Act now on mis-sold endowments: new article

Mr_helpful

dunstonh wrote: »

And no doubt you are financially better off because of many of the reasons that have killed endowments off have benefited you in other areas. So, swings and roundabouts. Give me a 6% mortgage over a 9% mortgage any day.

Too right I am. It took me many years to learn that people who live in the past are not happy because they cant leave things alone. I must be owed thousands over the years but do I care? No because one moves on and makes more. If you give time and money away it soon comes back to you so I dont bother about it. None of the people on this thread ever give the money they got back to charity, they just get ever more tight fisted and miserable. My father got a payout from a Pearl bond. He never claimed it was mis sold pearl wrote to him asked a few questions and gave him compensation even though he didnt want it. He gave the whole lot away despite being an old pensioner but hes richer now that he ever was.

Some people live in the future where they are always waiting for a better time which of course never happens so they tend to miss things and be unhappy.

Learn to forgive and live in the present and you will be happy.

dunstonh

Do you not find it frustating that you mention that some claims are fraudulent that certain individuals then twist that to make out we say they all are. Or that because some were mis-sold that they all were.

mayb_2

I assume your last posts were a joke Mrhelpful - or perhaps you have read Vinos link and have got a bit light headed?

I have no doubt you and dunstonh have done well out of your endowments, although I think I recall dunstonh saying he had got rid of his. This just rather proves the point I made earlier and have posted again below.

"I realise many people are affected by the lack of numerical performance of their endowments." Yes Mrhelpfull - in fact the only people not affected in this way are likely to be people like - well - financial advisers. They would have seen what was happening and moved their money elsewhere. Then of course there will be those who pay financial advisers and they would have been told to move their money elsewhere. That left the less financialy adept or endowed to fend for ourselves and take the hit on our own. Do forgive us if we are a little annoyed by that."

Why on earth would anyone give the money they were given to pay off part of their mortgage to charity. I read your posts and wonder if you are a mortgage adviser at all - what on earth was that all about? You can afford to turn your back on debts and failed investments or give it all away to charity! Well lucky old you. You have no concept of a world in which this is not possible - god help the ordinary people you are advising. Or perhaps it is all down to something you ate at lunch today. Or is this distraction because you ran out of sensible things to say?

Mr_helpful

mayb wrote: »

Why on earth would anyone give the money they were given to pay off part of their mortgage to charity. I read your posts and wonder if you are a mortgage adviser at all - what on earth was that all about? You can afford to turn your back on debts and failed investments or give it all away to charity! Well lucky old you. You have no concept of a world in which this is not possible - god help the ordinary people you are advising. Or perhaps it is all down to something you ate at lunch today. Or is this distraction because you ran out of sensible things to say?

you seem so bitter that someone made money out of something. A financial adviser tends to make about the average of what his clients are on and theres a lot more to life than money. before your compensation was paid you were at a certain financial point. If the compensation was not paid you would still be there and you would still survive, so the compensation is jam on the bread.

yes of course I give money to charity. I think everone should give 10% of their income to charity. It a strange thing that if you give to other people you get it back several times over. It seems to be that the universe rewards those who give. Im not a Bhuddist but it seems like good Karma.

You say its not possible but it is Im sure there are plenty of people worse off than you. Im not a high rate tax payer you know and besides charitable gifts are tax deductable

wjpb

Hi
just found this site and first post. We took out an endowment mortgage with Friends Provident in around 1989 for £110K. At the time, we naively thought it would pay off the loan and offer a little extra. Anyway, we've had the red letter saying its going to come up waaaay short, but the letter also said that there was no point in claiming as financially we were no worse off than if we'd had a repayment mortgage. I accepted this at face value and made no moves to claim.

But is this actually correct? Even if we would have roughly the same loan outstanding with the level of payments if it had been a repayment, in that instance I would have known of the shortfall from day-1 and would have upped the payments accordingly.

So, is it correct that when the lender (Friends Provident) says that you are no worse off and can't claim, that indeed there is no grounds for a claim?

Thanks

dunstonh

But is this actually correct?

It could be. Many people complain and get the complaint upheld but dont get a penny as they are financially better off. So, you may or may not be.

Endowment mortgages were typically cheaper monthly than the repayment mortgages. Plus in the days of MIRAS and LAPR, endowments were much better value.

I am surprised FP told you it wasnt worth claiming as that isnt their normal approach.

mayb_2

Mr helpful
I work for a charity in my 'spare time' and give that time freely.

However I would rather not depend on a charity to support me so I am trying to pay off my mortgage. I would not bandy the word compensation around dunstonh if I were you - it is not compensation it is redress. I am sure he will explain the difference to you.

dunstonh I notice that you say that you would rather have interst rates of 6% than 9% - well if you look around you will find that some are already quoting interest rates of over 7% and they are due to rise I believe.

Mr_helpful

mayb wrote: »

Mr helpful
I work for a charity in my 'spare time' and give that time freely.

That isnt what I meant. Its only spare time so yes it probably is given freely as you have nothing better to do with it.
You have to give a bit more generously than that to get the universe to reward you and get the Karma effect

dunstonh

dunstonh I notice that you say that you would rather have interst rates of 6% than 9% - well if you look around you will find that some are already quoting interest rates of over 7% and they are due to rise I believe.

We do appear to be heading there again. However, we have had many years of low rates saving hundreds of pounds a month.

mayb_2

I will leave you to ohm Mrhelpful as I know it will benefit the world.
Neat trick though - we have stopped talking about the fraudulent claims now. If you get a minute though do read Vinnos link.

dunstonh this point has been raised before I know, but just how are those people still with endowments like wjpb's supposed to understand enough about these things to make a decision? Get it wrong and you can really mess up your future finances. If the company is saying you are no worse off than if you had a repayment mortgage and at the same time they are sending you a letter saying your endowment is likely to be way short of paying your mortgage - what is that supposed to mean? If you are no worse off than a repayment mortgage your policy should pay your mortgage - that is what a repayment mortgage is guaranteed to do. These appear to be contradictory statements. Whatever the policy is doing today there is no guarantee that it will continue to meet its target in the future so it is not a safe and reliable method of covering your mortgage unless you are getting the sort of advice that most people have to pay for.

wjpb have you had a warning letter stating that it is likely that your endowment will not pay - if not you have not been time barred, so you can still complain that the policy was missold if you feel that was the case whatever the company say. If, as dunstonh says you have not actually lost out at this point in time there is no guarantee this will continue to be the case, so you may want to cash in your endowment and take out a repayment mortgage. Or take out a repayment mortgage and keep your endowment - if you can afford that. There are many options - you should kiss goodbye to any extra money being left over though.