Endowments and the FSA

Notthatold

I have only just found this site and wonder if anyone can help. We took out two mortgage endowment policies one in 1984 for 20k and one in 1985 for 6k. About 7 years ago I got in touch with the FSA after reading about policies that had been miss sold (as we had not been told that the policies were dependant on the stock market) and was told that our policies were too old and they could do nothing for us. We have since paid off our mortgage and just accepted the fact that we were fools to have taken out the policies in the first place, but we have continued to pay the policies as at the time the surrender value was so bad. We are now 4 months away from the first one maturing and a year away for the second one. Is there anything we can do as these policies have cost us more per year than they have gained.

L

yelf

absolutely nothing unfortunately

dunstonh

Is there anything we can do as these policies have cost us more per year than they have gained.

As you knew at least 7 years ago, the investments were subject to investment fluctuations as they have some stockmarket content. So, the decision to stick with them was yours and only yours. You cant blame anyone else.

As for options, you could reinvest (into a more modern investment) and wait until things have recovered enough for you to be happy again. Although you would still be leaving your capital at risk. Or you can put it into cash savings.

jamesd

Notthatold it seems that your best option at present is to continue paying into them until their scheduled maturity date. Assuming that you then put the money into comparable investments outside an endowment you'll see capital recovery as the stock markets recover. The one that is a year away from ending has a good chance of seeing quite a lot of that before its maturity date.