Maddog

Got a number of endowments which haven't done too well.

One in particular is really annoying me which i took out when i was a whippersnapper and wasn't thinking of buying a house or anything like that, but was recommended as a savings plan but could also be used for a future mortgage.

What's your experiences in trying to complain about mis-selling? Any help / advice appreciated.

Dr Sti

8" last time i looked. The girlies love it.

Dr Sti

njkmrs

Kin never bin well endowed meself ,but never mind .!!

Leslie

I'd rather not thank you, since you are ordering me to!

Les

Jamie

Hung like a donkey here

douglasb

Serious answer.

If you just complain because the investment hasn't performed as well as you expected, you don't have a chance. You need to prove that whoever sold you the policy knew your circumstances, attitude to risk, etc., and that an endowment wasn't appropriate for your needs (eg. the life assurance cover wasn't needed in your circumstances).

The other grounds for complaint are if you have anything in writing that guarantees that it will pay out x amount on maturity and this amount isn't going to be paid out. This isn't likely as any quotations you got beforehand will no doubt show projected rather than guaranteed amounts.

There is also a time limit on compaints if you have received a red "traffic light" letter telling you that the evetual payout is unlikely to be what you thought. I forget how long you have after receiving this letter, but time is running out.

Phantom_Flan_Flinger

Best place to start is MoneySavingExpert.

If you're going to complain, you'll need to get your @rse in gear sharpish. That's if it's not too late already.

My endowment was with Winterthur. Complaint was upheld last year and I got £5500 on a £64,000 mortgage.

Dave.

Maddog

Thanks douglasb and Phantom Flan Flinger. As for the other "contributors", look under "muppet forum", i think you'll find that more entertaining.

Thinking about it, i supppose i wouldn't be complaining if it had done alright, but what has got my goat is that it's the longest running endowment and is the worst performer. It's not even remotely close to what it was intended to achieve.
What's made matters worse is that to bring it back on track requires +4x the premium that's paid just now.
At the time i took it out it was sold to me as an investment, not for life assurance or mortgage purposes, that was suggested as being a convenient sideline. (I didn't know anything mortgages back then or was even considering thinking about why would i need a mortgage!)

logiclee

In 1990 I took out an endowment to cover a £40k mortgage.
I few years back I complianed saying I was not told of the risks involved with endowments at the time and received £4.5k.
The endowment has around 8 years left to run and I'm still paying in as a savings scheme as I've already paid off the £40k mortgage.

Cheers
Lee

molko

aye, best thing you can do is complain, just insist you were not fully informed of the risks involved etc.

I took out an endowment on a £60k mortgage in 1999, with in 3 months of buying the house the endowment payments had gone up. Then they went up again the next year.

I complained, i found a standard letter from on of these 'money expert/complaints' websites, peice of cake mate, just fill in the gaps, plead your case, within a few weeks you'll get some official forms to fill in from your endowment company, fill them in and send them back.

I got awarded £2800, the funny thing is that the endownment is now overperforming !...

Good Luck !

M

Maddog

Well i sent off a letter from one of those sites and i've now found out i'm too late to make a complaint, so i have a couple of options.

Take the surrender value or keep it going.

The endowment was to cover £30K back in the mid 80's.
I've paid £10K into it and the surrender value at the moment is £15K. The policy is underachieving by £9K according to the company.

Don't know whether to carry on as is or cash it in. Any independant advisors out there? The policy finishes in about 5 years, but i'm also intending to leave this country before the policy ends.

douglasb

It sounds like the policy will pay out around £21K in about 5 years. Do you need the money at the moment or does an additional £6K over what it's worth by surrendering it now sound like a good investment for however much you will pay over the next 5 years?

Also, remember that if you fall under a bus tomorrow, the endowment pays off your mortgage. If you don't have any dependants this may not be important to you but it's something to think of before surrendering the policy.

I've been in a similar position and decided to convert to a repayment mortgage but keep the policy on as it forces me to save and the eventual tax-free lump sum will be very welcome in about 5 years' time (even if it's less than what was originally projected, it's still a respectable amount considering what has happened to interest rates in the meantime).

Maddog

Thanks Douglas.

Some good points i hadn't thought about.
I'm not sure yet if i will sell the house before i move abroad, or take the hassle in trying to rent it out and make some money or stay in the UK market place.

I need a big crystal ball to see what's going to happen in the UK regards house prices, but i'd like to keep the house anyway in case i don't like living/working abroad.

The thing is, the money would come in handy just now (for the move abroad) but at the same time, the premium i pay to keep the policy going is relatively peanuts, so i'm kind of inclined to do nothing and just keep it going.

{Edit}
I've just had a chat with someone about this and another reason for keeping it going is that even though i don't need it for my mortgage, i still have a life asurance attached to the policy therefore if i cancel this endowment, i would still need to take out a new life assurance policy to cover up to the cost of the mortgage, so it's looking like i should keep the status quo.