Endowments
Approximately 8.5 million borrowers bought endowment policies from financial advisors, banks, building societies and insurers in the 1980’s and 1990’s believing that they would pay off their mortgages. Many believed that they would also receive a bonus in addition on maturity
Unfortunately for most policy holders their endowment is unlikely to achieve paying back the mortgage let alone providing a bonus. In February 2007 Norwich Union who are one of the largest Endowment providers in UK acknowledged on BBC News that potentially 90% of endowment policies may not achieve the ‘target amount’.
There are many reasons why you may have been mis-sold an endowment policy. The Financial Services Act 1986 became effective in April 1988 and was superseded by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 in December 2001. Both the FSA86 and the FiSMA2000 offer investors real protection by stipulating the rules governing how advisers should behave. This included making the Endowment holder aware that there were risks involved and that other options were offered at point of sale.
It is one thing to believe that you were mis-sold a financial arrangement, but it is quite another thing to be able to prove it. Remember that you only get one chance to get it right and you should be aware that the fundamental legal requirement is for all complaints to be based on verifiable evidence. To be successful you may need a comprehensive knowledge of the Financial Services Act 1986 and the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, an in depth understanding of the technicalities of making a complaint and potentially a lot of time.
Why do I need to make a claim now?
Due to the legislation currently in force, predominantly the Financial Services Act 1986 in conjunction with the Standards of Limitation Act (as amended) 2000, retailers and providers of Endowment policies are able to put time restrictions on accepting clients complaints. This process is known within the industry as TIME-BARRING.
Insurance and financial companies are currently implementing the system of Time-Barring. This is a policy of blocking clients from gaining potential compensation, no matter how badly mis-sold or misled the client was. Unfortunately, whilst the rules of time limitation are clear, they have been implemented at varying times by different companies. The net result is a very confusing picture with many millions of people already being time barred (FSA Endowment Report January 2007) and many more endowment holders missing their chance to gain compensation because they already believe that they have been time barred, when this is not necessarily the case.
To minimise the chances of your policy being time-barred, you need to make your claim immediately. EMC can do this on your behalf and in very special circumstances we have also been able to successfully overturn a time-bar decision.
Insurers and Financial institutions are estimated to have saved several Billions of Pounds through time-barring. We unfortunately will not know if you have been time-barred or not until we investigate your case. Truly, the quicker you make the decision to make a claim, the more likely you are to have a successful claim.
Why Should I use EMC for my Endowment Claim?
We will reduce the hassle of making a claim by taking on all the workload, including form filling, telephone calls and writing relevant letters.
You will have a specific claims number and a specific claims manager who will look after you during the claims procedure.
We are specialist within the industry and we know the rules and regulations governing both the sale of policies and gaining financial redress.
Due to our organisational resources we not only make sure that we maximise the value of any claim but we also double check that this value has been calculated properly applying the RU89 rule as laid out in the Financial Services Act 1986.
If your claim is unsuccessful, were appropriate, we will take the claim to the Financial Ombudsman Service, where we will continue to represent you on a No Win, No fee basis.
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