Endowment Mis-selling - Don't give up!

duckass

I've finally decided to do something about my shortfall but to be honest I don't feel confident to handle it myself and am looking for a specilist firm to handle it for me, can anyone recommend a good one

Diamond_Dave_2

Thought I would add a note as a glimmer of hope to compensation claims. Reading a few of the posts here it seems quite a few folk are not being very successful in claiming, so here's a happy ending. Having read a link from this site to which? pages regarding compensation I decided it was worth a go. My endowment was sold to me ten years ago, a 90,000 policy, by a direct FA working for Royal. Having had the red letter regarding shortfall I sent in my claim for mis-selling, on 28th March this year. The Royal & Sun Alliance (as they are now known) responded very quickly and, keeping it short, I had an offer of compensation this weekend, amounting to 6500.00. :j

I think this seems about the right amount, unless anyone reading this knows better ?

The case has been handled particularly professionally and I have to say I am impressed with the R & S A attitude and procedures, unless of course I just got lucky. It's hard not to be satisfied with this outcome.

Mrs_Mac_5

If you surrender the endowment can you still make a compensation claim???

susan47

dunstonh wrote:

Every industry has bad apples. What grounds has been given for non-payment i.e. has IFA lodged a request for case review or is he just refusing to pay it? If the firm is just refusing to pay it, you can start court action to enforce and award.

Thanks for your reply and I guess you're right, we just had bad advice from this one guy and we've never had another IFA. We spoke to him directly just yesterday and he told us that the Ombudsman's decision wouldn't stand up in court and we couldn't prove a thing. He isn't requesting a review - he just says he disagrees with the decision and won't pay. He says we accepted the policy, and that's that. We wouldn't know how much to take him to court for though, and don't want to pay anybody else to work it out! Never mind, we have told the Adjudicator what happened, and he says he will pass it on to the Service Review Team to chase it up. However, he also said that he doubted they would have much success either. Oh! But get this quote from the IFA when we told him he had left us in a real mess with our mortgage, he replied 'what are you complaining about, your house has gone up in value, hasn't it?'! (We'll still be paying the mortgage on it several years past retirement at 65...)

defender_of_the_weak

Dunston, can you run mortgage fundamentals on this case. If Susan 47 has a figure she can apply to court for judgement. Once the Ombudsman has ruled and a decision made, both parties are bound by the decision. Whatever this guy is saying, it simply aint so.

Susan, if you PM me the details I may be able to give you some further ideas on where to take this next. Do not give up, report him to the FSA and any professional body he may belong to (check his paperwork).

susan47

I really must thank you for your response. You won't believe it, but after all this time with no luck whatsoever, and after our run in with our IFA this week and all the things he said to us - he rang us Friday afternoon and made us an offer! It was as though he was a different person and totally out of the blue he changed his mind. We are really puzzled by his sudden change of attitude, although it may have something to do with the fact that he let slip that he had been in contact with the Ombudsman's office (and he had some pretty bad things to say about them!). He also said he had been in touch with his PI insurance company and they were going to pay us, not him. We just wonder why he didn't do this before and what seems to have changed his mind. Anyway, we are really delighted because he has promised us a cheque for £8,000 in a couple of weeks! So with that, and changing part of the mortgage to repayment, we should be sorted now. Thank you so much for offering to help though, it's great to feel that there's some support out there.

Keith_F

Do not give up hope.

Bought two Standard Life endowments in 1985 and 1987, linked to my Britannia BS mortgage.
Remortgaged many times, now with First Direct on an offset.

After shortfall warning letters, I wrote to Britannia and claimed mis-selling, according to Standard life, Britannia were listed as the selling IFA.

6 weeks later an offer of £4561 as compensation, but a denial of mis-selling..........see if I care.

The compensation offer seems fair and in accordance with FSA guideline calculations.

I occasionally do work for and endowment claims company, getting forms signed by clients etc.

There is no way I would use them, why give up 30% of your compensation. Write the letter yourself using the Which website. Then keep your fingers crossed.

I have to give credit to the Britannia, the offer was despite my claim probably being 'time barred ' and a pre 1988 policy.

Keith

Lucy_Lastic

Has anyone had any success claiming against a 3rd party for emdowment misselling? For instance I have two Standard Life Policies that were sold to me by an Estate Agents financial advisor and an independent insurance company. I am trying to get compensation from both, but so far with no luck. Can Standard Life wash their hands of this?

GerW

I'm going to try and do something about my shortfall too! Think I may have left it too late though Friends provident says its nothing to do with them and The financial advisor can't be found . Got my endowmwnt in 1987 and FSA says they can't help and FS Com scheme says contact a lawyer.
I'd be interested to know like another poster if it would be better to go through one of the companies advertising on TV who say they can help?
Does anyone have any experience with them
Thanks
GerW

defender_of_the_weak

If the policy was sold in 1987 by an independent adviser then there is nowhere for you to turn. The only possible action would be to track down the adviser (assuming he worked as a partnership or sole trader ) and take him to court on an individual basis. I am sure you can work out the cost for yourself.

Don't bother going to one of the companies that advertise, they cannot help (I know I run a company that handles endowment complaints) and whatever you do, do not be persuaded to pay any money up front to anyone who says they can, you will never see it again.

Plan how to deal going forward and what to do with your mortgage it will ultimately be more productive.

Sorry I could not help more