Mis-sold Endowments

mike_lee77

Dear Money-Savers,
I believe that I have been mis-sold two low cost endowment policies. One with Friends Provident was taken out through a broker, who sold the business, to another guy who had it written into the contract that he did not take on any of the overall liabilities. The original guy who mis-sold it to me has now died. The policy was taken out in 1986 and the FSCS can not deal with policies before 1988. The Financial Ombudsman also told me that there is no recourse before 1988. Has anyone got any ideas?!

The other one with Legal & General and my complaint letter was rejected by them in 2001 and I did not follow-up at that time with the Financial Ombudsman.

I am thinking of either using a complaint handler (although I know that Martin thinks the fees are not worth it), or cashing them in with the best offer I can get on the market. The FP policy for £22K matures in Dec 2011 and the L&G in Jul 2014 for £12.5K. Current surrender vales are around 50%. Any suggestions gratefully received!

Many thanks
Mike

Annisele

I think that it's extremely unlikely that a complaint handler would be able to get any further than you did yourself.

The responsibility for the sale of the FP policy lies with the broker who sold it. FSCS cannot deal with pre August 1988 cases at all - its rules say that it can't. FOS can deal with pre April 1988 cases in some circumstances, but almost certainly not in yours.

FOS can deal with complaints about firms that joined their voluntary jurisdiction for pre 1988 cases - generally big banks, buildings societies and insurance companies - but it's exceptionally unlikely that a broker would have joined that. In the unlikely event that he did join, I suspect that FOS would have told you already.

For the L&G complaint, you will now be too late to refer the case to FOS. L&G's rejection letter should have said that you had six months to refer the case to the ombudsman. Assuming it did say that, if you refer to FOS now all L&G has to do is say 'the complaint is out of time' and FOS won't look at it unless you can show that you failed to refer the complaint in time because of exceptional circumstances - and that those exceptional circumstances persisted for nearly nine years.

dunstonh

he policy was taken out in 1986 and the FSCS can not deal with policies before 1988. The Financial Ombudsman also told me that there is no recourse before 1988. Has anyone got any ideas?!

End of the road on that one. Its pre-regulation and pre-consumer protection.

The other one with Legal & General and my complaint letter was rejected by them in 2001 and I did not follow-up at that time with the Financial Ombudsman.

End of the road on that one. You have 6 months to appeal a decision. If you dont do that then its time barred from future complaint.

I am thinking of either using a complaint handler (although I know that Martin thinks the fees are not worth it),

There is nothing an ambulance chaser can do. The first one has no-one to complain to and the second one is timebarred. It doesnt matter if you write the letter or a claims company sends in one of their one-size-fits-all template letter.