Think You Were Missold Your Endowment Complain Now!!!! [CLOSED]

Terry_D

FOSman wrote:

Higham Group are a cool bunch of people. :T

Is that because you work for them or that you had a satisfactory result? :wall:

Fullup

I was sold an endownment policy around 15 years ago. Which would pay out £50k on death.

The monthly premium is £75/month.

At the time I didn't have a house to mortgage and had little idea of what the whole thing meant, other than the idea of receiving £50k+ in 25 years time.

When I eventually got a mortgage we started off with an interest only mortgage but soon converted to a repayment (I didn't use the same company/advisor for the mortgages).

I have had letters telling me of a shortfall of around 50%.

Should I contact them about this? As I wasn't looking to buy a house when I was sold the endownment or was I just to naive to understand it in the first place and was just sold a lemon.?

Please help as I don't really know what to do.

Thank you
Fullup

dunstonh

pre-sale of endowments are frowned upon and usually end up being classed as a mis-sale. Most common outcome in this case is a refund of premiums plus interest. So you need to be aware that if you do complain, you could get back less than the current value of the endowment.

Fullup

Thanks dunstonh, I'll check my statements on the current value, but from memory it is currently about the same as I've paid in.

stepster

I've tried to get Friends' Provident to accept that my partner and I were mis-sold a policy, but they refuse to accept that anything was done wrong.

In 1991, we applied for a mortgage from Abbey National. It now turns out that the person we spoke to was actually a Friends' Provident representative, although this was never made clear to us at the time. She offered us an interest only Abbey mortgage with a Friends' Provident Endowment. At the time we were skeptical, but we were persuaded. The rep explained that the endowment was guaranteed to cover the mortgage and she pointed to the bonuses and explained that the policy would definitely cover the mortgage and would probably even provide us with a nice lump sum over and above what we needed. We decided to go ahead with it.

We remained comfortable in the knowledge that we'd purchased an excellent policy - indeed we even went on to buy a Friends' Provident pension from the same advisor. It wasn't until the dreaded updates arrived early in 2000 that we realised the truth.

We instantly took this up with Abbey. They told us it was nothing to do with them. We then went after Friends' Provident who said they could no longer get hold of the advisor we saw, so could do nothing.

We then took it up with the Financial Ombudsman, and after many months, they ruled against us, because we could not prove that the advisor ms-informed us! They sent us documents which they claimed we had seen and understood. We challenged this as the document had our new address on it! How could we have seen and understood something sent to an address we didn't yet live in! They told us we needed to prove we'd not received it - how can you ever do that!

They told us that the documents the advisor had provided showed the risk - but refused to accept that the advisor had completely ms-informed us about what the term 'bonus' actually meant. Our advisor explained to us that the bonus amount was over and above what we needed.

Looking back, I think the advisor was clueless. I think she believed what she told us was correct. As she sold us the policy, she had to constantly refer to her instructions. We were only on our mid 20s and believed what we were told.

We have now dumped the endowment and stopped paying into the pension schemes - once bitten etc... but the whole process has left us angry and a lot worse off than we thought we were.

Can anyone offer any advice on how we may see some justice? :mad: :mad:

defender_of_the_weak

Fullup

If you think you have grounds for complaint do it now, lincoln apply the time bar ruthlessly and in some cases I believe incorrectly. Do not wait

dunstonh

Looking back, I think the advisor was clueless. I think she believed what she told us was correct. As she sold us the policy, she had to constantly refer to her instructions. We were only on our mid 20s and believed what we were told.

Quite possible in 1991. Less likely now but many tied agents are only as good as what they are told.

We have now dumped the endowment and stopped paying into the pension schemes - once bitten etc... but the whole process has left us angry and a lot worse off than we thought we were.

Cancelling the pension payments may have cost you more than you realise. FP used to offer guaranteed annuity rates on their pensions which are far higher than those you can achieve today (and likely in the future). If you have those GARs, then you may have lost an extremely valuable benefit. FP pensions also offer a very good fund range and some of their funds are top rated. You may be irritated by them but you need to be careful that you are not losing out on something that would benefit you more by staying with them. Indeed, if you did have the GARs, you would do them more damage by keeping the plan running!!

stepster

dunstonh wrote:

Cancelling the pension payments may have cost you more than you realise.

At the time, we did it more out of necessity, than through sheer annoyance with Friends' Provident, it's our bad experience that has made us reluctant to restart payments.

I would love to know what to do with these policies, but good, honest, unbiased has in our experience been impossible to find. Our experience with the Advisor in the Abbey, that turned out to be Friends' Provident has made us very very cautious with that type of investment. We have seen other advisors since then and the advice has not inspired us with confidence!

FP's position of 'prove to us you didn't receive documents' when something goes wrong (something which is impossible to prove) is a situation that makes me feel that I'd rather give up on a company that's bad rather than give them any more cash. And are any of the other companies more hourable than them?

The_Only_Homer_Simpson_UK

Some guidance needed please fellow Moneysavers:
We have 2 endowments taken out in 1984 and 1987 when we moved again.
Both are with Scott Amicable ( now the Pru)
1st taken out through a broker who went out of business about 10 yrs later, 2nd taken through Woolwich when extending mortgage.
Both are flagging RED :eek:
Where can I go as im told that i cannot complain as policies were before deadline date
any guidance mucho appreciated

dunstonh

I would love to know what to do with these policies, but good, honest, unbiased has in our experience been impossible to find. Our experience with the Advisor in the Abbey, that turned out to be Friends' Provident has made us very very cautious with that type of investment. We have seen other advisors since then and the advice has not inspired us with confidence!

We exist but you need to make sure you see an independent financial advisor. Not a tied one, or a multi-tied one (some of whom make out they are independent when they are not).

Dont go to a big company for advice. They will have a salesforce mentality. You are better off seeing the small, local independent financial advisors. They wont have the flash computers or presentation tools of the big guns but they wont also have a "manager" breathing down their neck giving them hassle on sales targets.

Its not impossible, you just need to know where to look.