Watch out when chasing mis-sold endowments
DAVID CLARK, of Forres, got a cold call from Resolution Claims, offering a service that would attempt to recover money involved in mis-sold endowment policies.
Having had some success in the past with a mis-sold PPI claim, David reckoned he’d give this a go.
It didn’t seem that he had anything to lose.
Like many of us, David had an endowment policy a few years ago that didn’t perform very well.
So he was sent a form to fill in. David sent it back with details of his name, address and the firm he’d had the endowment policy with.
He doesn’t recall any terms and conditions on the form.
However, the next thing he heard was a letter saying his investigation had “progressed to stage two” – and that Resolution Claims charged a fee of £395 when this happened.
David is nobody’s fool and knew that many companies offering to pursue claims work on a no-win-no-fee basis, but take a commission if the case is won.
But the firm kept up a steady stream of phone calls and texts, insisting David had agreed to this payment in the terms and conditions.
He wasn’t keen on forking out nearly £400 up front. Being internet savvy he did a bit of digging online and discovered a few worrying things about the way mis-sold endowment policies are pursued by claims management companies.
He then wrote to Raw Deal pointing out what he’d found, wishing to warn other readers about the pitfalls.
The one thing that concerned him in his own case was whether the figure he was being pursued for might have administration charges added, be passed to debt collectors and then affect his credit rating.
We immediately got in touch with Resolution Claims.
The firm replied to say: “This has clearly been an oversight.” It also said: “As a goodwill gesture we have removed the fee from the account with immediate effect.”
David got back in touch, saying: “Great news to hear Resolution Claims have removed the demand for £395 from my account. I have not heard from them at all since you contacted them.”