Not upheld: General financial advice complaint against ReAssure UK Services Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mrs K complained that she was misinformed about whether she could surrender her Flexible Mortgage Plan administered by ReAssure UK Services Limited. She claimed she was not told about the surrender option during earlier calls in 2019, only discovering it in March 2020 when the plan's value had fallen from approximately £33,000 to £28,000. The business explained that the surrender option was always available in the plan's terms and conditions, and that the value decline resulted from global stock market downturn. The ombudsman found no evidence of incorrect information or failure to provide available options when prompted, and determined that the market-driven value decline was outside the business's control. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman applied the balance of probabilities standard due to missing call recordings. The September 2019 call note suggesting Mrs K was given a surrender value indicated she was likely aware of the surrender option. The ombudsman found that providing information about available options (such as surrender) constitutes factual information rather than advice. The market downturn causing the value decline was outside the business's control and not attributable to any business failure.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website