Endowment shortfall....advise please
 

Since there appears to be a wealth of knowledge on here I thought I'd ask about the endowment situation.

I'm quite forunate in having a relatively small mortgage - but I made a casual enquiry via one of the companies advertising on the internet and was told that I couldnt claim for an Endowment shortfall as I took the advise of my solicitor at the time and followed his recommendation to use a product.

Can anyone tell me if this is really the case, can compensation still be sought and I guess the next question is, who can be trusted to handle a case - hopefully with a no win, no fee type outcome.

Finally, is there any mileage in approaching the actual Endowment Provider? (who have been telling me happily of the shortfall for the last few years) ???

Cheers - Frank

Not that clued up on this, but it is a solicitors place to offer financial advice? I'd have thought a financial advisor would be better placed?
I'd check out the solicitors credentials, and if there's any doubt then persue a claim.

Hi Frank,

I used this company

http://www.lower-cost-complaints.co.uk/index.html


They have just got me £4K in compo and only take 15% on a no win no fee basis,

As I understood it the basis of the claim is to ascertain whether you were given all the facts at the time of sale and whether all the pitfalls of an endowment policy were made clear, I have 3 policies and in 1 case the compo has been paid by the person who sold it, not the actual endowment company

Hope this helps

Ian

Cheers guys

Frank

You need to find out whether the solicitor was authorised to prvie financial advice - he wouldn't be able to now but in the past they were able to provide some limited advice via the Law Society. The solicitor will probably be no longer regulated so a claim against them may have little chance of success, however you may get some joy from the product provider. You don't need to utilise an outside agency all you do is write a letter saying that you feel that the policy you have has not been sold is not suitable to your requirements. Check out the Which website, I think that they have draft letters to be used.

Did the solicitor ascertain things such as affordability, attitude to risk etc. Don't hang around because a lot of provders are timebarring endowment complaints. You should also know that the biggest growth area of employment is handling endowment complaints. Hope this helps.

I complained that the Halifax had miss guided me on my endowment, and won back over £5000.
Its your money Frank go for it but be quick as Chris said ;)

The Which? website has been very helpful......

http://www.which.net/endowmentaction...cess.html#five

Great FAQ section here but since I've had 3 or 4 'red' letters already its looking a bit grim already :(

Frank

Frank, you have nothing to lose by trying, I would also go after the solicitor, it may go nowhere but what have you got to lose? Time is of the essence.

For what its worth, i remortgaged 2 years ago to dump my endowment and made a claim against the advisor, I got nothing although there were a few "factual misalignments" in the advisors replies.
Mentioned claiming to a friend in passing at lunch one day. He decided to have a go and got £7000, Go figure !
It costs nothing to claim so give it a go

Yep...go fill yer boots Frank...and treat yoursef to that nice shiny 888 youve always promised yourself...:D

Nat