Selling Friends Prov endow to Surrenda-link

downshifter98

Hi folks

Decided to sell our old mortgage endowment with Friends provident to Surrenda-link. I accepted their offer by phone last Wednesday (£450 higher than cash in value) and returned the 'I accept this offer' paperwork on the same day. Received the legal paperwork on Thursday and returned it all recorded mail on Friday. So far so good until I noticed in the newsapapers on Saturday that FP are slashing their payouts forthwith - bloody typical timinig by me but my question is are Surrenda-link likely to have a 'get out' clause assuming the policy now has less value? Their website claims to guarantee the price for 7 days (which I was well with-in) but being cynical I just wondered if any learned soul could reassure me...

Many thanks

Downshifter

dunstonh

FP are not slashing their payouts. Bonus payments remain unchanged.

What is looking like being shelved is a redistribution of about £800 mill in cash.

downshifter98

Hi Dunstonh

Thanks for info - settles my nerves a little as I guess there is less reason for Surrenda-link to review anything - their T&Cs seem to indicate they can only make changes during the 7 day 'guarantee' period (in exceptional circumstances such as bonus changes) if the offer had not yet been 'accepted' by me, so fingers crossed I will be OK.

For info here is the link to the FP story -

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article4358615.ece

Downshifter

chaickenfan

Hi Downshifter

Do you have any more news on this? My sale was going through to Surrenda link and I received an offer (around the same time as you) of £38000 which I accepted.

Today they wrote to me dropping the offer to £35350 !! They say that this is because 'the bonus and surrender value were far less than original details sent to us.

I have just checked my surrender value and this has dropped from £36200 to £33600.

Regards

Chaickenfan

Microstar_2

I think you'll find that Surrenda Link, AAP etc all will have 'get outs' on this one. I'd be extremely surprised if they honoured their offer given prior to the FP bonus change announcement.

chaickenfan

I think you're right Microstar. I presume that my maturity forecasts will all drop by £2600 also.

Looks like I'm just going to have to take the hit on this one. I wish I'd made the decision to sell two weeks earlier

loops298

now you've made me nervous about following the same line - perhaps I should just surrender the damn thing - get rid of one of the worst things I was ever persuaded to purchase.

chaickenfan

If the price they offer is greater than the surrender value then its worth selling.

The problem with mine is that the surrender value dropped by £2550 in one day!

Currently my surrender value is £33500 but surrenda link are still offering £35350.

loops298

I will wait to see what I am offered, I have submitted the requestvia APMM as advised. How long did you wait for an offer to be made?

chelle1234

I work for one of the TEP companies which is a member of the APMM, I think the APMM advise that you wait up to 10 working days for a quote from all APMM members. The company I work for sends a quote within 24 hours of receiving the info from the APMM.

downshifter98

Hi

I'm the original poster - sorry for slow response. My sale is still progressing very slowly through Surrenda-link. Part of the hold up has obviously been the change of bonus payments by Friends Provident - must say Surrenda-link themselves have been pretty useless and just refer me to their solicitor for info - trouble was my original written proof of surrender value (sent to surrenda-link) was without a date and by the time they had received a confirmation from FProv it was about a grand lower (due to the reduced bonus'). I was not informed of any of this for 2 or 3 weeks (summer holiday?) but when I spoke to the solicitor he advised that they were waiting for confirmation from FProv of the surrenda value on the date that I accepted the offer (July 16th); Surrenda-link assured me that provided this was forthcoming (and agreed with my original amount) then the sale would go through. This confirmation has now been received by the solicitor and I'm told that I'm now just waiting for FProv to agree the new payment details of the policy purchaser, wherupon Surrenda-link will be given the thumbs up and I will receive a cheque for the original 'bid' price. Phew!! - Must admit I will believe it when I see it but they were pretty clear that they have to stand by the original offer so we will see. I will update with what happens.

downshifter98