aviva - reattribution offer

maryotuam

The offer is independent of the shortfall promise or any terminal bonus. I'm going to take it but I wouldn't if my policy ran for 10 years or more.

QWood

I see, thanks for the input.

One more query - Just to clarify, the retribution offer is a one time payment, right? Or is it a yearly payment of the amount they're offering to me till my policy ends?

Poor_Ben

Hi, I got my letter yesterday but am unsure what to do (it's complicated but please bear with me). About 13 years ago I got any endowment mortgage for £56,000 though I only NEEDED one for £28,000 (don't ask!). I am shortly going to be coming into an amount of money which, if I surrender my policy, should pay off my mortgage (happy days). My questions are: Should I take the offer? Should I surrender the policy before next January? (there are bonuses paid in January I believe). Could I sell my policy on to someone else and would that be wise? and finally Would taking the offer affect the surrender/re-sale value of the policy? I'm afraid I am a bit of a financial fool where this kind of thing is concerned and would appreciate any help.

rolopolo_2

I have two pension policies with Aviva which still have around 20 years to run. I have been offered £1100 as part of the reattribution.

If I accept the offer I understand I am waiving my rights to any future special distributions.

The confusion I have is how often do Aviva do these special distributions and how much are they? Is it pretty much just down to their whims or is there some method and timetable?

It seems pretty impossible to know which way to vote because in the documentation Aviva provide they do not detail what I am waiving my rights to exactly. I understand there is this large pot to which I have a right as a policyholder, but it seems amazing that Aviva can just decide whether or not to pay me part of this pot for reasons unkown.

If my policies still have 20 years to run, I am unclear whether it would be better to wait.

Any advice would be most welcome.

dunstonh

The confusion I have is how often do Aviva do these special distributions and how much are they?

Rare and probably not again for another 20 years.

Take the reattribution and get your funds into unit linked which offer greater potential (unless you have a guaranteed annuity rate).

rolopolo_2

dunstonh wrote: »

Rare and probably not again for another 20 years.

Thank you for clearing that up. It does seem a rather unpredictable and arbitrary process. I do feel a little bit 'played' with this, but it seems like the options are to either take the £1100 or take a risk where I might get more, less or nothing over the next 20 years. As they say, 'a bird in the hand'...

dunstonh wrote: »

Take the reattribution and get your funds into unit linked which offer greater potential (unless you have a guaranteed annuity rate).

I'm pretty sure I don't have a guaranteed anuity rate, but it's been a while since I set these policies up so I'll need to check.

Thanks for your help with this.

jan1234_2

How confusing is this offer, it does make you wonder if they are trying to catch us all out.

My question is that mine is not linked to my mortgage any more and am still paying the policy to get the lump sum at the end, about 8 years left. If I vote yes, will it not affect the end payout or what about any bonuses, as they are all paid on maturity??

Please help

timple

Hang on a second - most of the policies are way behind target - I therefore don't understand how there can be "excess" funds available at Aviva. Surely such funds need to be used to boost the under performing policies. They are not there so that the shareholders and bosses at Aviva can enjoy a bumper payout whilst bribing the idiotic policy holders to accept a small share to keep them quiet. The FSA reputation is shot to bits (not to mention actuaries) - when they start saying its a good thing you know for sure something is wrong.

dunstonh

Hang on a second - most of the policies are way behind target

No they are not. Only longer term endowments tend to be.

Surely such funds need to be used to boost the under performing policies.

That would benefit those plans with targets in shortfall positions but not anyone who has other plans. The plans that are in a shortfall position are in a minority to the overall number of plans that invest in the with profits fund.

when they start saying its a good thing you know for sure something is wrong.

it is a good thing because the average term on an investment is just 7 years. You may not see another special bonus for another 20 years. A bird in the hand......

timple

It may well be logical to take the offer given the way they've set the rules of the game I was talking about the general principle. When I took out my policy I was lead to believe that the target return was virtually certain. In times past it was and policy holders got their target plus a bonus and there was still money to spare (which is what I think we are talking about). You would have then thought that in bad times the surplus from good times would be used to smooth it out. This is policy holders money and this deal allows Aviva to take a far larger chunk of it than they should be allowed to (imho). Its the old story that the main benefits of the finance industry go to the people that work in it. For that principle I'm voting no.

No they are not. Only longer term endowments tend to be.

I am sure that any recent policy's sold are on a much more pessimistic base and therefore are on target. Has anyone out there got a policy run by Aviva over 10 years old and on target?