Endownment Misselling

[Mike]

Hi all

I complained about a possible misselling back in 2001 to the company concerned (Natwest) and the Financial Ombudsman’s and it was rejected stating I signed the form, which stated there maybe a short fall ? Even though the risks were not explained.

I know there has been a lot of press about the burden of proof shifting from the complaint to the company and based on this wondered it if worth trying again. Or is if because I failed once I cannot do it again.

Any comments or advice.

Thanks

Mike

[paulyoung666]

got to be worth trying again , tbh i dont know if the form i signed contained that text or not , regardless i got settled out with legal and general , having said that , my mortgage was taken out in 1991 and may not have contained that text , i have a sneaking suspicion that you are outside of the timescale , although i may be wrong , good luck anyway

Originally Posted by Mike

Any comments or advice.

Check out http://www.fsa.gov.uk/consumer/02_HO...complaint.html

The FSA are supposed to deal with issues like this.

[Wicked_and_Crazy]

if the financial ombudsman has already ruled you dont stand a hope of getting anything. Natwest will have a record of this too as they have to pay the financial ombudsman (i think its £140) for every case that is refered to them
__________________

Originally Posted by paulyoung666

got to be worth trying again , tbh i dont know if the form i signed contained that text or not , regardless i got settled out with legal and general , having said that , my mortgage was taken out in 1991 and may not have contained that text , i have a sneaking suspicion that you are outside of the timescale , although i may be wrong , good luck anyway

anyone with an endowment should get a letter soonish to tell them that the time limit is going to expire. Time isnt up just yet.

[highlandlassie]

Mines was with the Pru - they told me the same, wasn't entitled to anything, but they did give me a gratuaity (sp) payment of £600 - I should have fought it but I didn't.


On the other hand my SIL got all his money back plus interest, as he was mis-sold - he used the money towards his present mortgage

[paulyoung666]

Originally Posted by Wicked_and_Crazy

anyone with an endowment should get a letter soonish to tell them that the time limit is going to expire. Time isnt up just yet.

just looked up about it myself and yes , you are quite correct

[Wicked_and_Crazy]

Originally Posted by paulyoung666

just looked up about it myself and yes , you are quite correct

September 2007 is the date. Im not sure if thats a general cut off date for endowment complaints of a company specific date.

Just found client profile that was completed when i bought an endowment some years ago, i think i might have a case for complaint based upon what was written. My dilemma is, should i have a crack at complaining when its my current employer. hmmm

[Chimaera]

I took my endowment out 8 years ago, I've had a letter last year saying it will fall short of the amount needed to pay back the mortgage. How do I know if it's worth complaining about? On the 'forecast' of how much it would be worth when it matured there were 3 different growth rates on it, I think they were 4%, 6% and 8%. And do you complain about the person that sold it to you (I had an independent financial advisor who was recommended by a friend) or the company that the endowment comes from?

[paulyoung666]

iirc , you need to get onto who the endowment is with , i.e. the halifax or whoever it maybe

[Wicked_and_Crazy]

Originally Posted by Chimaera

I took my endowment out 8 years ago, I've had a letter last year saying it will fall short of the amount needed to pay back the mortgage. How do I know if it's worth complaining about? On the 'forecast' of how much it would be worth when it matured there were 3 different growth rates on it, I think they were 4%, 6% and 8%. And do you complain about the person that sold it to you (I had an independent financial advisor who was recommended by a friend) or the company that the endowment comes from?

the independant financial advisor would be the person who mis sold if there was a case of mis selling. However i would still go back to the company that the policy is with as although they dont employ the IFA they have a responsibility only to sell the policy to you if appropriate advice was given.

In addition a lot of life companies sold out of equities a few years back and bought into bonds as they have to prove to the FSA that they are solvent and with 9/11 and other things there was a big risk of some of the companies going under. The result is that they now have bonds which do not have the potential for the higher growth in order to compensate for the falls that have been made in the past. Bonds are more gauranteed but you wont get much above the 4% return that they are quoting. In fact the the company i work for ONLY quote 4% now and dont bother projecting at the other rates.

[iron25]

My comments might not go down to well in this thread but hey, we're all entitled to our opinions but I have little sympathy for people trying to claim compensation based on their claims that they were mis-sold endowment policies. In my opinion, these people were just extremely naive and did not know what they were getting into. Okay, if advised by an IFA you might be expected to believe everything they say but Instead of asking the right questions about 'what if' they were mostly probably blinded by the 'big sell' of these policies that at the end of the term you might have money left over (rub hands together).

My lack of sympathy doesn't just stretch to these endowments, it covers most claims of mis-selling Mis-selling by the seller more likely naivety/stupidity by the buyer

[Wicked_and_Crazy]

Originally Posted by iron25

My comments might not go down to well in this thread but hey, we're all entitled to our opinions but I have little sympathy for people trying to claim compensation based on their claims that they were mis-sold endowment policies. In my opinion, these people were just extremely naive and did not know what they were getting into. Okay, if advised by an IFA you might be expected to believe everything they say but Instead of asking the right questions about 'what if' they were mostly probably blinded by the 'big sell' of these policies that at the end of the term you might have money left over (rub hands together).

My lack of sympathy doesn't just stretch to these endowments, it covers most claims of mis-selling Mis-selling by the seller more likely naivety/stupidity by the buyer

i agree with you, and in times of low interest people should be paying the capital off their mortgage with their interest savings, to compensate for the low returns on the investment. However, if others are receiving compensation you would be an idiot not to try for yourself

[Tuftus]

You may want to call one of the companies that advertise non stop on tv about this...

endowmentclaims4u etc etc / ambulance chaser type companies...

I am sure they will be able to best advise since they are in it for the cash...

[paulyoung666]

Originally Posted by iron25

My comments might not go down to well in this thread but hey, we're all entitled to our opinions but I have little sympathy for people trying to claim compensation based on their claims that they were mis-sold endowment policies. In my opinion, these people were just extremely naive and did not know what they were getting into. Okay, if advised by an IFA you might be expected to believe everything they say but Instead of asking the right questions about 'what if' they were mostly probably blinded by the 'big sell' of these policies that at the end of the term you might have money left over (rub hands together).

My lack of sympathy doesn't just stretch to these endowments, it covers most claims of mis-selling Mis-selling by the seller more likely naivety/stupidity by the buyer

quite right , you are entitled to your opinions , but ........... , when you are 20 years old , green as grass , and .......... , have a slick smooth talking salesman trying to help you out .............

[thunder]

hi, i had endowment with Abbey life, and felt it was miss-sold especially as i was told i could sell it on to one of these firms but found out later it was not a with profits scheme. Anyway after 3 letters to abbey complaining nothing, so i informed one of these companies and they started proceedings..(at up to 50% of anything they got for me !!!!!). anyway in the mean time Abbey was forced to check all policies and before the company i asked could do anything abbey offered me £7000 . I had paid in £12000 but the trade in value was £4000 so in total i got £11,000 back and considering i had had 8 years critical illness and life insurance for the £1000 difference i felt that was a good deal.... be careful of these companies as they can take up to 50% of any deal, so you may be better taking any offer even if it is lower as it may end up more than 50% of anything they can get you !