Endowment Advice?

[CAT220]

Guys,

Looking for some advice regards my endownment, I was advised in 1998 that endownment was the way to go now 8 yegars later ive been advised that the projected final value will be some 10k short of the mark . So i'm looking to investigate whether i'm eligible for compensation. Any advice on the first steps? I've seen the usual adverts on TV and newspapers but these places tend to take a large chunk of any compensation rewarded (think about 25%)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
C

 

[pammy]

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/faq/mortgage.htm

tells you all you need to know. Do the paperwork yourself - it's not that hard. We did it and won

 

[tmienterprises]

Go with what Pam said - there is a bit of paper work involved but it can be done...

As long as you have all copies of correspondence with the original financial adviser (if you used one)

 

[pammy]

As long as you have all copies of correspondence with the original financial adviser (if you used one)

Don't even need that - we didn't but if you do then it obviously helps

 

[glojo]

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/faq/mortgage.htm

tells you all you need to know. Do the paperwork yourself - it's not that hard. We did it and won

I am surprised that endowment mortgages are still being sold without huge health warnings. I do not want to pry on any private details, but how long ago were you sold your policy?

We were fortunate and our endowment mortgage finalised before the big shares collapse.

Good luck cat220

John

 

[pammy]

the one we claimed on we were sold in 1991 and it was all mortgage related. The claim was fairly painless - but then hub's did do it all

 

[BTB 500]

Good link Pammy.

My endowment has 4 years to run, it may just cover the capital but when I took it out in 1985 it was meant to give a huge profit on maturity

 

[maldon]

I've about 15 months to go until pay day.... I'll may, if lucky, get back about as much as we've put in. What a fantastic return for twenty five years worth of investment... Would have been better off with a bog standard account at the Halifax...

We were mis-sold. 'You can expect to get a decent lumpsum on top of what you will need to clear the mortgage...' We are arguing the toss and not making a great deal of progress.

 

[CAT220]

Cheers for the replies guys, thanks for the link Pammy. I'll keep you all posted on how it goes.

glogo - Was sold the endownment in 1998, at that time people were still being told its a solid investment

 

[glojo]

I've about 15 months to go until pay day.... I'll may, if lucky, get back about as much as we've put in. What a fantastic return for twenty five years worth of investment... Would have been better off with a bog standard account at the Halifax...

We were mis-sold. 'You can expect to get a decent lumpsum on top of what you will need to clear the mortgage...' We are arguing the toss and not making a great deal of progress.

Sadly this is the point I am tactfully trying to get across. I am not a financial bod, but I believe endowment mortgages relied upon a healthy shares market. maldon and all the other contributors might have taken out these policies when everything was growing and we were promised excellent returns. In recent years this has not been the case and I was under the impression that recent endowment plans came with huge health warnings and LOTS of small print to protect the seller of them??

I certainly wish you luck, and thanks for the replies.

John

 

[IanA2]

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/faq/mortgage.htm

tells you all you need to know. Do the paperwork yourself - it's not that hard. We did it and won

Pammy is right, it is easy, I did it & won. Mine was an £80K with profits endowment taken out in the early 90's About a year ago I got:

a)mis-selling compensation, and then,
b) sold it back to NU.

Can't complain about how they dealt with the matter and altogether it was a pretty fair settlement. Beware of those companies that offer to take massive commission. Also you don't necessarily have to take the endowment company's first offer, you do however need to get your skates on as I understand that some companies are calling time.

Good luck.

 

[kikkthecat]

As Pammy says, do it yourself, I did and now seem much better off than I was.
First port of call is the person/company that sold you the policy, I was lucky because it was the CIS and they only use their own agents so the person who sold me it worked for them, not a broker.
It also helped that mine was to run for 5 years after Therese's retirement date which I understand they were not allowed to sell and I was able to dig out some projected forecasts I was given at the time promising the earth.

Dont go near the "we'll do it for you" companies, they just take 25% of what you are entitled to.

Any fiancial compensation is supposed to put you exactly where you would be if you took out a repayment mortgage at the time the endowment was (mis)sold.

 

[maldon]

Very interesting. Our is about same age and was to be for identical value.

Salesman retired, his firm no longer trades - Mrs has been dealing with this for a couple of years and has been sent up several blind alleys.

I am going to look at the reply we had (I think from fin ombs) maybe we can swap notes?

Pammy is right, it is easy, I did it & won. Mine was an £80K with profits endowment taken out in the early 90's About a year ago I got:

a)mis-selling compensation, and then,
b) sold it back to NU.

Can't complain about how they dealt with the matter and altogether it was a pretty fair settlement. Beware of those companies that offer to take massive commission. Also you don't necessarily have to take the endowment company's first offer, you do however need to get your skates on as I understand that some companies are calling time.

Good luck.

 

[stats007]

I thought this was going to be a bedroom question

 

[Howard]

:d

 

[grasmere]

I am surprised that endowment mortgages are still being sold without huge health warnings.

they are not 'still being sold' John.

Just to clarify, no mortgage is an 'endowment mortgage'. They are 'interest only' mortgages and typically one would also take out an endowment insurance policy as the repayment vehicle. The maturity of which was expected to pay off the outstanding balance after x number of years.

You can of course still get interest only mortgages today but you are still not obliged to have a repayment vehicle in place to repay it. Foolish if you have nothing in place but in essence it is nothing more than a huge 'interest only' personal loan secured on the property.

Endowment policies as such are not ordinarily available and certainly not as a repayment vehicle for a mortgage.

HTH