Endowment Mis-selling - Don't give up!

julliff

Hello Keld,

Sorry to hear that you too are going round in circles. It seems that none of the organisations aer putting the policyholders interest first.

I have found the IFA who actually sold me the plan, and have sent him a registered letter, with my complaints. I'll have to wait and see what happens next, but I am fully expecting him to say that Fred Bloggs (name on letterhead) is accountable. We'll see!

I am not going to give up, as that is exactly what they are hoping for.

As an aside, it makes me really mad to think that these IFAs get a renewal premium every year for these policies. We have not once been serviced by either the original IFA, or the company who took over. We are in a unit linked policy, and nobody has advised us about possible switching funds, reviewing policy etc. I wonder if there is any way to cut free from these people, who are getting money for doing absolutely nothing!

dunstonh

I wonder if there is any way to cut free from these people, who are getting money for doing absolutely nothing!

Yes. Change the advisor and get the new one to have all the policies assigned to them. It wont make the new one rich and there probably wont be enough to pay for ongoing servicing (endowment renewals average £1 per month) but at least the old one wont be getting the money.

pswurkxm

Where do i begin
Back in febuary 1988 me and my then girlfriend , now my wife were in the process of buying our first house.
We used the financial services of the estate agents we were purchasing from.
I remember to the letter, how the so called financial expert sold us the endowment.Both my wife and me skipped out,delighted in the fact that within 15 years our policy would have enough funds to pay off the loan,and if we go the full term ,we would have many thousands of pounds to spend on what ever we wish.
Well we all know what happened to With Profits Endowments dont we.So after watching with baited breath i approached the insurance co,expecting a little resistance at 1st,but then they would see my point of view. Although my policy was with Scottish Amicable now taken over by the Pru.Shock horror.As i purchased in Febuary 1988 outside the FSA guidelines,Not interested was there reply,so i contacted the Ombusman,Not interested was there reply.
I cant beleive that nothing can be done. Mis-selling is Mis-selling as far as im concerned,Two Twenty year olds starting out,being told and beleiveing naively that this is the way forward.
I have a little glimmer of hope, i have subsequently found out that the Financial advisor who sold us our policy,now works in the Chief executives Office of the FSA.
Do i take action against him personally or do i still pursue the insurance company or do i just have to swollow this most bitter pill!!!!!!!!

Lally

pswurkxm wrote:

Where do i begin
Back in febuary 1988 me and my then girlfriend , now my wife were in the process of buying our first house.
We used the financial services of the estate agents we were purchasing from.
I remember to the letter, how the so called financial expert sold us the endowment.Both my wife and me skipped out,delighted in the fact that within 15 years our policy would have enough funds to pay off the loan,and if we go the full term ,we would have many thousands of pounds to spend on what ever we wish.
Well we all know what happened to With Profits Endowments dont we.So after watching with baited breath i approached the insurance co,expecting a little resistance at 1st,but then they would see my point of view. Although my policy was with Scottish Amicable now taken over by the Pru.Shock horror.As i purchased in Febuary 1988 outside the FSA guidelines,Not interested was there reply,so i contacted the Ombusman,Not interested was there reply.
I cant beleive that nothing can be done. Mis-selling is Mis-selling as far as im concerned,Two Twenty year olds starting out,being told and beleiveing naively that this is the way forward.
I have a little glimmer of hope, i have subsequently found out that the Financial advisor who sold us our policy,now works in the Chief executives Office of the FSA.
Do i take action against him personally or do i still pursue the insurance company or do i just have to swollow this most bitter pill!!!!!!!!

Im sorry to hear of the run around you have been given. Try this link http://www.fsa.gov.uk/register/ to see if this person is still authorised by the FSA.

My endowment was also with ScotAm (taken over by Pru) and I got a payout. You have said that "As i purchased in Febuary 1988 outside the FSA guidelines,Not interested was there reply,so i contacted the Ombusman,Not interested was there reply." However, they would have rejected your complaint as it was sold by an IFA, not anything to do with regulation or the takeover.

Good luck!

Quiet_Life

Lets not forget that the government of the day ( circa 1981) actively promoted endowment mortgages as the best method of paying for your house, and we like many others were persuaded to convert our repayment mortgage to an endowment one. Our only ambition was to pay our mortgage off and having checked our original paperwork it did not clearly state that we were basically 'gambling' with our house.
Thank God we didn't sign up for critical health cover ( wrong terminology, but you know what I mean) as it would have been a total waste of time as my husband took depression and i have never heard of any policy that covers any mental health illness.

One very important factor about winning our mis selling case was that the financial company had to offer us a life policy to cover our new repayment mortgage on the same basis as when the mis sold policy was first taken out. They could not take into account the fact that my husband has been ill for the past 14 years, or that I now have an incurable but not fatal illness myself. The advisor confirmed to me that it would be very difficult and extremely expensive to get life cover in our present circumstances.
If all else fails, take your case to court as the retired police office in Yorkshire did a couple of years ago, and the Halifax settled just before the legal proceedings started.

bubblesbeck

I'm trying to find out who I should send my endowment mis-selling complaint to: the only paperwork I have re. my endowment are the policy documents. I recall that when I was buying my house in 1997 I saw a mortgage adviser in an estate agents office however I am not sure whether he was independent - the estate agent was not linked to a bank or building society. I also can't remember his name and in the meantime I've had to move house and have lost some records in the meantime. has anyone any suggestions of how I can get the ball rolling in sorting out this query? Any ideas would be much appreciated:-)

nickmatthews

Apologies if this question has already been raised but this - briefly - is my situation. I have tried to claim compensation for a mis-sold endowment from Friends Provident & got nowhere on the basis that I had no written proof of the assurances I claim were made, that on maturity my endowment would cover the mortgage. I took this up with the Financial Ombudsmen & they agreed that without written evidence of this claim I could not ask for compensation. I have spoken with a friend who is a Financial Advisor & he says that some of these companies pay out without question but some are harder work & will try desperately not to pay out. I'm truly frustrated that I'm getting nowhere & feel that my genuine claim is/has failed purely because of who sold it to me ie:Friends Provident & that they are one of the companies who make it as difficult as possible to claim. I would appreciate any advice anyone can offer.

vinno65

Hi Nick,
You are right about FP. Firstly have they proved the sale was compliant. By that I mean have they shown with documentary evidence that the sale was suitable for your circumstances at the time, if you were single with no kids at the time this is good grounds for complaint. Also can they show that you were made fully aware at the point of sale about the risks involved with endowments, were you told that your premiums would be invested on the stock market etc. If they can not prove this then you have grounds for miss-sale.
Unfortunately the FOS have gone completely against the letter written by the head of the FSA in 2002. In this letter John Tiner stated that verbal evidence from a consumer is good and significant evidence. The FOS seem to ignore this.
However it is up to the firm to prove that the sale was compliant so if they did not explain the risks to you at the point of sale or if an endowment was not suitable for you personally then you have grounds for complaint.
regards Vinno

Lally

bubblesbeck wrote:

I'm trying to find out who I should send my endowment mis-selling complaint to: the only paperwork I have re. my endowment are the policy documents. I recall that when I was buying my house in 1997 I saw a mortgage adviser in an estate agents office however I am not sure whether he was independent - the estate agent was not linked to a bank or building society. I also can't remember his name and in the meantime I've had to move house and have lost some records in the meantime. has anyone any suggestions of how I can get the ball rolling in sorting out this query? Any ideas would be much appreciated:-)

Just write to the company you have the policy with. If he was independant and they are not liable, they will tell you. if they are liable they will look into things for you.

rtubb

Hi,

I was sold a endowment policy almost 10 years ago to cover a £35k mortgage on my first house. At the time I was told it was likely the policy would not only generate enough to pay off the mortgage at the end of it's term, but also provide a nice surplus of cash too.

About 4 years ago now (6 years into the policy) I received a letter from the Endowment Policy company saying that it was unlikely the endowment would cover the mortgage.

At this point, I cashed in the endowment which lost me about £200 on my payments and moved the funds elsewhere.

Four years on from cashing in that endowment, would complaining be worthwhile? I've not seen anybody other than those who still hold endowments mention complaining.