Elderly man sold 35 life policies 

IT could be the worst case of mis-selling yet - and it has faced some pretty stiff competition. 

An elderly man, who wishes to remain anonymous, has been sold 35 life policies over the past decade by the most commission-hungry of financial advisers. 

The man, who is in his late 70s, was advised to take out all the life policies, which cost a total of £130,000. Yet the only advantage in having so many policies is the fat commission earned by the adviser. 

The 35 policies were with Norwich Union, General Accident (and then CGU when it merged with Commercial Union) and Britannia. 

Carolyn Corless, of Devon-based accountants Sully & Co, is now helping the man. She says he has even had to take out a second mortgage to pay for the policies. 

Last year he was paying into 13 Norwich Union policies alone, giving total cover of £204,000 with premiums of £12,000 a year. All of these policies have now lapsed after the man ran into serious financial trouble. 

Corless said: "This is sickening stuff. I have never seen such a blatant case of mis-selling. There was a period when the man was taking out life policies regularly - sometimes every other month." 

The policies were all sold by one independent financial adviser (IFA). Ian Harper, of CGU, said: "When the policies are sold by an IFA we trust that the IFA has done a fact-find and assume the client has been properly advised." 

The Sunday Times November 28 1999