Mortgage expires May, Endowment policy Oct, + am I too late to claim mis-sold ?

Sparklers442

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I have an Endowment Mortgage which was taken out originally in 1986 with a company called the 'X'. It was for £32,000. In the subsequent years I've had a long term illness and have little memory (or paperwork from the 'X') about what happened next. My mortgage is currently with another Building Society). I was told that the 'X' had ceased to trade sometime in the late 80's and have been unable to find any trace of them.

There was all the news about being mis-sold an endowment mortgage, which I truly believe I was. Because I couldn't find any trace of the 'X' able to do anything about it.

My mortgage comes to an end next month, in early May. I just spoke to the holders of my Endowment Plan. They tell me my policy with them expires on 30 October 2011, and I can either wait until it matures, or surrender it early. If I do the latter I may not get the full amount of the policy. They spent a while doing some research, and with a banking database were able to find out that the mortgage company 'X' was bought out by a company called 'Y' I have to somehow get a letter of Disclaimer from them, but they don't know where they are, so I will have to find that out.

Am I too late to try for mis-selling of my mortgage now that I've found out who bought out the orignal mortgage coompany 'X'? Even though it expires very shortly?
Do I surrender the endowment policy early?

Any tips gratefully received. Many thanks

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ILW

Why do you think the mortgage was mis-sold?

Thrugelmir

Who are 'X' ?

Despite X ceasing to write new business. The administration of your policy would have passed to another Company. If you moved in the intervening years it sounds as if you never notified them of your change of address.

At maturity, endowment polices pay a terminal bonus. This often constitutes a high proportion of the final value of the policy. So surrender at this late stage is not recommended.

dunstonh

Mortgage expires May, Endowment policy Oct, + am I too late to claim mis-sold ?

Why do you think that is a mis-sale reason?

There was all the news about being mis-sold an endowment mortgage, which I truly believe I was. Because I couldn't find any trace of the 'X' able to do anything about it.

Whilst endowments certainly had their issues, it was still a minority of cases that had mis-sales. Yours was pre-regulation and far less likely to be mis-sold than post regulation cases (mainly as the regs at the point yours was sold were nearly non-existent and if yours was sold by an accountant, solicitor or what is now an IFA then they do not have to consider your complaint).

It is quite normal for endowments to mature on a different month to the mortgage. Especially where people have moved from one lender to another (as the "new" mortgage is always based on that month it is moved to them).

The lender will extend the mortgage for up to 5 years typically.

Sparklers442

I thought I perhaps had a case for mis-selling because
a) I can't remember at any time being told that it might under-perform and that the total wouldn't be covered
b) I can't find any paperwork to say that either

But I think I've left it too late on that front.

dunstonh

Sparklers442 wrote: »

I thought I perhaps had a case for mis-selling because
a) I can't remember at any time being told that it might under-perform and that the total wouldn't be covered
b) I can't find any paperwork to say that either

But I think I've left it too late on that front.

Over 3/4 of endowments are time barred from complaint. You may fall under 1/4 that isnt. However, regulation didnt start until April 1988. You bought yours in 1986. Only if you bought from an agent of the insurer would they possibly consider your complaint. However, you shouldnt expect 2011 standards of documentation for a 1986 case. Any complaint you make will be measured with the rules in place at the time you took it out. So, you wouldnt expect suitability reports or reason why letters or key features documents. I don't even think buyers guides were available back then (i think they were introduced in 1988).

If you check your endowment statements over the last 10 years you may well find on those what your timebar date is, if there is one.