Possibly missold an endowment policy - but don't have the paperwork anymore ??

[AdamBrunt]

Hi all,

Got a cold call (completely out of the blue) this evening from some company (didn't catch the name) who started the conversation with "according to our records you may have been sold an endowment policy in the past ..." They went on to say that anyone who was sold an endowment policy in the last 8 years could be entitled to compensation if they could show the policy underachieved. I said it was a long time ago (I certainly 'bought' it over 8 years ago) and not sure if I still had the paperwork. They told me to see if I could find any paperwork (particularly any statements) and they'd call back in about a week.

Truth is I no longer have the policy. To cut a long story short, I bought my first flat (at least 12 years ago) with an IO mortgage (and an endowment policy with Countrywide Assured). 7 years ago I got married and moved into a house and whilst remortgaging changed to a repayment mortgage but can't remember what I did with the endowment - I don't recall "cashing it in" and getting any money for it but I did stop paying the 'premium'. Does it sound like I could be entitled to something ?

On the assumption that I no longer have any paperwork for it - is the company who it is with likely to be able to provide it ?

Also, presumably the cold caller is on some sort of commission so is there anyway that I can cut out the middle man and claim all the compensation for myself ?

TIA for any help.

Regards,

Adam Brunt

[pyrogena]

Read this - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/endowments-miss-sold

And stop talking to people that cold call you. :nono:

[Ricinus]

I can't believe you gave all that info to a cold caller.
Presumably if you stopped paying into the endowment 7 years ago then if it still exists it will obviously be under achieving.
Also as I understood it you can't claim just because the policy doesn't pay up the expected amount. You have to show that you were not warned that this might happen.

[AdamBrunt]

I can't believe you gave all that info to a cold caller.


It was only the first paragraph during the phone call


Also as I understood it you can't claim just because the policy doesn't pay up the expected amount. You have to show that you were not warned that this might happen.

Indeed. I was paraphrasing the conversation to an extent. They did actually say if you can show that (a) the broker said it would pay off the mortgage and (b) have statement(s) showing a shortfall then might get compensation.

I am fully aware that I'll only be able to claim for the time up to switching to a repayment mortgage.

[Dah_woim]

If you stopped paying the premium but didn't get a cash lump sum, it could be "paid up" so it would have a value, perhaps you should call the provider you took it out with, see what happened to it. You could then cash that in, and get a little money. However, it'd be likely that you would still get statements as to how the funds were performing, unless say, you moved address and didn't tell them where you moved to?

If you want to make a complaint, do it to the provider directly. Do NOT go through a third party, who do NO extra work, but take up to 40% of your compensation. The endowment complaint bubble has burst, so don't be surprised if you've run out of time to make your complaint.

And don't listen to cold callers...

NB: I worked for 3 years in Friends Provident's endowment complaint team, and other companies may well do things differently...