Prudential is to send out a batch of around 110,000 ‘red letters’ telling customers that while their endowment policies still have a high risk of maturing with a shortfall, they will only have six more months to make a complaint and pursue compensation.

Under FSA regulations, buyers of endowment policies who think they’ve been a victim of mis-selling have 3 years from the issue of the first warning of a shortfall to start the complaints process.

Prudential’s limit of 6 months from receiving the next letter is an attempt, they say, to draw a line under the whole endowment mis-selling saga and resolve any lingering issues its customers have, given that their funds have performed well over the last few years and few new shortfall risks are expected in the future.

Prudential is also to reduce its 100 strong staff who are currently dealing with complaints, although it will retain a smaller team dedicated to processing endowment compensation claims.

Prudential has now become the last major endowment policy issuer to impose a time limit on claims.

Follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.