Reclaiming on an endowment with "Total financial solutions", are they for real?

itsthenoise

Has anyone had any dealings with this company "Total Financial Solutions"?

They cold called me on the phone and are saying that they can reclaim the shortfall on my Endowment policy I took out in the mid 90's [ the projected shortfall is about £30-40k ]. They will take 25% of any amount that I win.

I also have to pay a 'Refundable' deposit of £900 first?

Sounds very far fetched to me.

Anyone had any experience with them?

dunstonh

They cold called me on the phone and are saying that they can reclaim the shortfall on my Endowment policy I took out in the mid 90's [ the projected shortfall is about £30-40k ]. They will take 25% of any amount that I win.

There is no mechanism in place to reclaim the shortfall on an endowment policy. A complaint on that basis would not succeed. This seems to be a dodgy complaint reason.

I also have to pay a 'Refundable' deposit of £900 first?

this is looking more like it. I suggest you look up advance fee fraud on google. However, a quick explanation is that the fraudster entices the mark with a big payoff that appeals to their greed. However, to get that payoff, you have to pay a smaller amount first. The mark is so wrapped up in the prospect of getting £30k or so that they consider £900 small fry and pay it. Then after a year or so of hearing nothing, you then find the company has gone into administration and taken your £900 with them.

i wasnt party to your phone call so I cannot say that is the case here. You know how the phone call went and can make your own mind up. However, based solely on what you have said, the complaint reason is bogus (that wasnt what endowment complaints. Plus over 3/4 of endowments are barred from complaint now), paying up front money is considered bad news and many of the firms that have done this have gone under as it is a common scam model. (we know that over £40 million of upfront payments have been lost through companies doing this and going under. Probably more as £30 million was just one company alone.

i would say run a mile.

itsthenoise

Ok well that sounds like a definite no then.

Something felt fishy about it, lots of re-iterating points over and over again, he was using big words that it didn't sound he was comfortable using and he also recommended that I put the £900 on a credit card so I can get it back in case of fraud????

Are there any other checks I can do on this company? Maybe they should be reported to some sort of governing body if they're scammers?

dunstonh

he also recommended that I put the £900 on a credit card so I can get it back in case of fraud????

almost as if he knew he was committing fraud.

Are there any other checks I can do on this company? Maybe they should be reported to some sort of governing body if they're scammers?

Companies are regulated by the ministry of justice but its not real regulation as you would expect. To get authorised takes a couple of weeks. Requires no qualifications, training or experience. You could get yourself set up as a claims company in that time. The MoJ relies on volumes of complaint to take action. It is not pro-active but reactive. It has shut companies down but to date it hasnt fined any or instigated legal action against any. It's about as weak a regulator as you can get.

jamesd

There's an easy initial clue about whether something is fishy: the company calls you without you calling them first. Steer clear of any company that does this.

itsthenoise

They have a website which I'm not able to post correctly:
www [ dot ] tfsfinance [ dot ] co [ dot ] uk

magpiecottage

They are based in Swansea - capital of the fraudulent claims management industry!

ANDYP1972

Hi,I was called today(15/10/12) about Mis sold Mortgages by Total Financial Solutions,they told me that Northern Rock were one of the worst lenders for mis selling & having inflated rates & charges,the caller said that I could claim back around £30,000 in excess charges & interest,they asked for an upfront fee of £299 then reduced this to £199 when told couldn't afford this & that this was refundable if the succesfull or the claim was under £5000,the address given was CoOperation House, CoOperation Road, Loughor, Swansea,SA46SD,also gave me what they said was their licence number,CRM22260,anyone had any dealings with this company,I found a link saying to stay away that they are a scam.Sounds very dodgy to me
Thanks

roonaldo

ANDYP1972 wrote: »

Hi,I was called today(15/10/12) about Mis sold Mortgages by Total Financial Solutions,they told me that Northern Rock were one of the worst lenders for mis selling

well they have never been fined by the FSA for mis-selling so thats a lie, others have but not Northern Rock.

stay well away, they will tell you anything to get you to sign up.

magpiecottage

It is unfortunate they telephone you rather than using Skype because then you would be able to see them and spot when they are lying.
- you would see their lips moving.

dphargs

I was cold-called by Total Financial Solutions today and they started by asking me questions about loans, credit cards and mortgages. They then stated that they could reclaim thousands for me. Following this I was transferred to another person who introduced the "refundable deposit of £199 +VAT". I did a quick search online while she was talking and found this thread. As soon as I mentioned it she hung up. Enough said I think!