Compensation if you’ve lost money through mis-selling

If your adviser has gone bust and you’ve lost money because of their negligence, you might be able to get something back through the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Check your rights for mis-sold mortgages, pensions, insurance and other investments and find out when and how to make a claim.

hideHow the Financial Services Compensation Scheme works

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme can pay compensation up to certain limits if you lose money when a bank, building society, insurance company or financial adviser goes bust.

It also looks at cases where you have been sold the wrong kind of product and lost money, and the person or company that gave you the advice has gone out of business.

Here we explain what to do if you have lost out because of:

• Mis-selling of mortgages
• Mis-selling of insurance
• Poor investment advice or investment mismanagement

What the scheme won’t cover you for

You are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme if:

• The company responsible is still in business – you must complain to them first and then take your case to the Financial Ombudsman Service if you are not satisfied.
• The company was not authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority or the Financial Conduct Authority – see the next subsection for how to check this.
• The company was based overseas – although some European financial services companies are covered.
• The investment simply didn’t perform well, unless it was mis-sold or you were given misleading advice about how it would perform.

If you’re not covered because of any of the above, find out what to do by reading Financial mis-selling – what to do if you’re affected.

Check that your adviser is FCA authorised

For you to be covered by the scheme for mis-selling your adviser must have been authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). You can easily check this on the online register – you just need to know the name of the firm or adviser.

Check the Financial Services Register

ShowGeneral insurance mis-selling and the scheme

ShowMortgagemis-selling and the scheme

ShowPoor investment advice or investment management

ShowHow to make a claim

ShowMore about the Financial Services Compensation Scheme