According to a recent claim made by industry professionals, many endowment mis selling claims from policyholders are fake and insurance companies are not investigating properly and just paying out. Whilst the comments were aimed at one provider in particular, the Financial Ombudsman Service claimed that only six percent of endowment policyholders issued with a shortfall notification made a claim. They also commented that endowment provider companies admitted to be upholding between 40% and 90% of claims.
The Financial Ombudsman Service is the organisation that investigates consumer complaints further, if the policyholder is not satisfied with the response received from their endowment company or adviser.
Our View
In our experience, many people have attempted to jump on the bandwagon. This happened mostly when the Consumers Association issued letters on how to complain. There are also many people that were mis sold endowments and these people are getting their rightful compensation. It would be interesting to know just how many complaints are rejected by the Financial Ombudsman Service, in relation to the amount upheld.