life assurance

daviem1975

please can any one help
i mother took out what she thought was an endowment policy about 20 years ago just after my father died and she has been paying out just over £20 per month. she phone to check that everything was on track and to make sure she was getting the payout she was promised by the sales person only to be told that she had taken out a life assurance policy and would not get any payments. what's more because she is now over 60 she can not continue the policy, which means she has paid all that money for nothing. is there anything she can do.
she has had no contact from the company for over 16 years now

dunstonh

is there anything she can do.

What does she want to do?

she has had no contact from the company for over 16 years now

Is she paying them a fee to have some sort of contact?

daviem1975

i would have thought they would have to contact every so often to make sure that you are still happy with the product,
i think that she has basicly been mis sold life assurance, but we are unsure of any thing wee can do as the policy ends next year
we are basicly grabbing at straws with the hope that some one has an idea

kingstreet

She needs to get in touch with the firm who advised her, or sold her the policy. She needs a copy of the factfind and the justification for what they did. Alternatively, can she find the documentation which accompanied the sale, such as a copy of the factfind. Some firms provided them automatically.

It really depends on the adviser. Was it a third party, or a representative of the firm who issued the policy?

dunstonh

i would have thought they would have to contact every so often to make sure that you are still happy with the product,

No they dont. Only if employed on a servicing basis would they do that. Most insurance companies either didnt have a salesforce or if they did, they were employed on a transactional basis (each transaction was ad hoc as far as advice was concerned).

i think that she has basicly been mis sold life assurance

on what grounds would the complaint be? (I'm not saying there isnt one but remember you need to persuade them that it's a mis-sale).

hcb42

I presume the policy is on her own life only, otherwise it wouldnt have paid out.

not sure why it is wasted though - if she had died, then it would have paid out...?

I think you need to give more information, this doesnt really make sense.

kingstreet

Policyholder thought she was paying for a savings plan with life cover which appears to be a term assurance which will have a nil value when it expires.

dunstonh

kingstreet wrote: »

Policyholder thought she was paying for a savings plan with life cover which appears to be a term assurance which will have a nil value when it expires.

That doesnt make it wrong though. 20 years is a long time ago. Its not uncommon for people to forget what they have exactly.