Money help-desk: Was I mis-sold 'on track' policy?

Published on Saturday 7 November 2009 16:37

I WAS disgusted to read in a recent letter from my endowment company that it was "pleased to tell" me that I am to receive the sum of £23,849.56 from a policy projected to exceed the £30,000 borrowed. A 20 per cent loss and less than I paid in.

I was going to complain via the mis-sold policy route, but as a letter I received last year said the policy was "on track" I decided there would be no need. I did, however, increase my monthly mortgage payments, as the company recommended, but there is still a substantial shortfall.

My husband and I are cautious investors and stated clearly that we did not want any investment that would not repay our mortgage.

Is is worth pursuing? And would you agree that a policy is only mis-sold if it doesn't meet the projected value. If it is "on track" then has the criteria for which it was sold been met?

JW

Danny Cox of Hargreaves Lansdown writes:

NO FINANCIAL services company is liable to pay compensation based on the poor performance of a fund or policy, and the Financial Ombudsman Service will not support a claim on that basis. Poor performance on its own is not mis-selling.

For there to have been a mis-selling, the policy or investment recommended must be deemed to be unsuitable for the purpose it was recommended; for the person or their circumstances; or

&#149 it must have been recommended when there was already a suitable policy in place (or a new policy was not needed). Given the policy recommended was an endowment to run alongside a mortgage, on the face of it this was a suitable product.

If the investments in the policy took more risk than you wanted to, or you had clearly documented that you sought a guaranteed repayment of your mortgage, these could both be reasons why the policy was unsuitable for you.

Taking these comments into consideration, if you believe you have been the victim of mis-selling you should approach Prudential again with a fresh complaint for it to investigate. In future, you might consider converting all or part of your mortgage to repayment, or save separately into an Isa

rather than paying more into this policy.