endowement problem

al_bloggs

hi everyone,i hoping that there is someone who can help me with my problem.let me explain
i took out a endowement mortgage with the help from a firm of financial advicessors ,i was told in 2000 that we were a high risk,andthat we would be in £18,000 debt if things carry on the way they are,we only borrowed £28,000 in the first place[scary]
so we made a claim to the financial compensation scheme,hoping for some help.well they turnt us down.there reason being,that as the firm who helped us get the mortgage had stopped trading in 96 and because i did'nt make a complaint toanyone with2 years of them closing which would have been jan 1998 i had blown it!i tried to explain that i was not aware of a problem with the mortgage until 2000 so how could i make a complaint,its tough is there answer or words to that effect,
unfortunately iam now disabled with absolutely no way of being to pay this debt,so what i need is some ideas as what i can do next,so if you can offer any help, please get in contact.al

EdInvestor

Hi al,

so we made a claim to the financial compensation scheme,hoping for some help.well they turnt us down.there reason being,that as the firm who helped us get the mortgage had stopped trading in 96 and because i did'nt make a complaint toanyone with 2 years of them closing which would have been jan 1998 i had blown it!i tried to explain that i was not aware of a problem with the mortgage until 2000

On the face of it, this looks wrong. The "time bar" mechanism states that you should make a claim within three years of knowing that there is a "high risk" of there being a shortfall on the emdowment.This knowledge commonly arrives in a "red warning letter" from your insurance company.It may have been preceded by green and orange letters telling you there was a potential problem, but it's the red one that's important.

Have you had a red warning letter?If so when did it arrive?

defender_of_the_weak

Challenge the decision with the FSCS. Please remember that not everone within any organisation is good at their job. There are a number of hoops and loops that need to be gone through for the FSCS to uphold a claim (only about 50% of cases result in a payment to customers) but I did not think this two year rule existed. It may be someones interpretation of an obscure rule, equally the rule may exist and the response you got was correct.

Move up the knowledge tree and ask for someone senior to review the decsion.

al_bloggs

dear ed.i got in touch with my life insurance alba life,and they told me that i was first notified that there was a problem with my mortgage, was in a letter sent to me in november 2000.does this help?al
ps,thanks for the response.

EdInvestor

Hi Al,

Condolences if you are caught up in Alba Life

Did they send you a "red traffic light" letter saying there was a "high risk of a shortfall"?

The timebar is activated from that point and lasts for 3 years.i

al_bloggs

hi ed, no all they sent me was a letter of notification that i was a high risk,not red just standard black text,but they have promised to send me copies of all letters generated since that time,14 nov 2000 apparently the date of ther first letter to me,does this letter have to be red?al

EdInvestor

Hi al,

I agree with DoW. Challenge the FSCS decision.

If you can show the first you knew about the likely loss was in 2000 and you claimed within three years of that, then you can show you met the only timebar limits that anyone knows about.

al_bloggs

hi ed,thanks for the advice i intend to ask for a review ,and see what happens will post outcome as when.thanks again.al