Halifax Advisor/Standard Life Endowment Compensation ?

elephant_guy

My wife took out an endowment in 1986 with Standard Life via a Halifax Building Society Financial Advisor at the same time she took out a mortgage with the Halifax. At this time it appears that Halifax's Financial Advisors were not tied agents of Standard Life.

My wife was a single woman at the time and was advised to purchase the Standard Life endowment despite living alone, having no partner or any dependants.

It is quite clear that an endowment mortgage was totally unsuitable for her and should never have been recommended by the advisor.

In addition the advisor stated that she would receive a substantial lump sum when the endowment matured and even hand wrote a projection to this effect (which my wife still has) which exceeds the mortgage amount by £10,000.

There is now a substantial shortfall on the projected value of the endowment.

My wife complained to the Halifax providing the full circumstances of the sale. The Halifax stated (after detailed investigation !!!) there were no grounds to suggest that the endowment was mis-sold.

I understand that an endowment purchased in 1986 is not covered under the current ombudsman scheme but is there anything else that can be done ?

It appears that companies like Halifax dealing with pre 1988 mis-selling complaints can virtually dismiss any compensation claim without worrying that their arbitrary and one sided decisions will be reviewed or challanged.

Are their any companies or solicitors who advise or take on compensation cases such as this one ?

Surely there must be something that can be done to stop these massive financial institutions taking advantage of ordinary people in this manner. If not it can only be described as a disgrace.

Any suggestions or advice would be welcomed.

Elephant_Guy

Froggitt

I had a very similar case with the Halifax....pre-1988, single person, lump sum on maturity etc. Contrary to popular belief, it IS covered by the Ombudsman scheme as all major banks and building societies have voluntarily agreed to led the Ommy hear such cases.

They refused me compo, I took them to the Ombudsman, and they capitulated......I even got a five minute slot on BBC2 Working Lunch as it was one of the first (to my knowledge) pre-1988 victories.

The key message is "what was your attitide to risk at the time" .....other share investments etc are an indicator of this.

You have an even better case than I did if you still have the projection with the £10,000 surplus......IMHO rather than give you the standard compo payment, they should also make good the ten grand.

Youll find details of my case on https://www.themoneybag.com in the Endowments forum.

Good luck....if you want any assistance, PM me.

Frog

PS Going to the Ombudsman also costs them a further £300-400!!!

fitorbust

I had a similar case, 1987, single woman, nothing else offered, and followed the steps on the Which web site, and got compensation in 8 weeks from start to finish. I did point out very clearly that I wasn't told the end sum may fall short, and that I was fed the 'you'll have enough left over for a sports car' line ( which i was!).

This is the link - good luck!

http://www.which.net/endowmentaction/complaint/index.html

Lesley

DIVAD_3

I have received a "Red Alert" for a Standard Life Endowment Policy this week. Has anybody any experience of using companies such as Brunel Franklin or Endowment Justice to pursue a mis-selling compensation claim? If so, is there any advice you could offer in terms of going down this route rather than following e.g. the "Which" guide.

dunstonh

Avoid these ambulance chasing endowment claim companies. They are trying to make a lot of money out of you for writing one letter which wont take you 20-30 minutes using the Which? template.

gobananas5

DIVAD wrote:

I have received a "Red Alert" for a Standard Life Endowment Policy this week. Has anybody any experience of using companies such as Brunel Franklin or Endowment Justice to pursue a mis-selling compensation claim? If so, is there any advice you could offer in terms of going down this route rather than following e.g. the "Which" guide.

Don't know about endowment action but do know about Brunel franklin. They want 3-400 up front with no guarantee of success. Run a mile from this.

donnie_darko_3

I think I am in the same predicament i.e. standard life endowment and halifax mortgage but it was sold 1990 through a third party house and mortgage shop.

The shop has gone so do I pursue Standard Life or Halifax??

Our shortfall on 38950 is potentially 18000!! according to SL own figures.

Can anyone advise?

gobananas5

Firts step is to contact Standard Life for details of the company who sold the policy and then call the FSA to check that they are no longer in existence. Assuming they were independent you may be able to claim with the Financial Services Compensation Scheme but it could take over a year

I don't remember Standard Life having a lot of ties with estate agents so my bet is that it was an IFA

Hope this is of some use