Norwich deadline over mis-selling

NORWICH Union will unveil plans tomorrow to curb the right of its 1.1m mortgage endowment customers to pursue compensation for mis-selling.

The move by Britain's biggest life insurer has angered consumer groups and MPs, who believe that such time bars should not be applied by insurance companies.

Already, 700,000 homeowners have been time-barred by the industry from complaining, even though many were not told that such rules existed.

NU has been dealing with 2,000 complaints a month. So far, out of 34,000 complaints it has dealt with, half have received compensation.

But from October, NU will apply a time bar to 400,000 customers who have received their second or third 'red' letter, warning them that their endowment has little chance of clearing their mortgage. Customers have a year to complain from receipt of this letter.

NU chief actuary Mike Urmston said: 'We want to pay compensation to those who genuinely were mis-sold a policy and we want to give customers ample opportunity to complain. But as an industry, we can't let the issue of endowment mis-selling go on for ever.'