The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) investigate complaints where investors are not satisfied with the final decision given by the firm who sold them the policy. The FOS have announced an increase of more than 60% in complaints referred to them about endowments. They say that 40% of complaints have been upheld in the customer's favour.
The FOS has also seen a 75% rise in pension complaints and an increase in mortgage complaints. One point of note is that only 10% of complaints received from customers had policies sold through an independent financial adviser. This amounted to 1,500 complaints throughout the year, with only 600 being upheld in favour of the customer.