Endowment Attached To Old Lender

podlets2628

I have a Prudential endowment attached to the Derbyshire Building Society (lender of my first mortgage).  This mortgage was redeemed 20 years ago, but for some reason the attachment was not removed from the endownment.  Prudential will not transfer the endowment funds to me until the attachment is removed and say I need a 'Letter of Disclaimer' from the lender to specify that they have no interest in the endownment funds - which they obviously don't as the mortgage was redeemed 20 years ago.

However, the issue is that Derbyshire no longer exist, and I have no record of the mortgage account details (they were binned long ago as the mortgage was redeemed and this issue didn't cross my mind).  Anybody know how to resolve this issue?

Thrugelmir

Contact the Nationwide who acquired the Derbyshire. The address will be sufficient for them to track that the mortgage was discharged. 

dunstonh

 This mortgage was redeemed 20 years ago, but for some reason the attachment was not removed from the endownment. 

What you are calling "attachment" is actually called an assignment.    Up until around the late 90s, policies were assigned to the lender.  This was to make sure the lender got the funds.    When remortgaging started to become popular, this created an issue and lenders were meant to write to the insurer to say they no longer had a financial interest in the policy.   This became cumbersome so they stopped doing it.

However, the issue is that Derbyshire no longer exist

Nationwide took them over and it is Nationwide that needs to issue the letter stating they have no financial interest in the policy.

This used to be a routine thing but as endowments are not commonplace any more, the younger staff members at Nationwide may not know what you are talking about.     The more experienced staff members who worked in those areas will.    What tends to happen is that you contact the bank/building society and either get told they wont do it or dont know what you are talking about.   You then have to make a complaint to the bank/building society.  The complaints team is usually made up of much more knowledgeable people who will then apologise, issue the letter saying they have no financial interest in the policy and you get £25 for the inconvenience.

There is no point going on at Pru over this.  Policy assignments are a legal thing that cannot be overruled by the insurer.  it needs the assignee to revoke the assignment.

davidmcn

dunstonh said:

This used to be a routine thing but as endowments are not commonplace any more, the younger staff members at Nationwide may not know what you are talking about.     The more experienced staff members who worked in those areas will.    What tends to happen is that you contact the bank/building society and either get told they wont do it or dont know what you are talking about.

...with the additional complication that the Nationwide has probably never known anything about the OP's account, as it would have been closed long before they took over the Derbyshire.

dunstonh

davidmcn said:

dunstonh said:

This used to be a routine thing but as endowments are not commonplace any more, the younger staff members at Nationwide may not know what you are talking about.     The more experienced staff members who worked in those areas will.    What tends to happen is that you contact the bank/building society and either get told they wont do it or dont know what you are talking about.

...with the additional complication that the Nationwide has probably never known anything about the OP's account, as it would have been closed long before they took over the Derbyshire.

Which is why I suspect it will end up with the complaints department dealing with it as no "normal" staff member is likely to want to put their name to it.  The OP may get lucky and have an experienced worker answer the phone but I wouldn't put money on it.

podlets2628

Thanks for your guidance.  I think I'll go straight in with a written complaint about the fact that they didn't remove the assignment in the first place when the mortgage was redeemed.  This will bypass the likely call centre issues.

Thrugelmir

podlets2628 said:

Thanks for your guidance.  I think I'll go straight in with a written complaint about the fact that they didn't remove the assignment in the first place when the mortgage was redeemed.  This will bypass the likely call centre issues.

Not a complaint as the Nationwide are in no way responsible. You need their cooperation. 

dunstonh

One phone call to the service line.  if they don't get you anywhere then you complain as it hasn't got you anywhere.  However, as Thrugelmir says, they haven't really done anything wrong. So, don't go in hard.  Get the complaints handler on your side and make it an easy "complaint" for them to resolve.

podlets2628

I called today and it sent surprisinly well.  The handler knew what I was talking about.  They had no record (that the handler could find) of the original Derbyshire mortgage, but the lady filled in the form so I'll see what happens.  Incidentally, my second mortgage was with Nationwide (redeemed in 2011), and they had a record of that.  I wouldn't be surpirised if they don't go looking for Derbyshire mortgage, and just issue the letter based on the redeemed Nationwide mortgage. Both were interest only mortgages against the same endowment, but only the first one (Derbyshire) was formally attached.  I don't think Prudential will care provided that the letter references the policy number.

podlets2628

dunstonh said:

One phone call to the service line.  if they don't get you anywhere then you complain as it hasn't got you anywhere.  However, as Thrugelmir says, they haven't really done anything wrong. So, don't go in hard.  Get the complaints handler on your side and make it an easy "complaint" for them to resolve.

I called today and it sent surprisinly well.  The handler knew what I was talking about.  They had no record (that the handler could find) of the original Derbyshire mortgage, but the lady filled in the form so I'll see what happens.  Incidentally, my second mortgage was with Nationwide (redeemed in 2011), and they had a record of that.  I wouldn't be surpirised if they don't go looking for Derbyshire mortgage, and just issue the letter based on the redeemed Nationwide mortgage. Both were interest only mortgages against the same endowment, but only the first one (Derbyshire) was formally attached.  I don't think Prudential will care provided that the letter references the policy number.