He declined to disclose the names of the backers of his business.Mr Clarkson says he was in discussions with the Network about passing cases to solicitors through them. But Mr Richard tells us his organisation rejected Mr Clarkson's proposal because Law Society rules prevent solicitors paying commission to a third party for business introductions. The Society also would not sanction use of a call centre as a means of winning business for solicitors. The only way solicitors could be involved, the Law Society says, was if they take cases passed to them from claims companies.
In this situation, the claims company would take a commission from an insurance policy the claimant must buy that pays legal expenses if they lose the case. This allows cases to be taken on a "no win, no fee" basis.Mr Clarkson says this was likely to be one means of his business obtaining income. But a spokesman for the Society warns that insurance policies for court fees can be very expensive, leaving some winners gaining much less than the compen-sation awarded. The spokesman says endowment holders interested in using the courts should approach solicitors directly and not accept offers from an intermediary.And the court route should also be considered with caution.
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) and the Consumers' Association (CA) have serious doubts about using the courts to seek compensation, and the awards the courts would offer. "It would be unlikely that an award from the court would be more generous than the redress awarded by the Ombudsman," a spokeswoman for the FOS says. It provides a free service to settle disputes between customers and endowment providers after the in-house process has been exhausted.Theresa Fritz of the CA says she is not aware of any cases where solicitors have successfully handled compensation claims for mis-selling in the courts. The Association offers help and guidance to endowment policyholders concerned about what is happening to their policy and how to get redress free. Its website has a dedicated section on endowment complaints that gives users a dummy letter to send to their provider. If you use a claims handler to take your case through your provider's complaints procedure, the Ca says it should not charge more than 10 per cent of the final settlement plus £50 for initially examining the papers.Miss Stuttle decided to ignore the call from Endowment Refund and is continuing to write to her mortgage company.CONTACTS* Endowment Refund, 02920 894 925 * Consumers' Association 020 7770 7000 * The Financial Ombudsman Service 020 7964 1000 .uk* The Law Society 020 7242 1222 .uk* National Solicitors' Network 020 7370 024 .
