General Portfolio endowment failure

Kim_and_Derrick_Williams

I wonder if you could possibly help.

My husband and I took out what we thought was an endowment with General Portfolio. This was provided prior to us buying our first home. Very long story short, the endowment turned out not to be an endowment but a maximum investment plan and we were to receive nothing. Because we felt we had been mis-sold, we contacted the ombudsman and put our case to them. The FSA ombudsman decided against us for the endowment being miss sold.

The reason for me contacting you is that I believe there have been changes in the way that matters like this can be investigated and I wondered if you could let me know how I can have this reviewed.

Thank you.

dunstonh

The reason for me contacting you is that I believe there have been changes in the way that matters like this can be investigated

There has been no change in the complaints process for over 20 years. First you complain to the firm. If you disagree with their response then you can ask to the FOS to look at it. You did that and they didnt agree. The FOS is slightly consumer biased. So, you need to look at their response and the reasons why your complaint failed. if you have nothing to counter that then its effectively game over. You could consider the courts but the courts are not consumer biased and if you cant get the FOS to agree then the chances of success in court (where the onus is on you to prove wrong doing) is much harder. Whilst not binding on a court, it would consider the findings of the official omubusman.

This was provided prior to us buying our first home.

How much before? I suspect this may be the problem.

Kim_and_Derrick_Williams

Thanks for your reply. The FOS reason for denying us was that we were sold something suitable for our needs at the time. My argument was that it was not what we asked for or believed we were getting. The plan was sold to us whilst we were living with my father and it was at least 2 years before we bought our own home. It is so hard to prove all of this but I understand we are not the only people that have had this happen to them and that GP were selling endowments prior to house purchase, which was a practice frowned upon by most other lenders and now I believe not allowed.

It is a bitter pill to swallow that we have lost our entire "endowment" which should have been over 50k and there is no hope of anything.

dunstonh

The FOS reason for denying us was that we were sold something suitable for our needs at the time.

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it was at least 2 years before we bought our own home.

That is your problem. An endowment would be typically bought when you buy the house. Not before. Mortgage endowments were designed to tie in with the mortgage. They worked a bit differently to normal regular contribution investment plans. You have a sale two years before of a product that is not a mortgage endowment and will make no reference to mortgages.

. It is so hard to prove all of this but I understand we are not the only people that have had this happen to them and that GP were selling endowments prior to house purchase, which was a practice frowned upon by most other lenders and now I believe not allowed.

Pre-sale of endowments used to a be easy complaint. It was less easy in the later years as some occupations actually made sense to have a pre-sale endowment. However, you dont have a mortgage endowment. You have a regular investment plan.

So, the FOS are seeing your complaint about a product that was not designed to do what you said you thought it would taken out 2 years before you bought a house. You would need to link those events and it would appear there is nothing to link it. e.g. if the original paperwork said it would cover the mortgage or work towards it then that would link it.