Phoenix Life & Pensions - Endowment Policies

EdInvestor

realyhackedoff wrote: »

Could someone tell me what the likelyhood is of any final bonus being paid and if so what this is based on?

It's pretty low.What company was the policy with originally? The important question is the investment profile of the With profits fund you are in. If the fund is invested mainly in bonds, the returns will be low and there will be little- if any - final bonus. A major reason why some WP funds are heavily invested in bonds is because they sold lots of pension policies with guarantees, which must now be covered by safe investments.This penalises other policyholders without guarantees, such as those with endowments.

As you can see from earlier posts, typically you will do better to cash in these endowments policies and use the money to reduce your mortgage.

Nightranger

Some interesting posts here and I am not sure if anyone has had any experience of Abbey Life policies also being taken over by Phoenix/Resolution. My policy matured (quite a modest figure) in April but Phoenix are refusing to cough up because they claim it is a joint policy and requires two signatures.. However, my now, ex-wife has twice remarried and I do not know where she is (or whether it would be wise to get in touch). In fact, this is a small detail because it is clear that the policy does not identify her and no signature that she could produce would be deemed acceptable. In other words, the original policy was miss-sold so it may not be a surprise to learn that Phoenix have the case 'under investigation'. Of course, I never believed this and if an earlier post is true about them trying to unload the business again, this is just a stalling tactic. What bugs me is that I have struggled recently and Lloyds TSB are nothing like so understanding or patient while I owe them money. Can you imagine me telling Lloyds TSB that their case is under investigation while I decide whether I am going to actually pay them back? It would never happen and it is a major UK scandal that there is so little consumer protection because of the legal costs of trying to recover a debt like this to an individual.

dunstonh

In fact, this is a small detail because it is clear that the policy does not identify her and no signature that she could produce would be deemed acceptable.

If the policy is jointly owned then they are legally required to pay it to a joint account or have the other signatory sign a waiver to agree to have it paid to a sole account.

If it is single owned, then there is not a problem.

Lloyds TSB are nothing like so understanding or patient while I owe them money. Can you imagine me telling Lloyds TSB that their case is under investigation while I decide whether I am going to actually pay them back?

Lloyds are no doubt doing what is expected of them and continuing the mortgage with you paying interest each month until you do get the money. That is the norm in cases of delayed maturities or mis-matched dates (remortgaging over the years often means the maturity date ceases to match the redemption date and its common for lenders to have to extend the borrowing until maturity is paid). If Lloyds are doing this then they are being understanding and acting correctly.

it is a major UK scandal that there is so little consumer protection because of the legal costs of trying to recover a debt like this to an individual.

Cant see anything in your post that suggests any rule breaches. Only if it is a single owner policy do you have any cause for complaint or Lloyds are not continuing the mortgage.

Nightranger

Sorry dunstonh, I think I have confused you. The mortgage no longer exists and was not with Lloyds anyway. Lloyds are my current bank and I was just using them as an example.

I have done a bit of further research and it does seem likely that what I am talking about is essentially a PPI that was never closed down when the mortgage was surrendered. Phoenix/RSA bought up a good number of these when they took over the interests of Royal & Sun Alliance and Abbey Life. The problem with these PPIs is that they were mis-sold in their original forms as joint policies when in reality, only one person was named. To be fair, I don't think Phoenix realised what they had taken on but I am still owed money that they have indicated is mine following the waiver from Abbey mortgages. The problem is Phoenix will not even accept the compromise for half the money and continually claim the matter is under investigation. I am not sure I believe this after reading some of the posts on the forum because it now seems more likely that they are trying to unload the policies again.