A tiny selection of comments about endowment mortgages.

Frank writes

May I express my thanks to the FSA through your website for providing absolutely no help at all for the thousands of people with endowment policies that will not pay off their mortgages. There is no guidance for consumers in how to tackle the finance industry, no help in understanding what would be appropriate compensation and like the banks, a complete lack of interest in the dilemna we have found ourselves in. In my case, I have been offered compensation of my premiums back plus a derisory £200 inconvenience payment, is this fair? Is there anybody to turn to, to ask if it is fair? Do the banks think we trust them anymore to offer a fair level of compensation? I have no idea as to whether to accept their offer of compensation because I simply don`t trust them anymore. Sorry for the rant but I am extremely annoyed at this latest insult from the FSA - I was expecting guidance not a hand-washing excercise.

That's a superb opening and I agree their efforts to date (3 October, 2000) have been half baked. They are holding a press conference today (perhaps even as I type, I don't get invited to such august events) which may address the question of calculating compensation.

The ombudsman has suggested that compensation might be on the basis of putting you in the position you would have been in if you had had a repayment mortgage, which leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Many older endowments leave their holders better off than that even if they are now protecting a shortfall, because of higher growth seen in past years.

Steve writes

At some point, this whole sorry saga of industry greed will come to
a head. At this point, a huge number of people could be facing the loss of their homes. I believe that the government will be force to act under the weight of public opinion and bail out those who cannot pay. Those who have provisioned for the shortfall by other means could well find themselves means tested and unfairly penalised by there own efforts bridge the gap. I would be interested in your view on this. Top site, it's been a big help.

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