Endowment Mis-selling - Don't give up!

vinno65

webb2511 wrote:

Hi all you experts on this Endowment Compensation
About a year ago I used one of the companies that offers to investigate the mis-selling claim (I didn't pay them a penny). After several months I had a reply with copy correspondence from Norwich Union saying they were satisfied that they had followed all the regualtions and we had been made aware of the pitfalls(I don't think we were) and therefore no compensation was due.

Is this the final say on the matter, or does anyone know if I can try again?

What is their evidence to back this up. Do they have the relevent documents pertaining to the sale that show you were made aware of the risks and also that you were happy to take the risk (usually in the form of a fact find and an attitude to risk survey). If they do have these documents then ask to see them. If they do not then ask how they have come to the conclusion you were not miss-sold?
Remember you don't have to take their word for it they need to prove it, I suggest you write to them again.
regards Vinno

dunstonh

If you are not satisfied with the response, NU should have given you the details of the ombudsman and you can take the complaint to them.

dreamylittledream

webb2511 wrote:

Hi all you experts on this Endowment Compensation
About a year ago I used one of the companies that offers to investigate the mis-selling claim (I didn't pay them a penny). After several months I had a reply with copy correspondence from Norwich Union saying they were satisfied that they had followed all the regualtions and we had been made aware of the pitfalls(I don't think we were) and therefore no compensation was due.

Is this the final say on the matter, or does anyone know if I can try again?

If its over a year ago your right to appeal to the Ombudsman will have expired (you only get 6 months from their final decision letter on the matter).

dreamylittledream

reported the spam above

scarey_man

vinno65 wrote:

Hi scare man,
you may not have lost out financially up to now, but that does not necessarily mean your endowment will pay off your mortgage at term. ...............

The endowment will suffer a shortfall of £10000, so will NOT pay off the original mortgage

Lally

scarey_man wrote:

The endowment will suffer a shortfall of £10000, so will NOT pay off the original mortgage

When is the mortgage due to be repaid and when does the policy mature? It may be predicting a shortfall right now, but there could be time for it to pick up again?

scarey_man

Lally wrote:

When is the mortgage due to be repaid and when does the policy mature? It may be predicting a shortfall right now, but there could be time for it to pick up again?

been running since May 1996, will mature in 14yrs time.

Nuuk

About a year ago I used one of the companies that offers to investigate the mis-selling claim (I didn't pay them a penny). After several months I had a reply with copy correspondence from Norwich Union saying they were satisfied that they had followed all the regualtions and we had been made aware of the pitfalls(I don't think we were) and therefore no compensation was due.

I had a similar experience with NU. Basically they said they were not responsible for selling me my endowment policy. They told me Abbey (then Abbey National) had been their agents but AN told me that was not the case (they were not agents at the time I bought my policy). I went back to NU who didn't answer two letters. I sent the third one recorded delivery and they still stuck to their guns and said I could complain to the FSO.

I did just that and at first was told that I didn't have a case because the policy was taken out in 1984. I agued that it made no difference and they agreed to look at the case so I sent all the documentation. The adjudicator waited months before getting back to me (busy or fobbing me off?) and told me I still didn't have a case despite all the paperwork that I had supplied clearly showing that NU had handled the sale.

As I persisted, the adjudicator became increasingly hostile, asking for more and more proof that she presumably hoped I wouldn't be able to supply. She asked me for the the name of the NU rep who spoke to me and I was able to supply it after a bit of research. She went back to NU and then came back to me and told me that NU admitted that they did ahve an employee with the name that I had supplied, working for them at the time that I took out my policy. BUT NU had "lost some records" and therefore couldn't confirm if the man I had claimed was the salesman, was actually a salesman. So the adjudicator ruled that this was not admissable evidence. That's correct, NU lost their records so my evidence was thrown out.

Needless to say, my case eventually went before the ombudsman and was thrown out.

Abbey wrote not long after and said that they were re-investigating some cases and they wanted to look at mine again. I supplied all the paperwork but (after another six long months) they confirmed that they were not the ones who sold me the policy. Their letter stated (and I quote)

"the evidence suggests that the sale of your policy was arranged by Norwich Union"

So, they can see it but NU and the FSO can't!

In desperation I contacted Keypoint and gave them a full history of my case. They agreed to take it on and sent me the usual contract to sign and return. Eight months on and I get a letter from them saying that because my case had already gone before the FSO, they couldn't do anything. I'm still arguing with them as to why it took eight months to tell me what I told them back in August 2005. Quite clearly these people advertising to fight a case for you won't actually do anything more than submit the case to the FSO, something anybody can do for themselves. They are attracting business under false pretense.

Getting compensation for a mis-sold endowment is no more than a lottery. It doesn't even matter how much proof you can supply. I for one would like to see a public investigation into the impartiality of the FSO and any possible links with the insurance industry! :mad:

LuvWatch

I just wanted to add my experience to this thread.

It was 5 weeks ago that I considered complaining about being missold an endowment policy. Having lurked on these forums for over a year and the main site I decided to give Martin's links on misselling a go.

I used the one that generated a letter based on your details.

I sent this off to NU and within two weeks I got a reply and the two questionairres to complete.

I completed the questionairres within a couple of days, photocopyed them and sent them the originals.

On the 1 May I recieved a letter stating they were investigating the concerns I raised regarding the advise being given to me.

On the 15 May I received a letter stating that "I am unable to satisfy myself that the policy was suitable for you and I am therefore upholding your complaint"

On the 23 May I received a letter detailing the financial outcome of their investigations which included the offer of £9,803.

It was really that easy, so if you are still on the fence thinking it is a difficult and drawn out experience with loads of paperwork - it isn't (Disclaimer - this is my expereince and I know some have not had it this easy)

Now I have to decide whether to use the compensation with the current surrender value of the endowment to pay off part of the original capital!!!

Does anyone think it makes sense to keep the endowment as you will only get a true value when terminal bonuses are added, rather than cash it in? It only has 8 years to run.

Great site BTW :T

VictoriaSandwich_2

Hi to everyone

As this forum prodded me into action on my endowment, I thought that forum users might be helped, or encouraged, by my little success.

The background: In May 1988 - as a 29 year old single female first-time buyer with no kids – the Halifax Building Society sold me a Norwich Union endowment policy to cover a £35K mortgage. I was a cautious saver and not a financial risk taker – I’d never dabbled in the stock market and had only ever had bank and building society savings accounts. I had death-in-service benefit (life assurance) with my employer of 3x my annual salary. The mortgage was redeemed in 1995, but I have kept the endowment policy going for savings/investment. In October 2004, I received a ‘red letter’ from Norwich Union indicating that there’d be a shortfall.

After reading Martin’s website, and this forum, I made my endowment mis-selling complaint to Halifax plc on 21 April 2006. As suggested in this forum, I used the guidance given in the ‘Which? Endowment Action Campaign’. On 13 May 2006, Halifax upheld my complaint and I received a cheque for financial redress of just over £1,000 today (25 May 2006). I really don’t think that the process could’ve been any simpler or quicker.

Back in 1988 I was financially green and naïve and, some might say that, I should never have bought a financial product that I did not understand. Well, that’s one big lesson I’ve learnt. Now, I’m a lot older and a little wiser and I can see that with-profits endowments were complicated, inherently unstable financial products that were inadequately explained to people. In my view, they were unfit for the purpose of repaying a mortgage loan. The risks were unstated, or understated, while the prospect of the ‘handsome cash surplus’ at maturity was misleadingly overplayed. It’s only right that individuals who were mis-sold an endowment mortgage should take steps to gain redress where this is due.

So, a big ‘thank you’ to this forum for prompting me to take action. Special thanks to dunstonh; scottishlizzie; defender of the weak; EdInvestor and FOSman whose posts were particularly helpful in my case.