Endowment Claim > Endowment Misselling Information > Finding A solicitor To Work For You > We Tell You How
Finding A solicitor To Work For You
Should you use a solicitor? Which solicitor is best? Why not just claim for yourself?
If you have recently (within the last three years) received a "Red Warning Letter" from your endowment insurance company, then it is likely that your endowment is not going to pay off your mortgage and you might want to consider making a claim. But just where do you start?
You could write back to the insurance company and ask them how to claim against them. From there they should send you a few questionnaires to complete to work out whether indeed you were miss-sold and, in case you were, to find out how much you have paid out and how much of your mortgage this would have paid off.
Now some insurance companies are threatening to stop dealing with solicitors and to only deal direct with the public. The question is - why? They don't pay the solicitor's fees, so why shouldn't members of the public have professional assistance? So what are the solicitors there for and why are the insurers becoming worried? Are they really concerned that the public are needlessly paying solicitor's fees? If this were the case, wouldn't they make the claim system easier?
First, they know the system and know how to claim. The solicitors can assess your circumstances and quickly decide whether there is a good chance of a successful claim. They can check the amount of compensation you have been offered is enough and know how to complain again if they believe your compensation should be higher. And if your claim is rejected, they know the appeal process.
So how to choose a solicitor? First, contact a few. It's not going to cost you cash, only a little time. See which of them reply quickly and deal with you in a way that you are happy with. If they are slow responding to you at this point, are they going to be slow dealing with your claim?
Then take a look at their costs. Typically, they will be charging between 20% and 25% (+ VAT) of the compensation awarded. Some of them will charge minimum fees, others just the flat percentage rate regardless of the award. But all of the solicitors on the market tend to offer a no-win no-fee service, so if they aren't successful, you don't have to pay them.
If your favourite solicitor does charge a minimum fee ask them to tell you how much they expect you to be awarded. If your mortgage is low, then it might end up costing you less to pay a higher percentage fee than a lower fee with a fixed minimum cost.
To find a few endowment companies to contact, look through the endowment links page at http://web.archive.org/web/20060101090632/http://www.endowment-claim.org.uk/endowment-links.htm. It only takes a minute to find a few solicitors and there's also the 60 second test to see if you are eligible to claim. Or you can just leave your contact details on the endowment contact page and someone will call you back.
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