Endowment Complaints: Do it Yourself
Many people choose to complain to their endowment providers themselves and this is certainly the cheapest way to go about complaining.
Advantages of complaining by yourself
- The key advantage is simply the potential savings that you will make. Complaint companies and independent financial advice will potentially cost you up to 34% of the compensation to which you are entitled.
- By taking your complaint to the endowment provider yourself you will be in control. You won’t be receiving second hand information and you can satisfy yourself that the endowment provider is being adequately chased up over your complaint.
Disadvantages of complaining by yourself
- The chances of your complaint being successful are lower when you complain by yourself. You may not be able to present your case strongly if you are not fully aware of the best way to demonstrate that your endowment was mis-sold.
- When you complain you may miss the key reasons why your plan was mis-sold and as a consequence the endowment company may ignore suitability issues. This could result in you receiving less compensation than you are due.
For example, many people complain that the risks of the plan were not explained, but don’t notice that the plan runs into their retirement. If you don’t complain about the retirement issue the company may simply deem the term is appropriate and not offer you compensation for this.
- The compensation offered is often worked out in a very complicated manner. Unscrupulous endowment providers will often ‘interpret’ guidelines set out by the FSA in a way that under compensates clients who are due compensation. Without professional help you may accept a compensation offer that is too low.
Conclusion
If you decide to complain by yourself you should make sure that you are fully aware of all the issues involved. A good starting point would be the links below, which provide good advice over how best to undertake the complaint process:
The Consumer Association
The Financial Services Authority
The Financial Ombudsman Service
Endowment-Info.co.uk
Complaint Companies
Professionals who aim to help you gain the maximum compensation.
Complain Yourself
Complaining to your endowment provider yourself can save you money.
Endowment News
Keep an eye on the developments regarding endowment policies, mis-selling and compensation.
Endowment Glossary
Definitions of some terms that are widely used relating to this issue.
Endowment Mis-selling
Have you been mis-sold an endowment? Find out more here.
FAQ's
Answers to frequently asked questions about endowments.
