'DOUBLE FIVE ASSURANCE' life policy....please help!!!!!

blackjack_4

Hello to you all, I have a policy that is called a ‘DOUBLE FIVE ENDOWMENT ASSURANCE’ life policy from the CIS. Now I need a bit of help & advice on what to do & here is my problem…......

The policy matures in the first half of next year & it doesn’t look good at all.The policy was taken out in 1998 & I’ve been paying in £40 per month, every month. So when the policy matures next year I’d have paid in £4800.

Now I asked the CIS to send me paperwork telling me how much I’d be getting at the end of the policy as they couldn’t tell me over the phone. As you’d expect, I was hoping for something around the 6 to 7K mark if you include bonuses & interest:D . I've not touched the money in any way at all.

The CIS have since sent me paperwork stating that I’ll be getting a much lower sum than what I’d have expected, £3301 to be exact:mad: !!

I then arranged a meeting with the local CIS area rep to chat about the above & to discuss other financial matters. He came over & he did actually say that I could complain about this to the CIS. He also said that the policies were miss-sold when they were first being sold to their customers.

Now I’ve been chatting to a few work colleagues & they suggest contacting the Citizens Advice Centre & then a written complaint to the FSA. Is this the correct thing to do? Thinking back about the policy, what would a then 19yr old want with a 10 year life assurance policy anyway? It’s not as though I had any dependants or assets.

Please, please, any help or advice will be greatly received & appreciated.

Thanks for reading this & I’ll let you know how it all goes.

Thank you again,

Richard

dunstonh

Now I’ve been chatting to a few work colleagues & they suggest contacting the Citizens Advice Centre & then a written complaint to the FSA. Is this the correct thing to do?

No, its not the right thing to do. The FSA do not handle complaints and will just forward it to CIS for them to deal with.

Thinking back about the policy, what would a then 19yr old want with a 10 year life assurance policy anyway? It’s not as though I had any dependants or assets.

These plans used to the only way to do long term "savings". Whilst they were coming to the end of the life by the mid to late 90s (1998/9 being a popular time when many withdraw their offerings), they were still the mainstream product as they allowed small premiums. Unlike PEP/ISAs and Unit Trusts which were typically £50-£100pm minimum. Tied companies were able to exploit this by keeping their minimum PEP/ISA premium high whilst offering the low cost endowment with a lower minimum premium.

So, argueing it was the wrong product wont get you far as any complaint will be assesed on the product range of CIS at the time (whole of market offerings dont matter as you didnt use an IFA but used a tied agent). CIS only had a responsibility to offer you the most suitable product in their range and at £40pm they met that responsibility.

Investment returns (or lack of) are not something you can complain about either. You started the plan 2-3 years before a major decline which at this point is still has the FTSE100 lower than its high point of those early years. It just hasnt been a good time to put money into low quality investments. Any complaint about investment return will be rejected in accordance with FSA rules.

Attitude to risk is really the only area of potential success here. Problem is going to be proof as at that age you have no history one way or the other. 1998 documentation issued would have carried a number of warnings and illustrations used at that time would have shown a 4% projection rate which probably showed break even point or even a loss. There would also have been warnings on the illustration and key features document warning you.

I have no love of CIS sales techniques and have come across some very bad examples over the years but the problem is proving it and also deciding what your complaint is.

Whatever you decide to complain about, the complaint should go to CIS. Indeed, the CIS local rep has probably also breached FSA rules already as he should have passed your complaint to his compliance department to deal with.

blackjack_4

My complaint to CIS would be that I just want my money back that I've paid to them & basically what was the rep doing selling a life assurance to a 19yr old!

Richard

dunstonh

blackjack wrote: »

My complaint to CIS would be that I just want my money back that I've paid to them & basically what was the rep doing selling a life assurance to a 19yr old!

Richard

The complaint will be rejected if you go down that route. You were not sold a life assurance as such but an investment in life funds. As the premium was below the typical £50pm minimum that an ISA would have been available for, then a savings endowment was the best product in their range and that is what you got.