Endowment compensation claim payouts rise
Over 100,000 previously rejected endowment mis-selling claims have now been paid due to pressure from the FSA according to a report from the regulator.
It seems that the FSA had “concerns” with how 22 of the 52 firms of the endowment mortgage market handled their claims. These concerns arise from the fact that too many customers have had their claim for compensation unfairly rejected or offered an amount that was too low. As a result, 14 of the firms are taking action to improve the way they handle complaints.
The report also found an improvement in the speed with which claims were dealt with, with a large fall in the number of claims taking longer than eight weeks to resolve. However firms were warned that consumers need to have their claims dealt with quickly and fairly and that the FSA would be “keeping a close eye on this to make sure that firms continue to do just that”. Since 2000, the FSA has fined 10 firms more than £14 million for mishandling mortgage endowment complaints.
Dealing with maturity shortfalls
There are still concerns that many customers do not have a plan on how to deal with a future shortfall and Vernon Everitt of the FSA said that mortgage endowment firms “need to pay particular attention to helping people deal with shortfalls when policies mature”.
The factsheet Will your investment or savings plan pay off your mortgage? shows some of the options available. It is aimed at helping the thousands of customers who think they can’t afford to deal with their shortfall.
