HELP! with Endowment Shortfall please!??

[maria 1965]

hi and thanks WMO3

 

I wrote july 2004 made a complaint they said they didn't think there was a problem ....... I then phoned and was told that it wasn't worth claiming so I left it. I then wrote in aug 06 and was told I only had 6mths so tough. I then phoned ombuds and they suggested to try again as a new claim. I id and got a reply asking why i didnt do it within 6mths so i went on to say father in law died previously to this and I was ill etc.. they then asked for further info I just gave them basic info, They have liiked into case and basicall said

Main Points

 

Firstly they cannot consider complaint 6mths later"

Unless exceptional circumstances

barclays object to them looking into complaint because it was over 6mths

They (ombuds) then reiterate the basic info I told them as above but I could exassebate illness??? my partner works in switzerland so he couldnt help they then go on to say however if I have any new points which would make significant difference let them know (ombuds)

 

So it looks as though there not ruling it out completely what do you think

 

Desperate

 

Maria:!:

[workingmumof3]

I think it's definitely worth another letter. What I actually meant was, why do you think you have grounds for a complaint? i.e what reasons did you give in your original letter for it being a mis-sold policy?

 

A death in the family and illness ARE exceptional circumstances. By telling you to exacerbate the illness they are basically telling you to lay it on thick about how ill you were and about how affected you were by the family death etc.

 

The can consider the complaint 6 months later if you raise separate points and they have to. As they have mentioned timebarring you, when did you receive a letter from Barclays telling you that you had a problem? you basically have 3 years plus 6 months grace to raise your concerns.

WMof3

[workingmumof3]

Maria, PS, on a totally separate note, I noticed you have also complained to LTSB re bank charges. Be warned that LTSB are known to reject everything and hope that you don't follow it up. All you need to do is mention the Ombudsman in your follow up letter and that you are seeking legal advice and they will pay out in full.

 

Good luck with that:p

WMof3

[maria 1965]

Hi WMO3

 

yes the ombuds seems to support but i need exceptional circum for it to go ahead what should I say, for why its took so long inbetween complaints ,as for the grounds I just used a template off the which website last aug 2006 I cant remember what i put in original letter in july 2004

 

Lloyds ive only just filed on moneyclaim awaiting funds and other things I hope they dont come back with a fob off as its a while since I started initial claim

 

Thanks Maria

 

PS if you want to do this with private e-mail that ok:-|

[Phil Warters]

Hi Had a giggle today, the mortgage company sent me there dicision and concluded that I had been mis-sold my endowment, but (what a suprise ha,ha,) the balance is the same as if I had taken out a repayment, therefor no compensation is due. having looked at ther calculations I went and made a cup of t, then finished watching the tv. 'cause I was none the dam wiser. should I go to a finacial adviser or not bother.

 

 

if only life was simple

[workingmumof3]

That all depends on if you are thinking of switching to a repayment mortgage now or not. If you are, then as they have upheld your complaint they should have offerred to pay the fees for switching. This can be as much as £300 as solicitors are needed etc. So it's worth checking if you are thinking of switching.

 

Shame about the compensation.

WMof3

[zubo]

Wmo3,

 

Its nice to have someone who has such good knowledge...

 

I am afraid to say that I buried my head in the sands, ignored the notices, hoping for a big win on the lottery...

 

Now I am close to 5 years away, I need to panic and work out if there is anything I can do. Last year I requested details from the ins companies, they provided these 3 policies and each politely told me that my financial consultant was the point of contact for complaints - he wasnt anything to do with them.

 

To cut a long story short, the FC was a friend of a friend, good at doing lots of business and made an excellent profit.. so much so that he was convicted of various offences, swindling his friend of his money etc etc, lost his business, wife, disappeared...

 

A few endowment get your money back people looked at my problem and didnt want to know... no quick easy profit for them, my only recourse is the Ombudsman I guess - unless you know otherwise.

 

One question which I must have missed - where is the legislation which requires you to complain in a set timeframe? who on earth proposed that? or is this an arbitary thing each ins company decided in order to limit their losses?? if there is no legislation, has anyone challenged it in court??

 

Finally, is there any case law where the insurance companies have been challenged re their alleged agents are not employees of the company??

 

Thanks

[workingmumof3]

Phew what a lot of issues!

 

I have attached a link to a great document produced by the FSA which answers a lot of your questions.

http://www.moneymadeclear.fsa.gov.uk/pdfs/endowment_complaints.pdf

 

In short, how your complaint is treated depends on the FC. Was he an independent financial adviser (IFA) i.e he worked for himself and sold a range of different policies from different companies or, was he an appointed rep for one company in particular?. If he was an IFA and has since gone out of business (you can do a search on the FSA website to check if they are still trading by following the attached link)

FSA Register__

 

You can't actually complain to the ombudsman unless your complaint has already been declined by the firm or person responsible for giving you advice. as the role of the Ombudsman is to adjudicate on decisions already made, not to make decisions in the first instance.

 

If your provider has timebarred your complaint, (and these rules came into force in June 2004) it means that they must have warned you of the date by which you must complain, the first link at the top of this post includes details of the rules.

 

Timebarring has been challenged in some local courts and cases have been upheld locally on the basis that the policyholder did not know that their policy was at risk, i.e. they had not received the timebarr letters as they had moved house etc and the Ins Co could not prove that the letters had been sent to the correct addresses. If this has happened to you, you may have a case. As far as I know, no one has sucessfully challenged the legality of timebarring itself. The FSA has recently reviewed how companies are treating timebarred policyholders and their report stated that in most cases the policyholders were being treated fairly and correct procedures were being followed.

 

RE - your final point, as stated earlier the person who sold you the policy must be either an appointed rep for one company in particular a good example would be The Prudential, their agents were called FCs and worked from home visiting clients in their own homes and selling only Pru policies. In this case the Pru would be wholly responsible for the advice given irrespective of where the FC is now.

 

OR a Tied agent the person would be an IFA who may have worked from an estate agent or building society and may have been tied to a particular company or been able to sell policies offerred by any company. If your Fc was an IFA and is no longer trading you can complaint to the FSCS (link in top document as before) They will make a decision on your complaint but will only consider it if you were advised after August 1988. The Financial Services act came into force in April 1988 and affords a lot more protection to you if your policy was sold after this date.

 

Hope this has helped.

WMof3

[zubo]

Thanks for the info.

 

The guy is no longer registered, he was an independent FA.

 

and he is long gone - I need to check when the major round of remortgaging happened.

[gill5blue]

LATE I GUESS

But I will give it a go, using your information on this thread.

I rang ZURICH and the customer adviser is going to pass on my complaint about my missold endowments.