Referring endowment miselling claim to FOS.

mkman

Hi There,


My parents had an endowment policy to pay their mortage during the 80's, as many people did. They surrendered the policy in the late 1990's and received a cash sum. My father has since passed away.


In light of the endowment misspelling scandal, I was wondering whether it would still be worth my mum submitting a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman to see if any compensation may be due? I'm not sure what happens if a policy has already been surrendered. Can anyone give any advise?
Thanks, Robert.

dunstonh

In light of the endowment misspelling scandal, I was wondering whether it would still be worth my mum submitting a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman to see if any compensation may be due? I'm not sure what happens if a policy has already been surrendered. Can anyone give any advise?

This is a blast from the past. Its been nearly a decade since that issue largely came to an end.

Here are some issues:
1 - Regulation started in April 1988. So, when you say 80s, it may be pre-regulation
2 - You have 6 years from commencement or three years from being reasonably aware of an issue to raise a complaint. Whichever is longer. Both those periods are long gone. So, you could be barred from complaint.
3 - Endowments didnt start falling short until the very early 2000s. So, a surrender in the 90s is unlikely to have been in a shortfall position. So, what exactly would the complaint be about?
4 - You cannot complain to the Ombudsman without going through the complaints process first.

AnotherJoe

I'd say she is way way WAY past any chances of compensation on multiple grounds of cancellation, time passed and being able to prove whatever it is you think you'd have your mother claim as to why it was missold.
Does she have notes of what she was told at the time of purchase and by whom? Does she have notes on why they didn't claim at the time they cancelled? Why did they cancel?

What do you think the grounds for compo are? A poorly performing policy isn't one.

mkman

Hi There.

Thanks for your replies. When my parents originally had the endowment they received a letter stating that the capital owed on their mortgage (they had interest only mortage) would most likely not be paid off when endowment matured.

At the time my parents were fortunate to come into some money that allowed them to pay their mortgage off anyway, hence why they ended up surrendering the endowment policy.

My mums complaint would have been that financial advisor had told them that the endowment would pay their mortgage off when the times comes, plus they'd receive extra on top of that. This obviously would not have been the case in reality, hence they were misled.

Based on what you'd said, I don't think my mum will be making a complaint about it now anyway due to time that has elapsed.