Endowment compensation?- Anyone tried and actually got any compo back?

[ssd]

Am thinking of trying, would you recommend me to?

Yes, definitely go for it. You've got nothing to loose and it was a lot less hassle than i imagined.
We complained about ours a few months ago and got £2300 compensation. Took our endowment out in 1993.
I found Which website really helpful - they've got at letter which you can pick which points apply to your case.
After sending letter we had a fairly quick reply that our complaint was being upheld. We then had to send back full details of mortgages.

Here's a link to Which for you which endowment help

We cashed in our policy after getting compensation and feel so much happier now on a repayment mortgage knowing it will be paid off on time.

Depends on when you took it out. If it's pre-1994 in Scotland, it might be harder to get compensation.

expat why would it be harder? I took it out in 1991 in Scotland.

B/c the laws governing the sale of these endowments in Scotland were VERY vague before 1994. And the sellers were not obligated to keep records of sales on file.

Thanks for the info expat and justmummy, I'll look into it all....

does anyone know if there is a cut off point for claiming compensation? I bought an endowment in 1991 and surrendered it about a year ago (getting less back than i paid in ) but had not told the company that we had moved a few times so did not get any warning letters etc. would like to claim but fear i have missed the boat...

We got compensation for two endowment policies. Both were taken out in Scotland pre 1994 (1988 & 1991). So even if the laws might be vague pre 1994, it can still be done.
I would definitely recommend claiming. You've nothing to lose and, like justmummy, I found it less hassle than I thought it would be.I also used the which site for advice/help.
Pipsqueak, the which site also gives advice on this. It looks like the 'cut off' date for claiming is the later date of either: six years from when the endowment was sold or three years from the date the buyer realised it was mis-sole. Hope this helps.

thanks Tabitha. I have done the letter from the Which website and sent off so fingers crossed. grateful for teh advice.

We didn't get compensation as we'd paid our mortgage off early and kept the endowment runign as an investment. Rest of my family all got payouts. Worth trying for, just p*ed off that we lost out because we'd reduced our debt through savings.

That seems a tad unfair to say the least ladymuck! Why should you be penalised for being prudent....cheek!
In talking about this with dh have just discovered that he has got an endowment which he thought was an income protection policy (duh!) . just glad he's not been ill! anyway its with Life Association of Scotland ( now Britannic) and was taken out in 1991 with a projected value of £39k. premiums are £60 per month . anyone got any idea what this might be worth approximately if surrendered?

Interesting. I've always dismissed the idea of claiming compensation, because the policy I have was arranged by my partner (now ex) who was a building society manager at the time - so he was the one doing the selling. He just arranged it all and got me to sign. I've figured that I couldn't claim that it was mis-sold to me by my own partner. On the other hand, I don't recall any discussion about any of the points on the Which website (thanks for the link justmummy). Does anyone think it would be worth me trying?

surfermum, I would definitely try. What have you got to lose except a couple of hours of your time writing letters etc.
Ladymuck, that does seem very unfair. One of the main arguments we put forward in our claim was that our main financial aim was to pay off our mortgage and this was why we were so annoyed that the Endowments that should have helped us to do this weren't going to. We had also paid off a small part of our mortgage and I always thought that doing this had stregnthened our case rather than weakened it.

I can't remember the detail, but it seemed to be that when you actually calculate the compensation due you have to take into account what the actual alternative position would have been (eg what additional repayments will have to be made or something). As we no longer had a mortgage, then we didn't have a shortfall.

Just popping in to say that this morning we received a cheque equal to 10% of our mortgage for the mis-selling of an endowment policy! So it's definitely worth applying - the worst that can happen is they say no. Many thanks for Justmummy for the link to the Which site, which made it simple to claim.

After complaining to the people that sold us our 2 policies and our complaint being rejected, we're battling with the FSA (Financial Services Authority) at the moment. If you end up complaining, read up everything you can on endowment misselling. (Google can help here, especially look up the "Tiner principles"- he's the head of the FSA and laid down these rules that investment companies are not allowed to use when rejecting complaints). We had our complaint rejected by the FSA but it turns out we might have had a duff adjudicator because the reasons she gave broke these Tiner principles! So our complaint of miss-selling is currently being reviewed by the consumer review team at the FSA. I would emphasise that you read all documents you've got and any replies you get. Don't be fobbed off with excuses.

The message I get from a lot of the websites I've read is don't give up! Also be prepared to have a long wait, (we waited 15 months for the FSA to reach a decision) as they are inundated with something like 1300 complaints a week at the moment. HTH.

Fantastic news suedonim. Glad i could be of some help.

just mummy you are my heroine! I used which precedent letter and got compensation for misselling today.Yippee! thanks again

Hi we have just been successful in our claim for endowment. The company we used was claim4endowment, they sent out a man to get some details and then about 6 weeks later it was all done and the cheques were sent out to us. They charge about 30% of your comp though so maybe there are cheaper out there.

Yes, friend of mine used Which? website as a starting point and got a couple of thousand back so well worth it for her.

We complained through the ombudsman and got £8000 back from Abbey Life!

ssd-abbey national have just compensated me £2500

its worth a try

What a lovely surprise the cheque arrived this morning!

We've had compensation for three mis-sold policies - but had to take two of the companies to the ombudsman before Legal & General and Pioneer paid up. The third, Standard Life, paid up without an argument. Definitely worth complaining, and being persistent if they refuse - it does take time to fill in the forms, but worth it for several thousand pounds compensation which in theory puts you in the position you had been if you hadn't received duff advice.

yes. do it. we got £4500 compensation and all our premiums refunded from Allied 'Crowbar'. we were definitely mis-sold - I went in having already decided that i wanted a repayment and had my arm twisted into buying an endowment, with all warnings about possibility of the product not performing poo pooed. The guy made me feel a fool for even considering that it wouldn't grow. We got ours in 1996.