Where (and if) to sell endowment?

Angilion

I'm almost sure that the best (or maybe "least bad" would be a better way of putting it) course of action is for me to get rid of my absymal endowment policy. It wasn't mis-sold. I clearly remember the advisor saying that it might not cover the mortgage (and saying that they had to tell me that).

The first question is...where? A quick look online finds a horde of companies apparently eager to handle selling my endowment policy, each one being the best one of course. Does anyone have any experience with any of them?

The second question is whether I am doing something obviously wrong by selling it at all. I'm far from an expert and it's possible I'm missing something obvious that will end up being very expensive. I have a very small mortgage, but I also have a very small income. I can't afford to make another bad mistake (getting an endowment being the first one).

The endowment was originally with Royal Insurance and is now with Phoenix.

Minimum sum assured is £10851
Bonuses as of 31/12/2007 are £1181.16
Maturity date is 16/06/2022
The target is £27610
Projections as of last week are £16300, £18000 and £19900 for 4%, 5% and 6%.
Surrender value as of last week is £5233
Payment is £45.12 per month.

A slight oddity...my mortgage is £26051.94. So I won't be as short as the projections state, because the target figure is wrong. I don't know what happened there. I'm still looking at a shortfall of £8000 though, which is a lot to me.

My mortgage is fixed at 5.09% until 1/1/2016.

If I switch to repayment and make an overpayment of £5000, my monthly payments will go up by £28. That's fine, so I can just surrender the endowment.

Ideally, I'd like to get back what I've paid in (~£6400), so at least I know I wouldn't have been better off putting my money in a bag in the wardrobe Gotta laugh.

I'm also unsure of the position regarding tax - will I be taxed if I sell or surrender my endowment? If so, how much?