Axa Sunlife

Gary1974

Hi All,

First let me start by saying that I am new to these forums and am not the most financially savvy, so please excuse my ignorance and for any message board faux pas I may commit !

Anyhow, I am in the process of sorting out my OH's finances, and discovered that they are in possesion of the infamous Bonus Cashbuilder Plus policy. Having read through this thread from beginning to end, my understanding is that for any policy starting between 2002 and 2004, then it is possible to claim back all premiums (plus interest) instead of the paltry surrender value on offer, due to misleading data in the promotional literature of that time - AXA were fined by the FSA for this

However, I am not sure that my understanding is correct, as the FSA article concerning this fine seems to indicate that this only applies for policies sold until April 2003, and not the remaining 8 months of that year. Subsequent posts on this board appear to tell a different story though

Having contacted AXA for a surrender value of the policy, we were offered £300 less than the total premiums paid, which of course we were not overly happy with.

My questions are:

1 - What have been people's experiences in claiming back the full amount of premiums for policies which began around November 2003 ?

2 - If it is worth pursuing, then could someone forward me a template for a letter sent to AXA which details the necessary information required in order to follow up this claim ?

Thanks for any assistance offered, and keep up the good work

Cheers Gary

napoleon

strapped101 wrote: »

I also took out my Sunlife policy in July 1993 and was led to believe that I would receive a much higher return.

Who gave you this impression? Was it Carol Smilie?

Gary1974

Morning,

Am just bumping this thread a bit further up the list, as I don't think many people would have had an opportunity to see my original post / question - Post 402, 2 up from here.

Any assistance greatly received

Cheers

Gary

Gary1974

Would just like to publicly thank MSE user WishIcouldaffordit for her excellent advice and mail template concerning the AXA Bouns Cashbuilder Plus policy.

We wrote a letter of complaint last Tuesday and by Saturday had received confirmation that the complaint had been upheld and that my OH would receive their premiums back in full plus interest (BoE Base Rate + 1 %) which was a fantasitc result.

Without this thread, we would never have known about the FSA ruling against AXA and would have settled for the surrender value of the policy (a full 50% less than the premiums paid in), so thanks to all who have contributed on this forum

Cheers
Gary

LILLYM73

Hi wishicouldaffordit,

Can you please pm me with outline for letter you sent to axa.
Many thanks.

rosies_mum

Morning all,
I'm about to go on maternity leave for the second time and am aware of how much my part time money is about to drop by! Have also just found out that hubbies hours are about to be cut so now in a mad panic trying to work out how I can cut down on monthly expenditure. :eek: (and reduce some of this strees I'm suffering, can't be good for little bubba or my blood pressure!)
I took out a bonus cash builder plan in Feb 2000, currently paying in £40 a month.

I've worked out that I've paid in £3,440 since then. Bonuses should have made this equal to £4,130.47. I've just phoned Axa and been told that my surrender value is £3,347.10. If you ignore the bonuses, thats £7 more than I've paid in! Should I cut my losses and ignore the difference if I'd have included the bonuses? Or in true MSE style, should I go for the full whack?
Any advice gratefully received. Would it also be possible for wishicouldaffordit to pm me with the letter please? Thank you to all contributors, I'd be lost (and broke!) without MSE!

jtr2803

Wow, what an interesting thread this is!! I also took out two BCP policies, one in October 2001 and one in April 2002 for £20 and £10 respectively, both increasing over five years.

I had been contemplating over the past few months whether to surrender the plans and then stumbled across this thread. I called AXA today and although they wont give me the total of my contributions to date they have offered me a joint surrender figure of £3,048.90, I have calculated my contributions to be £3,840.00! Oh dear!!

As with many of the previous posters I will certainly be writing to Axa once they have posted me confirmation of my contributions as I certainly believe that my second policy is included in the period they were fined for. I also believe I have numerous illustrations leading me to believe that the return would be much higher. Fortunately I am somewhat more financially savvy than I was when I took out these plans and will be transferring whatever I get back to a decent ISA or similar!!

Well done to everyone who got back their premiums and a big thanks to everyone who has added advice and their stories, without this thread I would have either left them to a paltry maturity figure or surrendered without a fight.

Jo x

richardlionheart

hi

i am new on the forum , so excuse my ignorance if i say/do anything that is not
forum savvy.

AXA Cash Builder Plus and the Guaranteed Over 50
http://www.fsa.gov.uk/Pages/Library/Communication/PR/2004/111.shtml


myself and my partner deciced to take out an AXA sunlife bonus cash builder plus
in september 2003 ( one policy each ) both started paying at £20 per month
increasing every year etc. monthly subs are still going out.


i was concerned about the value of these policies in the present climate
and by chance i found this thread. as we feel we need to revive our financial
affairs due to the current credit crunch biting hard.



if someone has had some success with getting their full contribuitions
returned + interest added.

can they please email me a rough copy of there draught letter to AXA
as i simply do not know how to go about it.
and fingers crossed

[EMAIL="wolfplayer888@yahoo.co.uk"]wolfplayer888@yahoo.co.uk[/EMAIL]


kind regards

Richard

richardlionheart

Lovingitifitsabargain wrote: »

Result - first offer was 460.00 If you have been following my story you will know I was having none of it and wrote again requesting it all back and today they have deposited 1,293.18 into my account - thank gawd I never agreed to the first offer (unlike my daughter who took the first offer without realising and now is kicking herself ) so don't take first offer hold on and demand the whole lot back !
Good luck to you all -x-

i have been reading up on how Lovingitifitsabargain got along , so we now know how to proceed


Regards
Rich

tattooangel71

hi all im new here just found my policy i started paying £20 a month increasing £4.00 at the end of each year becoming £40 from the 6th year which started this year in august this is a bonus cashbuilder plus plan i phoned up on monday to see how much i would get by surrending it now they said i will get back £1,237.13 added up that i have paid £1800 so far to date they havent told me whether that includes my bonuses which i recieved a letter the other day was £299 so that adds up to £1536 i had a £300 loan out 2 years ago so they said they would have to take that off my surrender value so then ill get about £1236.00 so they are pocketing £564 cos i paid in £1800 which is wrong really is it worth me sending them a complaint letter im waiting for my surrender claim form to see what exactly are going to give me back with everything that is going on in the world with the banks i just wanna get my money back and treat my kids to a nice christmas and then put the rest in a isa please can someone pm me the complaints letter i dont know if i can claim back for misleading either so any info if i can would be much appreicated