My 'boss' at the time sold me my endowment

sarahe

Hello
I'm not sure what to do.
I took out an endowment policy in 1993 for £38k (seems a popular time and amount)
I was a newly qualified teacher in my first job and my new boss - the headteacher did a nice little sideline in endowment mortgages.
He arranged for me to see a Building Society - I got a mortgage and an endowment policy through him - friends provident. I see him once or twice a year at 'school' related functions - not sure what to say to him about this.
At the time the only thing I remember him saying was that I'd end up with money left over in 25 years time for a new car or cruise.
I was just pleased that I'd got a mortgage when I hadn't even got a contract for my job.
So for the last few years £57 has left my bank account for this.
Now 12 years on - worst projection means £22k a deficit of £16k

So should I write and ask?

Sarahje

Froggitt

It sounds like you were missold....... "money left over for cruise". Did he determine your attitude to risk?

Sounds like he had a nice little earner there......and he's still probably raking in your commission.

I can sense you may be embarrased by contacting him......maybe do it through a third party like the CAB or one of the ambulance chaser endowment companies, or go to the Building Society, and say they told you to contact him. Or ensure that all correspondance is addressed to "his company" who would have sold it to you, rather than him.

brannyrhino_2

You appear to have been missold.

Fight for what is yours.

If your ex boss is offended then he is a pretty shallow person. The money won't come out of his personal pocket i bet.

Write to FP using the standard letter and demand compensation from them.

Who sold the mortgage your boss, the building Society, or FP?

FP have plenty of dosh to keep shareholders happy they also have plenty to keep policy holders happy.

Bossyboots

I would make an approach to Friends Provident first and see what they say. If they refer you to your ex-boss, at least you can honestly say that they have done so and that hopefully will make the situation a little less embarrassing.

When it comes down to it though you have to protect yourself and it is your future that will be marred by this problem. You have to bite the bullet and get this sorted and if that means you cause him problems then so be it. I have no doubt that you are not the only person in this position through this particular characted.

scottishlizzie

It sounds to me that your boss was operating as an introducer to the building society. Introducers were common at the time and they basically introduced leads to an adviser or firm who then went on to give the advice/sell the mortgage. Generally they would receive a fee or proportion of the final commission for each case. Introducers should have been formally authorised by the firm they were introducing to under the Financial Services Act but it is likely that informal, unauthorised arrangements existed. In any case, it doesn't matter if he was an authorised introducer or not, the fact is you received advice from the building society (who were probably tied to FP) and not from him. Any complaint is not calling into question his integrity, he simply introduced you to the firm.

You should contact FP in the first instance using one of the standard letters already referred to. I posted a link to the Which endowment complaint letter generator on another thread - let me know if you can't find it.

Good luck.

fitorbust

This is the link I used only about 6 weeks ago and have now had a letter offering me compensation. Mine was the same in that I was told I would have enough left over for a 'cruise or a sports car', so make sure you add that in the bit where you add your own paragraph.
Don't forget that just having a shortfall isn't a reason for a complaint. My main complaint was that I wasn't offered any other options at the time and was told that an endowment was the best option for me. Also I wasn't told that there may be a shortfall just the old cruise line! I also pointed out that at the time I was very naive financially and none of the intricacies were explained at all to me.
I didn't even have to remember who 'sold' me my policy, I just sent it to the Halifax branch I got my mortgage from, hence didn't have to deal with the introducer etc, so that could help with your dilemma..
http://www.which.net/endowmentaction/complaint/index.html
Hi ScottishLizzie!
Good luck
Lesley