Act now on mis-sold endowments: new article

mayb_2

Only teachers have a teacher's pension dunstonh.

Where do they get that £100-£200pm from. Most are making no money on the rents unless they have been doing it for many years

From the money you are not paying in to a pension. The buy to let is not a way of earning a living (although it is for some) but a way of investing what you earn. It certainly is not available or suitable to everyone. There are many people out there unable to pay their way let alone put money away for anything else at all.

Many don't have fixed rates but if they do, what happens when the fixed rate runs out.

You get another one - or you fix for the life of the loan or you put the rent up.

A war in Iran would push global inflation up and interest rates further and that could cripple some households.

and what would happen to the stock market?

BTL mortgages are interest only.

Are you sure about that one dunstonh? How could anyone insist on an interest only mortgage? You could still save against the repayments if you wanted and the BTL instantly becomes more affordable and less likely to become unafordable if that is the case as you only ever have to find the interest.

Lets face it dunstonh we are not going to convince each other on this one. You need people to believe in the stock market and investments, but it really doesn't matter to you if I don't. And believe me I never will.

I do know many people who have successfully bought to let and have gone on to buy more and let more. This obviously works for them - I will not be going there as I do not have the money and it is too late in the day for me to get involved. However, I would encourage my sons to look at this as a way of investing in their futures rather than to buy a pension. There is more than one way to skin a cat as my gran used to say.

paul123

Hi
I unfortunately have missed the cut off date to complain to Friends Provident about my shortfall by 3 months, as all correspondence was sent to a previous address. Is it still worth appealling to the financial ombudsman?

dunstonh

Only teachers have a teacher's pension dunstonh.

About 85,000 in the UK have been hit with failed pensions. (BBC figures last week). Out of population of 60 million.

You get another one - or you fix for the life of the loan or you put the rent up.

Ok, you took out a fixed rate 3-5 years ago when rates were around 50% lower. You are now looking at a 50% increase with current deals. Putting the rent up is quite often not an option. During high interest rates, you take the hit.

and what would happen to the stock market?

Probably a drop of 10%. It has nothing to do with it though as most people do not borrow and then invest that money on the stockmarket.

Are you sure about that one dunstonh? How could anyone insist on an interest only mortgage?

Its the way buy to let mortgages are most of the time. If you repay the capital, you increase your tax bill.

You could still save against the repayments if you wanted and the BTL instantly becomes more affordable and less likely to become unafordable if that is the case as you only ever have to find the interest.

If the mortgage payment is £500 a month and the rent £490 then where is the saving to put aside?

I do know many people who have successfully bought to let and have gone on to buy more and let more. This obviously works for them

And i bet most of them are fairweather landlords too. You wait until the next property crash comes along or interest rates increase a few more times. If they come through that and remain in profit they have done well. Some will lose a fortune.

satan1

we took out an endowment policy in 1986 with scottish equitable, over 25 years and our mortgage is due to complete 2011, we have not recieved a letter to say it will shortfall, but we are still in doubt if it will cover our mortgage when it finishes, can we still make a complaint, we were recommended the endowment in a building society, when we first applied for our mortgage, the letter we received when it was prepared was from an insurance and finance service working on behalf of Scottish equitable, if we complain who do we have to complain to? have we grounds for complaint? as we are not sure if it will pay out with bonuses as we were told it would be at the time.

vinno65

paul123 wrote:

Hi
I unfortunately have missed the cut off date to complain to Friends Provident about my shortfall by 3 months, as all correspondence was sent to a previous address. Is it still worth appealling to the financial ombudsman?

Hi Paul,

Yes it is. But I would first write to FP explaining that all their mail went to the wrong address. I am sure they won't budge but it's worth a try. Then write to the FOS but make sure ot's within 6 months of the original letter from FP.

Vinno

vinno65

satan1 wrote:

we took out an endowment policy in 1986 with scottish equitable, over 25 years and our mortgage is due to complete 2011, we have not recieved a letter to say it will shortfall, but we are still in doubt if it will cover our mortgage when it finishes, can we still make a complaint, we were recommended the endowment in a building society, when we first applied for our mortgage, the letter we received when it was prepared was from an insurance and finance service working on behalf of Scottish equitable, if we complain who do we have to complain to? have we grounds for complaint? as we are not sure if it will pay out with bonuses as we were told it would be at the time.

You should have had some correspondence (a reprojection letter) from the endowment provider even if there is no shortfall (a green letter). I would get in touch pronto and find out what's happening.

Vinno

TrikerAndBiker

I'm hoping someone here can answer a couple of questions for me.

I took my endowment policy out with Norwich Union through an IFA in 1990 for 40k, I eventually bought my first house in 1997 with a mortgage of 37k. I was told the usual when I took the policy out, that it would pay off the mortgage and give me a useful lump sum etc etc. Obviously this has underperfomed so I decided to try for some redress.

I wrote to the IFA in November last year, no response, checked with Companies House and they are no longer trading so wrote to Norwich Union in January. Had a response from them within a couple of weeks saying that I needed to take my case to the FSCS. This I did, sent them ALL paperwork (copies of course) along with a detailed letter, had a response asking me to fill in a couple of questions, did this and received back last week a HUGE form to fill in asking for me to send in all the paperwork again :mad: (I'm sure they do this to test us!)

Some of the questions on the form ask how much me and my then husband were earning when we took the policy out, were our jobs secure, what our outgoings were at the time and were they likely to change!! My goodness, I'm lucky if I can remember what I spent last month let alone 17 years ago lol

Can anyone explain why on earth they need to know this information? I have paid the monthly DD every month without fail since August 1990 so not sure of the relevance of the info. (I personally think its to put folk off, after writting in twice I am sure a lot of people would give up when faced with this version of War & Peace to fill in lol)

dunstonh

My goodness, I'm lucky if I can remember what I spent last month let alone 17 years ago lol

So you can remember it was mis-sold but you cant remember anything else?

Can anyone explain why on earth they need to know this information? I have paid the monthly DD every month without fail since August 1990 so not sure of the relevance of the info. (I personally think its to put folk off, after writting in twice I am sure a lot of people would give up when faced with this version of War & Peace to fill in lol)

Its partly to find out if you are telling the truth. It is also there to see if the information recorded at the time is accurate. So, it can work against you and for you. Tell the truth and state you cant remember if you cannot. However, dont say that too much as that could work against you. Dont lie though. If you are caught giving false information that can work against you in grey areas where it is your word vs the adviser.

You actually have a very strong case as this is classed as a pre-sale endowment and virtually all of these are upheld. So, just do what is needed and you should get the complaint upheld.

mayb_2

Trikerandbiker if it is anything like the forms you get when you make a claim for misselling to a company, it is to see what your attitude to risk was at the time. Did you have other investments etc did you know what you were doing when you bought the endowment. Did you have loads of money sloshing around and nothing to do with it appears to be one of the things they like to know.

When we made a complaint to the Ombudsman the company we were complaining about tried to make out we had plenty of money to spend (wasn't true and was pure speculation by them) but feel it must have some significance when making a claim or they would not have brought it into the equation.

mayb_2

originally posted by dunstonh

About 85,000 in the UK have been hit with failed pensions. (BBC figures last week). Out of population of 60 million.

Not so funny if you happen to be one of them dunstonh and many people wont know yet how their pensions will turn out - not up to expectations probably isn't classed as failed. There are many people who have not pension at all simply because they can't afford one. They may end up better off than those who paid for one but didn't get it.

I am not convinced by any of the responses you made to my post about buy to lets dunstonh they were a bit contrived as I am sure you are aware.

If the mortgage payment is £500 a month and the rent £490 then where is the saving to put aside?

The saving you are putting aside is from your wages not from your rent - the same way you pay for a mortgage on anything else. You can pay interest only and save for the capital repayment (isn't that what endowment mortgages were about?) or you can have a repayment mortgage. It is exactly the same as any other mortgage arrangement except you are letting out your property to cover the cost of this.


If you bought your house 3 - 5 years ago then it has already gone up in value - you can't rent a dog kennel round here for £400 per month - I could go on. I think you just don't like the idea of people buying to let in the same way I don't like the idea of investing on the stock market. We are not going to convince each other are we.