Make a complaint

Our research has shown that potentially millions of consumers did not really understand the risks involved when buying an endowment policy to repay their mortgage.

A successful complaint could gain you significant compensation. Making a complaint is free. If your complaint is upheld, and you lost out financially, you will receive compensation.

The fact that your endowment has a shortfall is not, in itself, grounds for complaint. You need to think back to the meetings you had with your adviser and what you were told. There are a number of different things your adviser should have found out about you and should have explained.

A lot of advisers said that endowments were guaranteed or would definitely pay off the mortgage, and others said there would be lump sums too. This is not grounds for complaint itself, but does indicate that you may have been mis-sold.

We have put together a list of things for you to think about before making your complaint, to help you decide whether you do have grounds for complaint.

We have also put together a step by step guide to the complaints process and a complaint letter generator which will help you compose an effective complaint.

More information

Endowment compensation calculator We've heard of many offers of compensation being wrongly calculated. If you are unsure whether your offer of compensation is correct, you can now check this using an external online calculator. The calculator has been produced by the same company that supplies the redress calculation package to the Financial Ombudsman Service, The Financial Services Compensation Scheme, the Law Society and over 95 per cent of the industry. A fee of £52.50 applies.