Mis-sold Endowment Claim Rejected - Help please!

Jill_from_Wales

I'm new to this, so please bear with me!

I'm hoping someone can suggest what I should do next in my attempt to claim for being mis-sold my endowment policy, which matures in 2011 ...

The Policy was originally taken out in joint names, then when my ex and I divorced as few years later, he assigned the Policy to me. I have all the legal documentation.

When I first received my 'Red Letter', I saw someone at the general enquiries desk of my local Lloyds Bank. The assistant said that because my ex had assigned the Policy to me, I couldn't claim. Foolishly, I took their word for it.

Recently, I read that was not the case and wrote in to Lloyds explaining.

I received a curt letter of rejection saying I was out of time and, as I had no proof of my previous visit to Branch and their advice, then they wouldn't consider it.

As my next plea will probably be my last chance, I wonder if anyone can advise me how I should go about it to maximise my chance of getting somewhere and not messing it up please?

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

castle96

as it was you ex's policy, surely only he could have claimed. He assigned something to you at the time that had a worth of £x (the surrender value at the time). Don't see how you can claim now

dunstonh

I cant see how you can complain. You did not take the policy out. You dont know how it was sold or what was said or what documentation was issued. So, you cant make any claims of mis-sale as you were not sold to.

So, what basis would your complaint be?

Jill_from_Wales

castle96 wrote: »

as it was you ex's policy, surely only he could have claimed. He assigned something to you at the time that had a worth of £x (the surrender value at the time). Don't see how you can claim now

Sorry, I didn't explain myself very well ...

The Policy was taken out in joint names and assigned to me by my ex when we divorced. I'll edit my listing to be a little more clear.

Thank you for your response

Jill_from_Wales

dunstonh wrote: »

I cant see how you can complain. You did not take the policy out. You dont know how it was sold or what was said or what documentation was issued. So, you cant make any claims of mis-sale as you were not sold to.

So, what basis would your complaint be?

Sorry, I didn't explain myself very well ...

The Policy was taken out in joint names and assigned to me by my ex when we divorced. I'll edit my listing to be a little more clear.

Thank you for your response

castle96

so, a good Q then. CAN only one party make the complaint, as it was taken out jointly ? One one party is now to suffer a loss and it is in that parties name....
must be some guidlines on the FSA site ? or ask them...

dunstonh

Ok, that changes things but I dont think it will help you.

When I first received my 'Red Letter', I saw someone at the general enquiries desk of my local Lloyds Bank. The assistant said that because my ex had assigned the Policy to me, I couldn't claim. Foolishly, I took their word for it.

I used to work for Lloyds many years ago. Back when they retailed under the Black Horse brand. The clerks at the branch were not authorised to discuss any regulated products. Even now, they still cant although more staff in branch have the authorisations in certain areas than they used to.

So, its unlikely a clerk told you that. I am not saying you are a liar. I'm just saying how it will be perceived at the other end. Had an appointment been booked for you to see the authorised tied agent for the branch then there may be a record of it as the diaries used to be kept. Also, the tied agent would have just put your complaint in.

So, with you having no evidence to contrary, you have someone at the other end looking at your complaint thinking what you say doesn't sound at all plausible. With no evidence supporting your claims they have made a balance of probability decision. Unfortunately, there are a lot of false claims put in by people trying it on and because of those, people with genuine complaints can lose out. So, when you lack evidence they look at the likelihood of what you say actually happening. That is the same approach the FOS will take if you refer it to them. They may disagree with Lloyds but they too will look at your side. Lloyds will give their side and the adjudicator at the FOS will make a decision based on that.

You can try but I wouldnt get your hopes up. You would need to get lucky.

EdInvestor

The above post needs to be put into the context of the recent Ombudsman report into consumer complaints about finance, where Lloyds came top of the list.

The FOS found in favour of consumers who complained about Black Horse misselling in 99% of cases.

http://www.ombudsman-complaints-data.org.uk/

I would refer the complaint to the Ombudsman without delay.:)

It does not matter if there is no written 'evidence' or proof of misselling.The other side has to prove they made a fair sale, and in most cases they destroyed their files many years ago and have no documentation.

Hence many complaints are won by consumers by default.

dunstonh

I'm not sure how the recent release on data and Black Horse Finance has anything to do with Lloyds Bank or LloydsTSB Life. its a different company and nearly all BHF complaints are to do with loan PPI. BHF never sold any endowments and were never authorised for life and pensions business.

It does not matter if there is no written 'evidence' or proof of misselling.The other side has to prove they made a fair sale, and in most cases they destroyed their files many years ago and have no documentation.

That is correct. However, when timebarred that point is not applicable.