Mis-sold life insurance

Flowernell

I would like advice on whether to take a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman or a solicitor.

I was sold a policy that I was led to believe would be a life insurance/endowment policy that would mature and pay off my husband's mortgage.  The financial adviser sold the policy to me (wife), telling me I was insuring my husband and by me taking out the insurance, if anything happened to him i would not have to wait for probate.  It also had critical cover.  I was told it was exceptional value and never to cancel it.  So I haven't looked at it since taking it out in 2001.

It now transpires that the financial adviser, who had his own financial advisory service, is no longer active.  The policy was never in my name but my husband's even though I was paying the monthly sto.  I beleive he gained my husband's signature as he said he had to give consent. The name of the adviser selling me the policy on the policy is an unknown name and I never met him.  The policy is with Scottish Provident.  To date I have paid in just over £210,000 and I have been told there is no payout at the end of the policy unless my husband dies.

I have submitted a complaint to Scottish provident.  They gave me wrong advice, that I had nothing to worry about and they would pass to FSCS but I find that they did not do this and FSCS can not consider complaints on policies taken out before 2005.  Scottish Provident then advised they can not take my complaint forward as the financial service that sold it to me is not active.

FSCS advised me Scottish provident have been taken over by Royal London and are now responsible, which I pointed out to Scottish Provident asking if they had forwarded the complaint to them.  The answer was, again, that they have removed my complaint as the financial service that sold the policy to me is no longer active.

I am now lost as to what to do.  Should I go straight to the Ombudsman or look at a solicitor on 'no win, no fee' arrangement?

As you can imagine, we are in a very difficult position as our mortgage will end in 3 years and we have no policy to repay it as we thought we had.

MeteredOut

Do you have the original signed paperwork for the policy? What does that state? Specifically what type of policy was it? eg, are you 100% sure if was life insurance?

£210,000 over 22 years is nearly £800/month. Is that really what you've been paying?

MorningcoffeeIV

Definitely don't engage a solicitor.

FOS is far more customer friendly - but before you go there, what does your policy state? It should be clear from the documentation whether there was an endowment aspect, or just life insurance.

Is your £210k in premiums accurate? 

Flowernell

Life assured policy.  The figure was given to me by the Scottish provident adviser when we queried the policy.  We only managed to get a copy of the policy when we queried it.  We can not find any original in our paperwork.  Whether what I have been paying in, £202.51pm, has had premiums added i am not sure.

Flowernell

It is a 'death'  and critical illness cover but the financial adviser sold the policy to us knowing we wanted to ensure we could pay off the mortgage at the end of the term.  We assumed it was endowment as he reassured us.  Naive I know.  We trusted him.

MeteredOut

Flowernell said:

Life assured policy.  The figure was given to me by the Scottish provident adviser when we queried the policy.  We only managed to get a copy of the policy when we queried it.  We can not find any original in our paperwork.  Whether what I have been paying in, £202.51pm, has had premiums added i am not sure.

There are some policies that are both life insurance and investment plans (eg, Personal Investment Plans) and they pay out on death, but can also have an investment value. Some can be cashed in (they're often split into individual segments that can either be partially or wholly cashed in, and each has different tax implications). 

If you've been paying £200/month for 22 years, thats around £53K in premiums, and that could have grown to £210K in those 20 years if it has been invested. 

You need to find out why you were given the £210K figure.

You may want to do a subject access request to find out what original documentation might be around, eg, notes taken during your initial discussion with the advisor.

dunstonh

 So I haven't looked at it since taking it out in 2001.

2001 is important as that means it was sold pre-regulation.  It means you do not have access to the FOS and the advice firm does not have to consider the complaint unless they were members of the ABI.

It now transpires that the financial adviser, who had his own financial advisory service, is no longer active. 

That is the final nail in the coffin.   Pre-regulation was already a likely blocker but the selling firm no longer existing means there is no-one to complain to.

I have submitted a complaint to Scottish provident.  They gave me wrong advice, that I had nothing to worry about and they would pass to FSCS but I find that they did not do this and FSCS can not consider complaints on policies taken out before 2005.  Scottish Provident then advised they can not take my complaint forward as the financial service that sold it to me is not active.

Scottish provident has no liability as they didnt sell it to you.

FSCS advised me Scottish provident have been taken over by Royal London and are now responsible, which I pointed out to Scottish Provident asking if they had forwarded the complaint to them.  The answer was, again, that they have removed my complaint as the financial service that sold the policy to me is no longer active.

FSCS gave the incorrect information.   The insurer is not liable for complaints on sales made by third parties.   An easy mistake for them to make as it would be the first option to tick off on the list.  However, you have already ticked that option off and been told it wasn't to do with them.

I am now lost as to what to do.  Should I go straight to the Ombudsman or look at a solicitor on 'no win, no fee' arrangement?

You don't have access to the ombudsman.  The FOS only consider complaints that are post-regulation and where the firm is still authorised/trading.

You cannot use a solicitor either as there is no-one for the solicitor to take action against.

The figure was given to me by the Scottish provident adviser when we queried the policy.  

In your first post, you said it was an adviser that had their own firm.  In your second post, you are now saying it was an agent of Scottish Provident.  Which is it?  (I didn't think that Scot Prov had their own salesforce and RLs response indicates it wasn't them).  

It is a 'death'  and critical illness cover but the financial adviser sold the policy to us knowing we wanted to ensure we could pay off the mortgage at the end of the term.  We assumed it was endowment as he reassured us.  Naive I know.  We trusted him.

Is it a level term assurance or a decreasing term assurance?     Life assurance with no value is used to cover repayment mortgages.       Maybe the seller thought you had a repayment mortgage?   Maybe you did at the start but it was changed to interest only later?

Over £200pm for pure life assurance & CIC in 2001 is high unless health issues or large sum assured.   As mentioned above, that equates to £53k currently. Not £210k.   So, where has this £210k come from?

You may want to do a subject access request to find out what original documentation might be around, eg, notes taken during your initial discussion with the advisor.

The OP has said that the firm no longer exists.    So, there will be no records retained.    Scot Prov would only have received the application.  Not any of the advice documentation.

Unless there is an investment element, it is game over
Pure protection regulation was 2005 but investments were 1988 - that includes life assurance with an investment element.  FSCS would cover from 1989 if investment backed.