mis sold endowment & ombudsman

[shuggler]

had this posted in another section with not much response so hope its ok to try here. Iam trying to prove that i was mis-sold an endownment policy back in 1989 it has gone as far as the ombudsman who has upheld the matter in favour of the company. I have had to appeal his decision for a second time as he seems to think i was in a position to take a risk with this type of policy which is totally untrue, so how can i convince him otherwise. If he again rejects my appeal what next? how many times can you appeal, and can you have it reviewed by someone else as the shortfall is now half of what it was meant to pay out. Thank you

[legalpickle]

had this posted in another section with not much response so hope its ok to try here. Iam trying to prove that i was mis-sold an endownment policy back in 1989 it has gone as far as the ombudsman who has upheld the matter in favour of the company. I have had to appeal his decision for a second time as he seems to think i was in a position to take a risk with this type of policy which is totally untrue, so how can i convince him otherwise. If he again rejects my appeal what next? how many times can you appeal, and can you have it reviewed by someone else as the shortfall is now half of what it was meant to pay out. Thank you

 

Their is one appeal to the Ombudsman from the Adjudicator's decision. What seems to have happened in your case is that the Adjudicator's Team Leader has also looked at it and upheld the Adjudicator's position, but beyond the Ombudsman's decision you have no recourse to action.

 

Actually, you do - Judicial Review. An Application for Judicial Review is made to your District Registry of the High Court - check Her Majesty's Courts Service - Home for the nearest one to you, or call the High Court in the Royal Courts of Justice or your local County Court.

 

Judicial Review is however expensive and you will be liable for the costs of the Financial Ombudsman Service and financial institution / broker should you lose. I would not recommend doing so unless you are 100% confident of your chances of success and legal arguments or have a Solicitor & Barrister acting for you.

 

You would have to prove on the basis of the balance of probabilities that you were adverse to taking risks at that time. This would be based on your age and also on other investment portfolio's or assets at the time, and now.

 

The result would also be based on previous issues with the Business. If the Business is a main street lender, i.e. you bought it directly - such as Norwich Union [the precursors to them] then it is irrelevant, but if it is a small broker, then it is very relevant. They will check what checks the broker had in place at the time and what other, if any claims have been made against the Business and if they have been upheld or not.

 

If the Business is a broker and has a clean track record together with perfect records of information and all documents proving in the Business's favour then your chances are lowered.

 

Sorry if this is not what you wanted to hear, but it's the unfortunate way things go.

 

A lot of people change their stories over 18-19 years and the Ombudsman has to take that into consideration. At the end of the day, it is your word against theirs so the Ombudsman has to look at the most likely case scenarios.

 

If you write down here what investments you had at the time, when they matured, approximate sizes, types of investments and what investment risks you have taken over the years, I can tell you if I think you stand a chance. [i am [b]not[/b] asking for in depth personal details, only the basic information].

[gill5blue]

just subbing because I am interested

[shuggler]

thank you very much for your post legalpickle.I dont think i could afford to take the case to court, although i dont think it has been looked at properly by the ombudsman,for one he has based his decision on my attitude to risk and said i did not have any dependants which is not true we had two children aged 9,11 years at the time,and also the company i have complined about could only provide him with an incomplete file,so on this basis he has upheld the decision in favour of the compny, and they have also had to pay out before on claims of this sort, this is one of the reasons i have appealed his decision i have sent another letter off to him which is now the third time so will see what his reply is, once again thank for your help

[legalpickle]

thank you very much for your post legalpickle.I dont think i could afford to take the case to court, although i dont think it has been looked at properly by the ombudsman,for one he has based his decision on my attitude to risk and said i did not have any dependants which is not true we had two children aged 9,11 years at the time,and also the company i have complined about could only provide him with an incomplete file,so on this basis he has upheld the decision in favour of the compny, and they have also had to pay out before on claims of this sort, this is one of the reasons i have appealed his decision i have sent another letter off to him which is now the third time so will see what his reply is, once again thank for your help

 

 

You may be reading the Adjudicator's decision incorrectly. The broker may have not been told by you - or have written down, that you didn't have dependent's. This is unlikely but nonetheless possible.

 

Also the Adjudicator would not be taking into consideration solely your words, but also what other investments & assets you had at the time, have had between then and now and have now. If your liquidity was very good then it is likely that you were willing to take a risk.

 

Finally, if the Ombudsman does eventually rule in your favour the amount you get will not be based on what the papers show as the shortfall amount but a complex [or complex for me!] calculation based on the difference between where you would be at should you have taken out a comparable offset + interest mortgage at the time. This is always - to the best of my knowledge - a lot lower than the amount you would believe you should be due.

 

This matter has been disputed by several people several times and has not held up, so if you do get paid anything, I would recommend accepting what the Ombudsman advises.

 

If the Ombudsman does not accept your paperwork - and send as much as you can now, do not delay - then because you would not have the funds for Judicial Review [and most people won't for the total risk - which could be well into the £60k].

 

Good luck & keep us posted.

[shuggler]

on the questionnaire that we sent to the ombudsman the fact that we had two children at the time was included when we filled it in, there are other facts incorrect in his letter to us like dates,salary etc, and this is why i think it has not been properly looked at. I pointed this out in the letter we sent and that may have upset him maybye he was having a bad day at the office, but to be honest i think his mind was made up with his first decision so no matter what i say will make any difference, but thank you very much for taking the time to post a reply

[shuggler]

update on this post, After appealing three times to the ombudsman on his decision he said that there was nothing significant in my letters to change his mind and therefore the result stands in favour of the company and the file is now closed. So looks like its another win for the big boys:mad:

[patrickq1]

whilst i aggree with most of what you say LP i am somewhat dumbfounded when you say dependent upon other (possible) risk taking investments..

going back to the 1980's it was easier to get an endownment mortgage because it worked out cheaper , I have two from the 80's and bothe are some 20,000 shortfall but also bearing in mind that these endownments were through the Halifax who made it clear that unless we did take out a endownment we would then be subject to standard mortgage repayments which were considerabely more expensive by hundreds more , i unfortunitely used a claim company who made our claim some four /five years ago and only received approx 1200 and the other 1200 went to the claims company were were musgged i know more fool us , anyway i have just been this weekend going through all my old data from the Standard Life Company and my information goes back to 1980 where they promissed ( i quote promised) our endownment would reach maturaty and clear our mortgage and leave us with a considerable amount of money to the tune of 40,000 plus ..so i am again about to start a second claim this time i shall use the evidence i have been provided by SL and see what they have to say , i will begin a new post when i make my claim will keep you posted

patrickq1

[mixman]

Hello. Wonder if someone could give me some advice please.It is rather complicated,and i have very little to go on,but having used this forum for my PPI claims.I thought there are some clever and inteligent people on this Forum.

Bit of a long story,but in 1984,my mother bought a property,with her then partner.She had an endowment policy,which she was sold on the basis that there would be a nice bit of money left over,at the completion of her mortgage.However,things didn't work out with her partner,and in 1992 they separated.

At the time,my mother could not afford to buy the property herself,i had just moved out of my flat,so agreed to buy his share of the property.We had to remortgage,and between me and mum,we got a £32,000 mortgage.We had a guy come and sell us an endowment policy,again it promised us after 25 years,mortgage paid up plus a nice bit of money left over.We have 5 years left on the mortgage,but have recieved a warning letter saying at present we have a £7,500 shortfall. Mum never pursues anything,she can't remember the name of the broker. all i know is the policy came with Standard Life headed paper.She tells me i'm not affected,as the property was remortgaged.Don't know what this means.What i do know is my mum is now 75.I have been made redundant recently,and i'm worried where i will find the shortfall from.

[patrickq1]

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/time-limits-mortgage-endowment.html

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/making-a-complaint/mis-sold-endowments-how-to-claim/