then there is no legal entity to take to court. Plus the court is likely to want you to prove it was mis-sold and would put more weighting on documents that would have shown risk warnings. Plus, your own comment in your post confirms you knew the end result was subject to investment returns.

jsx501

Hi All,

I'm a freshly signed up member - have been meaning to do this for ages as I want to know what to do....

I successfully claimed back £2k in interest from my mortgage provider for miselling my endowment. I have cleared my mortgage a while ago, but I am still paying into the endowment £78 p.m. and I only have 3 years left to run out of the orginial 15.

My question is, should I continue to pay into the endowment right up to the end or cash it in now? They did make me an offer amount on redeeming the whole thing. The reason I've hung onto it is that i heard that if you cash it in early you lose out due to set up fees?

Help?!!!

Any ideas or comments greatfully received.
JSX

dunstonh

My question is, should I continue to pay into the endowment right up to the end or cash it in now?

Maybe. Maybe not. Endowment is just a tax wrapper for a range of investments. It doesnt make or lose money. Its the investments inside that do that. Unless we know where the endowment is invested, what the charges are, what the surrender penalties are and if they reduce (or are removed at some point) we cant really tell.

The reason I've hung onto it is that i heard that if you cash it in early you lose out due to set up fees?

That is incorrect. It comes from most endowments being sold by tied agents who are not allowed to recommend cancellation of plans issued by their own insurance company. They would then encourage you to keep the endowment going due to the fees taken at the start. Over the years, it seems to have become embedded into peoples mind that you should stop an endowment. You should stop bad ones and keep good ones.

evelynblue

If we have already tried to claim mis-sold endowment using a company (brunel&franklin) and they were unsuccessful - can we try again? We were def told that we would pay our mortgage and have a nice nestegg! This was in spite of me having a preference to repayment mortgage.

Thank you for reading and hopefully I have posted in the correct palce!!