Halifax 'slow to pay endowment compensation

Halifax, Britain's biggest mortgage lender, today defended itself against claims it was dragging out compensation claims over mis-sold endowment policies.

The bank said all cases were handled within the guidelines laid down by the industry watchdog, the Financial Services Authority.

It spoke out after endowment complaints handler Brunel Franklin accused it of making policyholders wait up to six months for compensation.

Brunel Franklin, which takes a 25% cut of any compensation awarded, said it had dozens of clients whose claims had been upheld by the lender and who had not received any payment.

Claims director for Brunel Franklin, Ian Allison, said: "We have supplied Halifax with all the information they need to settle these claims quickly, yet they are still refusing to pay out monies that they have admitted is due to clients.

"This is an outrageous state of affairs and one that people need to know about."

Halifax spokesman Mark Hemingway said: "We aim to clear compensation cases as quickly as possible, but often we are reliant on calculations coming back from third parties, such as life companies, so this can take time.

"Among banks and insurers, we are not unusual in the time we take over payment of claims."