In the mid seventies, for my sins, I was assistant manager of the Bradford and Bingley Building Society in a South Wales City. These were the dyas of the original mortagage famines where funds were strictly controlled and you were wined and dined by accountants, solicitors et al as they hoped you would give their clients priority on mortgage funds. To show how much times have changed, our branch allowance for each month was around £40,000.
The BBBS was endowment obsessed, obviously for the huge amounts of commission they used to earn. In 1976 a national newspaper tried to expose the scandal of people being forced to take endowment mortgages, whether they wanted them or not, and called into question the whole ethics of mortgage lending and commission. My "target" was that at least 80% of lending had to be on endowment loans or ..... Your future prospects depended entirely on how much money you made for them (added to the usual brown nosing that was essential for even the most talented of staff).
The day after the story, a press release was issued stating that staff at out Society never carried out this practice and the customer always received advice that was best for them, not the society.
I was delighted. I would no longer have to con people into taking a product they did not want. An hour after I reading my post with the press release I received a call from head Office asking if I had read it. I confirmed I had and was then told "Your minimum endowment conversion rate still remains at 80%". End of story.
Banks, Building Societies and Insurance Companied have always put profit first and the customer second. They always have and they always will.
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