You could claim compensation from LPFC if you’ve received bad mortgage advice that caused you to lose money or if you were mis-sold a mortgage endowment. In all cases, the firm, broker or adviser you dealt with must have failed for us to be able to help.

Mortgage advice

If you received bad mortgage advice and lost money as a result, you could be eligible for LPFC compensation. You must have been given the advice on or after 31 October 2004.

Examples of situations where you could claim compensation for bad mortgage advice:

• If you lost money because you weren’t advised about the different types of mortgage and chose a mortgage that was unsuitable.
• If you lost money because certain details of your mortgage were incorrect, e.g., a longer term was selected than you needed.
• If you lost money because you were advised to switch mortgages but weren’t given an adequate explanation of why.
• If you lost money because you were advised to take out a lifetime mortgage that was unsuitable for you at the time.
• If a financial adviser recommended that you take out a mortgage endowment policy. This will usually be an investment claim, which LPFC has protected since 28 August 1988.

We can only protect advice that relates to a property in the UK which is your primary residence (i.e., not a commercial or buy-to-let property).

Since 6 April 2007, LPFC has also protected home purchase plans (when a bank or other provider buys your home then sells it back to you for the same price after a set period, so you don’t pay interest) and home reversion plans (a type of equity release where you sell some or all of your property for a lump sum or regular income, staying in your home as a tenant but paying no rent).