Are we being shafted by our bank?

[scotgal]

In 1988 we took out an endowmnent mortgage with our bank which we think was due to mature on my husband's retirement (Dec 2010). Half way through the term we were told the endowment would not cover the amount due at maturity and so agreed to pay a further £200 per month to catch up as it were.This had a horrendous impact on our finances but we struggled through. We also made an unsuccessful claim to the bank re the shortfall and were told we were time barred. Last June the insurance company paid out the endowment which we left in our current account for the mortgage to be repaid. We had a letter from the bank recently to contact them and have just been told that the mortgage has indeed come to an end and because we now have insufficient funds in our current account do we now need to discuss re-mortgage with all the costs that entails. I told them to hang on because we still have pensions to cash in and I can only say that the young man seemed a little put out that we might have some other finance available. In the meantime though he asked for £300 p/m until we have things sorted out. What, if any, redress would we have against the bank? We seem to be getting a raw deal here as the mortgage is now down to £25k and we cuurently have some £18k in our account.
If anyone can point us in the right direction we would be grateful.

[Ankou]

very sorry to hear that, it must be quite stressful. it was reported a few years back that around 86% of all endowment policies were in shortfall so you are not alone. of course i know that doesn't help you. i am not a financial or banking guru, but until one arrives here you might want to take a butchers here:

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

[factor-fiction]

Sorry I'm not sure what the issue is here.
I'm not sure what would make redress applicable here unless you are now arguing you were misinformed/missold regarding the extra £200 a month. What was this - an extra endowment policy?
Anyone who takes out an interest only mortgage is regularly reminded that it is their responsibility to make sure the capital can be repaid at the end of the term. It seems you don't quite have enough yet but could afford to pay it off if you cash in some pensions (presumably by taking a partial tax free lump sum).
In the meantime the bank is right to expect you to continue paying interest or a repayment mortgage until you can pay off the balance.
However you should be able to repay £18000 and just make a temporary arrangement for the remainder until you can raise the funds.
Sorry if I've misunderstood.

[smothershaw]

I had the same problem, I went to one of these companies that we advertise about mortages not meeting their expectations, it was a few years ago, and they got me some money, they did take a small percentage, but it was better thatn nothing. If I can find the company will let you know.

[smothershaw]

As mentioned yesterday. Found the company it was EMC (Endowment Mis-seling complaints) advisory Services Ltd, number was 01803 209680 they were really good, I can remember how much I got back but in was a lot. Good luck with this.

[factor-fiction]

Hi smothershaw- the OP had already tried to make a misselling claim but it failed as it was time barred. I doubt very much whether a claim can be made again for the same matter.