Scottish Widows Demutualisation Payouts: £70 million still unclaimed!

k9love

Well Ive just phoned the financial ombudsman and they are interested in my case, SW said in the letter that the ombudsman wouldnt be able to help, another ploy to put me off trying to get our money back!!! hes sending me a complaints form to fill in then he said they will take it from there, so all you others out there get on the phone to the ombudsman and get your complaint in, tel no for them is on their website.
Good luck;)

beeker170572

I have my case with the FO and they have passed it onto the pensions advisory service. My papers got lost but i have now resent so hopefully something positive will happen soon.

Good luck everybody

k9love

beeker170572 wrote: »

I have my case with the FO and they have passed it onto the pensions advisory service. My papers got lost but i have now resent so hopefully something positive will happen soon.

Good luck everybody

Recieved my paperwork today from the ombudsman, just hope they can do something as my bank cant go back 10yrs to check statements.
Good luck with yours.

zoescrims

I have also received the same worded letter.Think we should all gang up and make a complaint.

rubienoz

Scottish Widows recently resolved my case :Tand I have received the money. I still don’t understand exactly what went wrong! But it might be of interest to share what I know. My with-profits policy was part of a pension scheme at a former employer. When I left that employer - many years before the demutualisation – I signed various documents. Subsequently, I received regular annual statements from SW at my home address. I assumed this meant that I was the owner of the policy. But Scottish Widows claim that they didn't receive the Deed of Assignment which would have made me - rather than my employer - the owner of the policy. And when the time came for the payout, they paid it to my former employer! Fair play to SW, they agreed to write to that employer who agreed to hand over the money to me with interest.

I explain all this in case there are others in the same situation and - like me - do not know what the situation is. As for Scottish Widows, it was inexcusable for them to say they had issued me with a cheque in 2000: that was untrue.

rubienoz wrote: »

I can't believe there are so many people in this situation! :eek: I have 2 Scottish Widows with profits policies in my name - and still in my possession. In September 2000, I phoned their help line and was told I had no entitlement to a share of the money - no explanation given! I then faxed them copies of the policies and the proof that I was the beneficiary. I heard nothing more from SW!

Nine years on, your thread jolted me. So I wrote to them again just over a week ago. This time they have replied saying they had issued me with a cheque on 15 September 2000 "and no further compensation" was due to me! Needless to say, I have not seen this cheque: it did not reach me nor my bank account.

As I am owed several hundred pounds, I will now have to write to them again, forcefully stating my claim. Surely maladministration on this scale is a matter for the Financial Services Authority (or else the Fraud Squad)??

wightboy

Hi All,

I got really exited when Martin raised the issue of compensation payments from Scottish Widwos - I've had a stakeholder pension since before the qualifying date and was POSITIVE i'd never received a cheque for around £500 as I would Definately remember that!

I filled inthe claim form on line and waited.

Guess what? In the mean time I searched through a load of old papers and found the tear off section from the cheque for £636.08. (Probably 2 weeks wages at the time)

So I'd had the money and spent it but couldn't remember getting it! So it goes to show some people may have been paid but just don't remember.:T

kiltyboy

rubienoz wrote: »

But Scottish Widows claim that they didn't receive the Deed of Assignment which would have made me - rather than my employer - the owner of the policy. And when the time came for the payout, they paid it to my former employer! Fair play to SW, they agreed to write to that employer who agreed to hand over the money to me with interest.

.

You lost me on this bit are you saying Wids paid the money but to your employer so it wasn't a case of them not paying just paying to the wrong person? If they hadn't seen the assignment how would they know it was your policy?

munchkinsgran

I have received the bog-standard letter saying I had returned the tear-off slip requesting my payment to be made by cheque (news to me) and that they had issued a cheque in this sum on 21st August 2000 which they claim I cashed on 31st August 2000. Do they really believewe are all complete morons and just accept what they say. I KNOW I have not sent a slip to them and I KNOW I HAVE NOT received or cashed a cheque from them or Lloyds TSB for £1908.70. I have received a complaints form from the FSA Ombudsman and intend asking for their help. I would advise everyone to do the same.

k9love

munchkinsgran wrote: »

I have received the bog-standard letter saying I had returned the tear-off slip requesting my payment to be made by cheque (news to me) and that they had issued a cheque in this sum on 21st August 2000 which they claim I cashed on 31st August 2000. Do they really believewe are all complete morons and just accept what they say. I KNOW I have not sent a slip to them and I KNOW I HAVE NOT received or cashed a cheque from them or Lloyds TSB for £1908.70. I have received a complaints form from the FSA Ombudsman and intend asking for their help. I would advise everyone to do the same.

Looks like we all recieved cheques on the same date and cashed them the same date too!!!
Ive complained to the ombudsman and am just waiting for my bank to issue statemants from those dates to prove we DIDNT get any cheques, then they will be sent in to ombudsman.
Good luck!

beeker170572

Please please please submit a complaint to the ombudsmen (who will then pass it on to the Pensions Advisory Service). The more people that do it, the more likely a pattern will be seen and action taken.

It is laughable that SW believe we have all forgotten about cashing these cheques, but funnily enough they cant give us the cheque no or bank account it was cashed into.

I have gone as far as submitting a subject access request for all personal info held on me including everything on the demutualisation database. First of all i didnt get anything except policy documents and notes about correspondence and phone calls.

Then when i asked specifically for info on the demutualisation database they sent me a screen dump of a one line excel spreadsheet with some made up numbers in, amazingly the name of the spreadsheet was Book1 - isnt that the default name when you have just opened a new spreadsheet ??? :-(