A WOMAN has warned against accepting mortgage advice from cold-calling firms after she paid out almost £500 for nothing.

Retired local government officer Irene Snowball, from Acklam, Middlesbrough, was visited by a salesman from a London endowment mortgage specialist.

He offered to help her make a claim against the building society that sold her an endowment policy, only for it to come up short of the money needed to clear her mortgage.

Miss Snowball paid £495 to the salesman on the promise that it would be refunded if she lost her case and she would have nothing else to pay if she won.

But she heard nothing more from the company and a number she was given for them was unobtainable.

Miss Snowball then contacted Cathy Bell at Middlesbrough trading standards advice centre, who advised her that she could claim directly from the building society that sold her the policy.

Mrs Snowball sent off her claim and, in less than a month, was offered a £6,000 settlement by the building society.

Trading standards are now helping Miss Snowball with a claim against the specialist.

Miss Snowball said: "I am really pleased with the advice which sorted out my mortgage, but annoyed that I paid out this money for nothing.

"I am not taken in easily and the pitch they gave me was very plausible and made me believe they were a genuine company. My advice to anyone cold-called in this way is not to buy and to see if you can do the job yourself."

The advice from trading standards to people with a mortgage shortfall is to contact the company that sold you the policy.

Councillor Barry Coppinger, the council's executive member for community safety, said: "I suspect there are few people in Middlesbrough who haven't been cold-called by a persuasive and persistent sales person at one time or another - at times it is tempting to say yes, just to get them off the phone.

"But this case shows that you do have to be cautious and remember that no commercial organisation does something for nothing."