Underwater
Scotland on Sunday reports that two of the UK's largest endowment companies, Standard Life and Norwich, now have a staggering 1.4 million endowment policies underwater.
Guardian, which sold endowments for Nationwide, refused to take part in the survey. A spokeswoman for the company claimed that the omission was due to "an administrative oversight".
The report goes on to state that 90% of Norwich Union's 764,609 policyholders are now receiving red letters, while at Standard Life the proportion is 88%. At Friends Provident, 89% are in the red.
It's going to be a bleak Christmas for endowment policy holders.
Showing posts with label Guardian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Guardian. Show all posts
Monday, December 10, 2007
Monday, January 30, 2006
Guardian Assurance Fined
Guardian Assurance Fined
Guardian Assurance was fined £750K last week by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), for its poor complaints handling procedures over this period.
The FSA said that the numbers of complaints made to Guardian about failed endowment policies, which were being rejected, rose from 29% to 77% after the company introduced new complaints handling procedures.
Guardian will now contact the 5,600 customers whose complaints were rejected during this period.
The company has also set up a helpline for customers with concerns, and said it welcomes their questions.
Ring 0845 701 0210 to speak to them.
Those of you who have managed to extract compensation from Guardian should revisit that comepnesation, and see if the amount is actually enough.
All of this extra expense, damage to reputation and hassle could be avoided if the life assurance firms finally bit the bullet and agreed to underwrite these useless and failing policies.
Guardian Assurance was fined £750K last week by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), for its poor complaints handling procedures over this period.
The FSA said that the numbers of complaints made to Guardian about failed endowment policies, which were being rejected, rose from 29% to 77% after the company introduced new complaints handling procedures.
Guardian will now contact the 5,600 customers whose complaints were rejected during this period.
The company has also set up a helpline for customers with concerns, and said it welcomes their questions.
Ring 0845 701 0210 to speak to them.
Those of you who have managed to extract compensation from Guardian should revisit that comepnesation, and see if the amount is actually enough.
All of this extra expense, damage to reputation and hassle could be avoided if the life assurance firms finally bit the bullet and agreed to underwrite these useless and failing policies.
Friday, January 13, 2006
Guardian Assurance Fined
Guardian Assurance Fined
Guardian Assurance and its associated company Guardian Linked Life have been fined £750K by the Financail Services Authority (FSA) for mishandling endowment complaints.
This is the fourth time that the FSA has fined an insurance company for mishandling complaints.
The FSA said that Guardian's complaints procedure had "serious systemic flaws".
As a result, 5,600 customers had their complaints wrongly rejected, and thus could have lost out on compensation.
Margaret Cole, the FSA's Director of Enforcement, said:
"Guardian failed to treat its customers fairly by exposing those with a valid complaint to the risk that their complaint could be rejected inappropriately.
Consequently, they may not have received the compensation to which they were entitled.
These failings exposed a high number of consumers to potential financial loss."
The FSA role of shame:
-Friends Provident, December 2003, fined £675K
-Dunbar Assurance, March 2004, fined £725K
-Abbey National, May 2005, fined £800K
Between 1988 and 1995 Guardian sold 233,000 endowment policies, before it stopped marketing them.
It received nearly 20,000 complaints from April 2000 to the end of 2004.
At one stage it was rejecting more than three quarters of all its complaints.
I wonder how many other insurance companies are mishandling complaints?
Guardian Assurance and its associated company Guardian Linked Life have been fined £750K by the Financail Services Authority (FSA) for mishandling endowment complaints.
This is the fourth time that the FSA has fined an insurance company for mishandling complaints.
The FSA said that Guardian's complaints procedure had "serious systemic flaws".
As a result, 5,600 customers had their complaints wrongly rejected, and thus could have lost out on compensation.
Margaret Cole, the FSA's Director of Enforcement, said:
"Guardian failed to treat its customers fairly by exposing those with a valid complaint to the risk that their complaint could be rejected inappropriately.
Consequently, they may not have received the compensation to which they were entitled.
These failings exposed a high number of consumers to potential financial loss."
The FSA role of shame:
-Friends Provident, December 2003, fined £675K
-Dunbar Assurance, March 2004, fined £725K
-Abbey National, May 2005, fined £800K
Between 1988 and 1995 Guardian sold 233,000 endowment policies, before it stopped marketing them.
It received nearly 20,000 complaints from April 2000 to the end of 2004.
At one stage it was rejecting more than three quarters of all its complaints.
I wonder how many other insurance companies are mishandling complaints?
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