endowment clearing mortgage to the penny???

LilacPixie

Has anyone ever heard of an endowment maturing and clearing mortgage to the absolute penny?

Reason I ask is October 2008 my parents endowment matured, about 3-4 months prior to this the endowment company wrote asking if payment was to be made to the same lender with a projection of 21284. My parents called them and confirmed details of mortgage provider were the exact same as 25 years ago. Mortgage was with A&L for 19800 taken out October 1983.
Upon maturity they received a letter from endowment compnay advising cheque issued to lender but did not have a specific figure on it. A&L then wrote out saying basically their interest in property is no more and here is your deeds. So my parents have the deeds to house but no idea if there was any surplus left over from endowment, they did think for a while that they would have to pay out 500-600 to cover a small shortfall.
They decided in their wisdom to hold fire and see if A&L contacted them about a shortfall but they never did and they have not issued any final mortgage statement either.

My mum attempted to call santander with her mortgage account number but got pretty much no where,, apparently her account number is not valid and when she said it had been valid for 25 years until completion they said the helpline is for existing customers and as the mortgage is finished she isn't an existing customer.

I have never in my life heard of an endowment paying to the penny before and I have certainly never heard of a lender returning deeds if there was an outstanding balance. Anyone ever heard of this?

I'm afraid my parents are of the generation/mindset that banks do nothing wrong and if there was money left over they would of been issued it, I on the other hand have had such hassles with A&L merging to santander and A&L before hand that i would not put it past them to of just forgot to issue a cheque for the surplus or to of deposited it in some long forgotten account as apparently the reason my parents had an A&L mortgage was it was the building society they saved their deposit in.

opinions4u

Which life assurance company was the endowment policy with?

What type of policy was it?

What was the monthly premium?

Two scenarios that srping to mind:

1) Somebody's holding on to the surplus.
2) There was some sort of 'Mortgage Promise' attached to the policy, so when it matured with a shortfall the promise topped it up to the mortgage amount.

Either way, there should have been a clear written communication explaining what's going on.

I'd start the trail with the life assurance company.

jimjames

opinions4u wrote: »

W
2) There was some sort of 'Mortgage Promise' attached to the policy, so when it matured with a shortfall the promise topped it up to the mortgage amount.
I'd start the trail with the life assurance company.

That certainly sounds like the most likely option based on the figures being exact. Definitely worth calling the company to check though and looking out the paperwork if it still exists.

LilacPixie

Sorry I have limited info just now.
It was a with profits policy, I can remember seeing statements with performance over the year on it and projections. Lender I will ask tomorrow when i'm over but my head is screaming Scottish Equitable but no idea why. Monthly premium would have to ask for exact amounts but both combined were only about £120. Over the late 90's it looked to be under performing by a fair few thousand then it seemed to get back on track then sort of 2005 ish time it was doing well and parents thought possibly enough for new kitchen or a nice cruise then over the 18 ish months to maturity value nosedived again

My mum never throws anything away so all paperwork rght back will be in existance but her filing system is what could only be described as one of a kind. I'll get her to dig out specifics tomorrow and give them a call.

dunstonh

Has anyone ever heard of an endowment maturing and clearing mortgage to the absolute penny?

Yes. Quite often actually. (mainly Pearl, Standard Life and Aviva where there are mortgage endowment promises)

LilacPixie

i have some more info. Scottish Equitable with profits endowment taken out October 1983. Cost was 29.87 a month. Had a look at the original paperwork and there doesn't seem to be any obvious mention of guarenteed amount in the T&C's but who knows. She did call them but won't provide figures over telephone so arranging for a letter to be issued.

LilacPixie

mini update - surplus does exist, £937 and A&L/santander are holding it. Parents have to go into a branch in person with ID and request the funds because the 'new' mortgage software doesn't recognise their account number to arrange a transfer over telephone.

Chinkle

Good thing you followed up! Don't know why Scottish Amicable send the surplus to A&L and A&L were cheeky mares for just holding on to it. Hope they have a happy Christmas spending it!!!

opinions4u

Chinkle wrote: »

Good thing you followed up! Don't know why Scottish Amicable send the surplus to A&L and A&L were cheeky mares for just holding on to it. Hope they have a happy Christmas spending it!!!

If the policy was assigned to the lender (as opposed to the lender having 'an interest' in the policy) the full policy proceeds have to be sent to the lender.

As it's Santander, it's then obligatory that they mess the customer about over the surplus with lack of communication and clerical mistakes.

ginvzt

opinions4u wrote: »

If the policy was assigned to the lender (as opposed to the lender having 'an interest' in the policy) the full policy proceeds have to be sent to the lender.

As it's Santander, it's then obligatory that they mess the customer about over the surplus with lack of communication and clerical mistakes.

I think that is in their T&C. Must be - somewhere in a very small script.

hansi

Chinkle wrote: »

Good thing you followed up! Don't know why Scottish Amicable send the surplus to A&L and A&L were cheeky mares for just holding on to it. Hope they have a happy Christmas spending it!!!

It was Scottish Equitable not Amicable. I had a policy with SA and they sent the cheque direct to me. However, it is Santander that we're dealing with here.!! What a shower!!:mad: