Mis sold endowments

[Dom Tuk]

My endowment has not been performing well over the past 3 years. However the endowment company is not notifying me that it will probably not earn enough upon maturity to pay off the mortgage. Are they doing this so that i cannot calim that i was missold. I got my endowment in 1997. Can i put in a claim anyway if the returns on the endowment are not up to the mark.How do i do it

[stevie21]

Were you sold this endowment on the understanding that it was 100% guaranteed to consistently grow and *not* follow the meanderings of the stock market?

Lots of endowments don't fully pay off the mortgages that they're designed to cover and the customer is left liable for this. That's the chance you take. Maybe a repayment mortgage would have suited you better.

If your endowment paid off your mortgage completely and left you with �10,000 extra left over, would you expect your lender to put in a claim against you?

[patriciather]

get in touch with your mortgage broker{who sold you the policy}and complain! im in the process of this at this time -do not be fobbed off-they are all -or should i say were-promising a good return at the end of the mortgage.ive posted other q on this site ,please look for them & good luck

[hectic]

Whichever company you have your policy with is required by law to send you a yearly statement declaring how your policy is doing, get in touch with them and request these statements from 1997.  when endowment policies are sold, the projected maturity value is based on guidelines set by the FSA so chances are you have not been mis-sold this policy it has just under performed due to recent unforseen world events.  A lot of people are trying to claim that they were mis-sold these policies when really they were just looking for the cheapest option which incedently has not worked out for them.  My advise to you would be to increase your monthly contribution so that your investment will be guaranteed to cover the cost of your mortgage at the lowest rate of growth or change the mortgage to a repayment.

[Hammer]

Under-performance is no basis for complaint as long as the risks were pointed out to you. Some you win, some you lose. If the investment suddenly rocketed and doubled in value (which is theoretically possible), then you're laughing. If it drops, oh well, never mind, that's the chance you take.

[Miss Zippy]

Look at the Financial Services Authority (which took over mortgage regulation recently) website - fsa.gov.uk.  Click on the 'Consumer information' link, then click on the 'mortgages' link on the next page.  The 'endowment mortgages' link details the grounds for valid complaint.

[kazza55]

You should get in touch with the endowment company and ask them to send you an up to date projection of what any shortfall might be. They are supposed to send one of these every year and let you know what the risk is (low or high) that the policy will not pay off the mortgage at the end of the term.Unfortunately, the projected shortfall/surplus cannot be predicted with any accuracy.The only thing almost certain is likely to be a larger shortfall every year. You can then phone the endowment company if you are going to complain and ask them what their complaints procedure is. They will want to know your circumstances at the time you took out the endowment and you will have to word your complaint very carefully. It is no good telling them that you are not happy with the returns on the investment etc.

 Mine sent us a form to fill in and asked for mortgage details since the time I took out the endowment. Don't worry if you don't have all the paperwork, but it does help if you can provide as much information as possible.

My complaint was that I was told that the endowment policy would definitely pay off the mortage at the end of the term. In reality there is a large potention shortfall at the end of the mortgage term and only 10 more years to go. Not much hope of it paying off the mortgage it was supposed to,let alone a cash lump sum on top.Also, the terminal bonuses at the end are not guaranteed.In the end the endowment company upheld my complaint and did offer compensation. It is only a few thousand after they deducted the life cover from the amount, but at least they will pay any mortgage redemtion fees that may occur if I surrender the policy and use the compensation to pay off some of the mortgage. That is what I'm going to do,take the money and get rid of the endowment,using all the money to pay a lump sum off the mortgage.