Should you use a claims specialist?

*Please note* This site is for information purposes only - we are not accepting any new cases from January 2007

This is an important question and one that only you can answer. Here we give you an honest straight talking overview of the situation.

If you have been considering whether or not to make a claim for endowment mis-selling, you will most certainly have asked yourself whether you should claim personally or use a specialist complaints handler.

There are many companies offering this service, particularly on the web. Most will deliver exactly what they promise and offer you a professional "no win no fee" service for a reasonable price.

Unfortunately there are others who will not.

This fact does not help your decision making process so to assist - here we spell out the pro's and con's:

Advantages - claiming personally:

• You do not have any fee to pay at the end of your claim (some claims handlers charge a fee of up to 40% of compensation awarded).
• You control the case from start to finish and make sure that delays are minimised.
• There is a wealth of information available on how to pursue these claims from sites such as the "Which?" consumer pages or the FSA ombudsman official site (see below).
• Most insurers will deal with you fairly and squarely.

Disadvantages:

• You must be conversant with the facts. You will need to educate yourself in the principles and processes involved. Bear in mind that it will not be an level playing field. The insurers know their job very well and may have staff trained to spot and exploit weaknesses in your case.
• Statistically it is said that many claims pursued by individuals will fail. We cannot say what percentage do actually fail (although you will read figures elsewhere) because the statistics cannot be corroborated.
• It would be fair to say that certain insurance firms introduce complexities and use language that does not necessarily assist the complainant.
• You can never be sure at the end of the complaint process that you will be receiving appropriate compensation. There are limited options available to you to check the figures and available data used by insurers in deciding your compensation award. This aspect is particularly important in certain cases eg: if you have switched to repayment some time ago.

Advantages - using a professional claims handler:

• Good firms know the business very well indeed and will fight your case assertively. The insurers do not have the upper hand.
• You have a better chance of receiving appropriate compensation. We use industry standard software and expert advice to determine whether awards are satisfactory.
• You do not have to worry about understanding the technicalities or educating yourself on the issues (although we would always recommend that you still should).
• Busy people can delegate the cumbersome task of presenting and fighting the claim.

Disadvantages of using a claims handler:

• Not all firms have the knowledge, the background or the experience to help you win your claim. Many firms are newly formed companies.
• Some fees may be unreasonably high which reduces your scope to counter balance your shortfall position.
• Paying a fee from a compensation award means you receive less than you would otherwise have done if you claimed personally. This may affect your ability to balance the shortfall.

Read more about endowments and real life case studies on the official FOS site - Financial Ombudsmans official site.

More endowment advice:

• Grounds for endowment complaints
• Endowment claim articles
• Endowment warning letters
• Endowment claim procedures
• How long to claim endowment misselling
• Endowment compensation
• Endowment claim success stories
  
• Endowment policy matured below target
• Armed forces endowment sales
• Endowment problems
• Retirement endowment cases
  
• What happens when you complain about endowments
• Hows endowment compensation calculated
• Endowment attitude to risk

We also offer Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) mis-selling complaints information:

• Claim back PPI
• PPI calculator
• What you need to about PPI claims
• How to make a PPI claim
• Large loan PPI claims
• PPI FAQs
• PPI events flowchart
• About our PPI claims service

Mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) claims:

 We also have a team of specialist Insolvency lawyers providing bankruptcy help and advice.

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