Endowment mortgage shortfall

joolsveer

Registered User
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I read an article in yesterday's Sunday Times about endowment mortgages and I would like your advice on the best way of lodging a meaningful complaint.

I took out a joint mortgage in 1991 and was sold a "low cost" endowment policy by an insurance broker who also looked after the application to the building society. The broker told us (myself and my wife) that not alone would the policy on maturity in 2016 pay off the mortgage but there would be a good lump sum as well. Needless to say over the last 14 years projections have not borne out his promise. Over the last five years or so I have complained to the broker, the insurance company and the building society but none of these will take responsibilty for the projected shortfall. Given the lack of satisfaction with these complaints we decided to switch our mortgage to a repayment one and I expect that we will have the mortgage repaid well before the 2016 deadline. We continue to pay premiums on the endowment policy in the hope that it will provide a nest egg eventually. Are we living in a fool's paradise?

At this stage I would like to have my case considered by some sort of official financial regulator in the hope that the people and companies who made these promises will be taken to task. What options do I have?
 
If you can prove that you were misadvised or missold the product then you may well have grounds for complaint/compensation. Having promises such as you mention above in writing would certainly strengthen your case. Trying to prove that something was said verbally will obviously be a lot more difficult. Do you have any written documentation which might help with such a complaint/claim? Have you contacted the company in question about this issue first and then, if you don't get a satisfactory response, [broken link removed]?
 
No I don't have written proof. It was a verbal statement only. I have contacted the broker company several times and named the guy who made the promises. They do not accept that he would have said this.
 
Sounds to me that you would have a difficult job proving that you were misadvised so. No harm in complaining in writing to the company and/or IFSRA if you feel that you were though.
 
Those who were successful in these complaints and got refunds had the brokers BS in writing . Did you make any calculations at the time based on the BS that you wrote down and kept ?
 
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