Should we sell up?

Skintymcginty

Hi there, this is my first post here, hoping for a bit of advice!

I have 5 standard Life endowments which are no where near on target for maturity. I reckon we'll be lucky if they are worth half of what they were supposed to be. Over the years we've topped up the mortgage to the extent that we can't afford to convert it all to repayment. It stands at 150K split 50/50 repayment and interest. Last year we extended the term to 20yrs (it should've been at 9, in order to make the payments less) The thought of paying out for 20yrs and then still not having the full amount from the policies kills me, even with gradually increasing the ratio of repayment to interest, it would still be impossible. Plus we would have no money for anything bar the necessities. The property is now worth 3 times what we paid for it, should we sell up and pay off the mortgage now?( we would have enough to buy a smaller place for cash and clear mortgage) sounds like a no brainer, but husband buries head in sand and doesn't want to move!

advice /opinions please
thanks

canny_yorkshireman_2

well at least you should get a windfall from the standard life float which may be in excess of 5k so that could take a chunk out of the debt also have you complained about the endowments underperforming as standard life are one of the few companies who pay up without too much of a fight
hth

Skintymcginty

We complained re mis-selling about 2yrs ago, got 4.5k back, which I used to clear credit card debt. I felt it wasn't going to make much odds to the amount on the mortgage and was better going towards the higher interest debt. Don't know if that was the right thing or not

silvercar

As each endowment matures you can use them to reduce the interest only element of the mortgage. Keeping your repayments at the same level as now should make big inroads into the outstanding debt.

As your mortgage was due to finish in 9 years, I'm guessing all the policies finish within that time. That should rid you of a large chunk of your mortgage. You'll then have 11 years remaining with a much smaller mortgage.

Skintymcginty

Thanks, I had a look at the policies, calculated what converting to repayment for the remainder works out at. Much the same as what I pay now for the mortgage and car payments. Now I just have to decide whether holding onto house is worth being skint for the rest of my days!