Had endowment offer re;mis-selling but need advice....

fitorbust

Thanks for your input Lizzie - that has made a complicated thing understandable.
Lesley.

fairy_godmother

Sofa_Sogood wrote:

I'm tempted to leave things as they are and write off anything that may have been mis-sold, as Mr S is, but then I read the OP's post and Martin's articles and think maybe it's worth looking at again?

- don't give up!, I sent off letters from the Which site to the Woolwich and they sent me a massive form to fill in, never quite got round to filling it in and then they sent me another form which I didn't bother with either. I then got a letter from them saying that they had all the information they required!!? - On Saturday I received a letter with an offer of £7.5k against two small endowments of £10k and £8k, apparently they have calculated the amount that I would have paid if it had been a repayment mortgage and will pay any penalties that I may be charged in changing to a repayment mortgage. Really need to sit down and read all this thru', but there's such a lot of it!!

Sofa_Sogood

fairy_godmother wrote:

- don't give up!, I sent off letters from the Which site to the Woolwich and they sent me a massive form to fill in, never quite got round to filling it in and then they sent me another form which I didn't bother with either. I then got a letter from them saying that they had all the information they required!!? - On Saturday I received a letter with an offer of £7.5k against two small endowments of £10k and £8k, apparently they have calculated the amount that I would have paid if it had been a repayment mortgage and will pay any penalties that I may be charged in changing to a repayment mortgage. Really need to sit down and read all this thru', but there's such a lot of it!!

Thanks, you've just given me the impetus to get all the paperwork out and have a good look at what's what. I'm sure a lot of people are put off by the bureaucracy of it all. It seemed daunting, but I've never looked at the Which site yet. I'll take a look this morning, but I've always had the feeling that they know more of the answers than we do. Maybe they hope people like us don't bother?

Anyway, thanks again and well done!

pauliepie

I have an endowment mortgage which was sold to me in 1999 by a independant financial adviser who said it was the best way to go!!!!

I was told by a friend today that I could get approx £3k if I wrote a letter?

Where do I have to write a letter to and what do I need to write.
He also said if you use a company they will get the money for you and they take 25% of the returns.

Can someone tell me what I should do as I am not to clever on financial products,etc...

thanks

dunstonh

I have an endowment mortgage which was sold to me in 1999 by a independant financial adviser who said it was the best way to go!!!!

In 1999, I am sure it wasnt said quite like that. By that time endowments were beginning to come towards the end of their life. However, those that were still being sold often had better terms than earlier ones (such as lowering the target growth rate to 5 or 6%).

I was told by a friend today that I could get approx £3k if I wrote a letter?

Only if it is judged that you were missold.

Where do I have to write a letter to and what do I need to write.

You send the letter to the IFA that sold you the policy.

He also said if you use a company they will get the money for you and they take 25% of the returns.

Unlicenced, irresponsible moneygrabbers who are taking money for doing very little.

Can someone tell me what I should do as I am not to clever on financial products,etc...

If you feel that you were not told about repayment mortgages and that endowments contained an element of risk and the documentation that was issued to you supports this, then you need to complain. You can get a letter from the which? website (links earlier in this thread). You will be sent back a form to fill in that asks quite a lot of information. The IFA will also supply the documentation that was given to you to his insurers and they will asses whether you were missold. It can take upto 2 years to get an outcome and do not get your hopes up of getting anything like 3k. A mortgage running for 6 years would not have dropped by much on a capital & repayment mortgage so the difference between the two options may not be that great.

fitorbust

Well - I thought I would just stop by and say I got a cheque for £1990 yesterday from the Halifax - only 2 months after I wrote my letter, thanks to the Which web site.
I am really pleased as we have adjusted our mortgage to account for the shortfall, so this has gone to pay off credit cards - I am being a good moneysaver!
Thanks for everyone's input.

Lesley

scottishlizzie

Good for you!