Axa Sunlife

sylblake

I also had this plan but after reading previous posts decided to surrender policy. I put the surrender value which was about £1500 in to a savings a/c @ 5.2% interest and I also continue to save the £20 per month which the plan was costing into the account.

At least I know where my money is, it was worth it for peace of mind after losing quite a bit on mortgage endowment (unsuccessfully tried to claim for mis-selling and also having pension in Equitable Life).

catyxx

scottishcolin wrote:

I had exactly the same problem. I started the policy in April 2003 paying in £10 in the first year and rising 20% every year thereafter etc. Last month I decided to find out what the surrender value was and was told it was £177 (having paid in over £400). Then, I came across an article that stated that Axa were fined £0.5m in Jan 04 as a penalty for misleading advertising (you can find the article on the FSA website) for the over 50 plan and the bonus cashbulider from 2002 to 2004. Thus anyone who took a policy out in this time would be entitled to a full refund of their premiums as they have been swizzed. So last week I recieved £463 (all of my premiums + 1% interest) - hooraay. My advice would that anyone that can should take this route and invest in a high interest cash isa etc.

Scottish Colin - that's good to hear that you got a full refund..........did you just telephone them and ask them or did you write a letter - I'm not sure if i'm entitled to a full refund too it if I joined in the May?

scottishcolin_2

Hi

You should be entitled to a full refund like me - I telephoned first to register my complaint (about the mis selling etc) and they sent out a form, I filled that in and within 2 weeks of sending it got my money back into my account.With my form, I submitted a print out of the FSA article. Good luck.

muchus

I took out a policy in Nov 2003 and after reading all the bad press about them on here decided to try and get a full refund. I wrote to them middle of July and just got a standard surrender value figure back a week later which was about £270, I think (I'd paid in £990 after first 6 months cashback).
Wrote back again straight away (this time to "ECM Department", must be complaints) and got a reply back last week offering full refund plus interest.
So I'd definately recommend holding out for a full refund if you took the policy out between 2002 and 2004. Just waiting now to see how much I end up with.

Lovingitifitsabargain

Me and OH have been saving for 3 - 4 years - I pay 40 in he pays 100 - I am confused with all the figures - are we better off out of this - can anyone tell me what we are likely to get back in 11 years time over what we have put in are we really talky about a few hundred quid ? I am tempted to take the money now and run ! surely are we better off to put it into a savings account OH seems to think he's gonna get a good payback on a 100 a month I just cannot see it reading the forum ! please can someone help me out on this without all facts and figures

ReportInvestor

Ask Axa for your projected policy target assuming the underlying fund grows @ 6% from today - not from the outset - (dh and I agree this 6% may be an optimistic growth figure given that the fund will have a significant proportion of bonds, as opposed to shares & commercial property).

Also ask for your current surrender value.

Then go to a savings calculator like Here on This is Money - Choose the Long term savings calculator

Put in both the current surrender value and the monthly payments @ 4% interest to the end of your AXA policy term. (4% should be achievable as the future monthly amounts can all go into a tax free cash ISA with an upper annual limit of £3K).

Then tell us the results as they will help others who are in the same position .

P.S. Your annual literature should tell you the % of bonds, shares, property, cash in the with profits fund.That would be useful to know to give an indication of the potential performance for the Axa fund.

What is the RIY (reduction in yield) for £40pm and £100pm? (This is the effective annual charge and should be found on your initial policy projections.)

dunstonh

The PPFM for AXA shows the bonus rate not able to increase or decrease by more than 1% a year. With the bonus rate at 1.75% currently, it would take 5 years to exceed 5% assuming they were increasing the bonus rate by the maximum each time. There is no way they are going to do that as the liability is too great and the fund isnt strong enough.

Like most providers now, they see the future returns being in the terminal bonus rather than the annual bonus as they can do what they like with that. I still wouldnt plan on 6% though. 4% before product charges (which is the lower rate on the projection as RI says) is the sensible option to look out.

The only down side with that is that most of you would probably find that the 4% projection results in you getting back less than you paid in. That is the reality of the product you have chosen though I'm afraid.

BONJOEY

could someone please advise me, i have posted here before but are still unsure what to do, :mad:

hi i have 2 cash builder bonus plus agreements,
after reading these stories i decided to ring up to see what i would get back
i was shocked!!
i have 2 policies, both started october 2001
starting with 10 pound per month increasing by 2 pound per year , so next month i will be paying 20 a month for 10 years,

i have paid in approx year 1, 120
year 2, 144
year 3, 168
year 4, 192
year 5, 216
so by next month i would have paid in 840 pound in each policy and they said i can surrender for 511 each!!!

what a con, i have 161 pound bonus for 5 years!!!
does any one know what the projection value was, ans i remember having an estimate of what you would recieve back if you surrender early, is it better for me to surrender in a couple of years time! or lose even more or surrender now, ?
im so confused and angry
bonjoey

I ENTERED MY AGGREMENT THROUGH READERS DIGEST, DO YOU THINK I WAS MISLEAD, EVEN THOUGH IT WAS OCT 2001?

ReportInvestor

Did you get any cash out at the end of year 1?

Ask Axa for a reprojection of your policy, taking into account the performance to date.

Then you will be able to work out the performance needed to beat that should you reinvest the surrendered policies and your future monthly premiums.

Readers' Digest won't have offered advice, so they "can't" have mislead you. But yes, people were somehow persuaded by an insurer to buying an unsuitable, expensive, inflexible, poorly performing investment.

Always DYOR in future. The key info in this case would have been the very high RIY (reduction in yield) figure on your original projection combined with the dreaded with profit endowment.

Axa's poor with profits performance history - Sunday Telegraph

BONJOEY

i didnt get any cash back in the first year