There are approximately 9 million endowment policies in force at the moment. The vast majority will be used by their holders to repay mortgage loans.

Due to a combination of over-optimistic estimated maturity values at the point of sale, high charges and poor investment performance, over 85% of endowment funds will not produce a large enough lump sum to clear the mortgage debt.

The average shortfall is between £3,000 and £5,000 and is getting bigger each year as low interest rates and subdued stock markets are reducing investment returns and thus lowering the likely final payout. Independent financial analysts estimate that shortfalls could grow in the years to come and reach between 30% and 50% of the amount required to repay the loan. In other words, if your loan is £100,000 your endowment may fall short by between £30,000 and £50,000.

However, the financial services industry regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), won’t let you take your endowment company to task about poor investment performance. The FSA says firms are not to blame when investment returns are constrained by wider economic factors (such as falling stock markets and low interest rates) that are beyond their control.

Furthermore, as endowment policies have always relied upon investment performance, your endowment company will tell you that the policy inevitably carried a degree of risk. The company will not, therefore, automatically cover any shortfall that you may now have.

Such shortfalls will mean that many people will not receive enough money from their endowment policy to repay their mortgages. Many will have to sell their homes and move to something smaller and cheaper just to repay the debt.

So, if you cannot pursue your provider over its poor investment record, is there another way to solve the shortfall problem? Luckily there is.

The first step to getting out of this awful situation and claim compensation is to find out whether you were a victim of mis-selling. The term mis-selling is a common one within the financial services industry and it basically means that the sales process did not follow all the selling rules laid down by the industry regulator.

Insurance companies, brokers and the banks and building societies that sold most of the endowment mortgages currently in force had to follow complex selling rules in each sale, but crucially many firms either did not understand them or were simply careless and made mistakes.

If you can demonstrate to the firm that the sales process didn't follow the rules, then the company that sold your endowment mortgage will not be able to argue that it did everything necessary to make sure such an arrangement was suitable for you. And if it cannot do that then your policy will automatically be deemed to have been mis-sold, and this is the key to winning compensation. Only in the event of a mis-sale is the firm duty bound under Financial Services Authority rules to check if you have suffered a financial loss, and to pay you compensation if so. In the vast majority of cases such "loss assessments" confirm that compensation is due.

I particularly want to hear from people that have already replaced their endowment mortgage. If you have surrendered the policy already - or perhaps have kept it running just as a savings vehicle - you can still challenge the advice you received as it is likely compensation will still be due to you. Not many people know this - you don't need to still have an endowment mortgage to be eligible for compensation.

Please go to the Claim Now page to get in touch with me. Endowment mortgage mis-selling was one of the biggest financial scandals of the past 25 years and I am always keen to help its victims receive proper redress.