News In Focus
5 December 2005
Endowment compensation campaign wins support
A growing number of MPs have signed up to a campaign to extend the jurisdiction of the financial ombudsman service to deal with complaints against solicitors alleged to have mis-sold endowment mortgages.
Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy and SNP leader Alex Salmond are among those urging the government to "close the legal loophole" which means that anyone who bought a policy through a lawyer in Scotland before December 2001 is not covered by the Financial Services and Market Act.
Home-owners in that position cannot claim compensation through the Financial Services Ombudsman, but have to bring a complaint of inadequate professional service through the Law Society of Scotland, which can award a maximum of £1,000.
An early-day motion calling on the government to "investigate a remedy to this grossly unfair anomaly" has so far attracted 27 signatures with more expected to follow.