Sorry mis sold endowment help again

ragdoll

I know that there is a lot of info on mis-sold endowments and I have read most of it but am a complete dimwit when it comes to anything financial. Please can I have some opinions on what to do regarding my particular situation.

We took out our endowment in July 1988 via Commercial Union, the advisor was based in an estate agents and it was to cover our first mortgage. We didn't have a clue and just went with what the advisor said (we were young and in love!), it would be a low start endowment? pay our mortgage off and we would get a lump sum. Commercial Union got taken over by Norwich Union and we have continued to pay the premiums to Norwich Union. Could I write and complain to Norwich Union even though they didn't sell us the original policy?

Thanks in advance

Emma

dunstonh

Could I write and complain to Norwich Union even though they didn't sell us the original policy?

That wouldnt be fair would it?

You write to the advising company. The insurer can give you the address of the company if you no longer have it. Or you could try the fsa register on the fsa website to see if that company is still trading.

ragdoll

Thanks for the reply, I told you I was dumb, who would the advising company be, the only paperwork I have is from Team Agencies Plc, I assume the advisor worked for them!

dunstonh

Ask Norwich Union for the name and address of the selling agent.

ragdoll

Will ring Norwich Union tomorrow, have looked on the fsa website for team agencies plc and it is not coming up, I think it must have been them that sold it to us, it says they are an authorised representative of commercial union, sadly the letter from them enclosing the insurance company's acceptance letter for our endowment is dated 24th May 1988 so I think the fscs won't be able to help. So looks like a bit of a non starter.

defender_of_the_weak

The mis-information that goes out is quite scary.

NU bought/merged with CU and accept responsibility for all CU advice given by them yes it is completely fair to take the complaint to NU

FSCS irrelevant in this case as policy taken after April 1988, and even if before, NU will review your case.

dunstonh

The mis-information that goes out is quite scary.

NU bought/merged with CU and accept responsibility for all CU advice given by them yes it is completely fair to take the complaint to NU

Where does it say that it was sold by a tied advisor?

defender_of_the_weak

The comment from ragdoll 'it says they are an authorised representative'.

From memory of my time at CU, team were quite a large AR at the time and were eventually absorbed into the direct financial services arm of CU

ragdoll

Thanks for your replies, I spoke to Norwich Union to find out for sure who sold our endowment and they have said they will look at our complaint, the girl I spoke to was insistant that I gave a reason over the phone as to why we felt it was mis-sold, I said that we had been told that it would pay off our mortgage and give us a lump sum. I think they will now contact us to say that they are looking into it, then in around 8 weeks we will get a decision, and they may send us a questionaire to fill out.

I am also going to follow my phone call up with a letter to include the following:-

Asking them to investigate the sale and request them to send a copy of my endowment file (is this a good idea).

that when we asked how repayments worked the advisor openly laughed and said why would we look at other options when the endowment would pay off our mortgage and give us a lump sum.

The adviser did not explain there was a risk, we are not risk takers and never have been, we have never even had a car loan, only put on our credit card what we can pay off.

Defender can you remember from your time at cu if team were good with paperwork, I have kept everything but am surprised how little we have from when the endowment was being set up, the only letter we have from them is when they enclosed the insurance company's acceptance letter.

Looking back I guess we were young and had no financial knowledge at all, and the advisor must have been delighted at such gullable first time buyers.

Thanks again

Emma

vinno65

Hi ragdoll,
first of all don't allow yourself to feel foolish. There are many people in the Financial Services industry who will try to make you feel that way but the fact is you were probably duped. I too was given the spiel about the mortgage definately being paid off and a lump some available at the end. The people were working to sales scripts which is why millions of people in this country remember being told exactly the same thing as you when they were sold their endowments. First of all definately follow up your telephone call with a letter stating exactly why you believe you were miss-sold, and in future keep all your dealings with this company by letter. Things said in phone calls can be denied. And lastly it is up to the firm to prove that the sale of the endowment was compliant. If it was they should quite easily be able to prove it, if it wasn't then there is a good chance that you will have your complaint upheld. I don't know what NU reputation is like over complaint handling but I don't believe they have been fined by the FSA (like a few other firms have) for mishandling complaints
Good Luck Vinno

defender_of_the_weak

I have an itch at the back of my head that tells me there was something not right within this set-up. On the other hand it may be just an itch and a trick of the mind due to age.

It is likely, but by no means certain that team paperwork has been lost, not everything was centralised