axa 15 year plan carol smilie ..help needed

reggie_wales

hi ..could someone give me some info please ..i took this plan out in june 2000..i pay 100 pounds a month..it matures in june 2015...but i have hit a bad time and have just been made redundant..i need to cash in ...could someone give me an idea ..can i cash this in ..early ?..if so at these figures i wonder how much i would get and be charged for finishing early....thanks ..ps im not the brightest:money:

opinions4u

There are too many different types of plan like this to know precisely what your options are.

I'd suggest you dig out the product literature that was issued when sold. If you don't have it, write down the questions that you have and ring AXA.

- can you cash the policy in (and if so, how much would you get)?
- can you keep the policy invested to maturity, but not pay any more premiums (make it paid up)?
- can you cash in part of the policy and leave the rest invested?

There may be a range of surrender or MVA penalties for not seeing it through to the end. You need to talk to the provider for clarity though.

I have found this link online which is a possible guide, but I have no idea if it relates to your specific plan, a more recent version of your specific plan or something different. So the contents may not be relevant. If the link is right, you've basically got something fairly inflexible.

roddydogs

? Carol Smilie? where does she come in?

ses6jwg

roddydogs wrote: »

? Carol Smilie? where does she come in?

http://citywire.co.uk/money/axa-not-so-smillie-after-half-a-million-pound-fine/a262718

Loughton_Monkey

The very first step should be to contact them and request a surrender value.

Sadly, you will find that this will probably be lower than you expected, but this is, however, clearly pointed out when you buy it.

You should look for all other reasonable ways of getting through the redundancy without cashing it in. Some old endowment policies used to offer 'loans' against the policy value, and these were often considered better than surrendering them, so ask that too.

Newly_retired

Just wondering if you have managed to get all the redundancy payments you are entitled to? You should get any holiday pay due, and pay in lieu of notice if relevant. If you had worked for the company for over 2 yrs there should have been some redundancy pay depending on your age and how long you had been there.
Then have you claimed relevant benefits?
Maybe some of these would help you along, to avoid cashing in at a potentially poor rate.
After ten years you should get a reasonable amount, without too big a deduction but only your provider can give you the precise details.

reggie_wales

roddydogs wrote: »

? Carol Smilie? where does she come in?

thanks for your replies:money:..carol smilie advertised this policy back in the year 2000 when i took it out ...she probably was the only one who did well out of this plan ...as i ve just done some resarch online and basicaly this plan is crap...

Annisele

Unfortunately, there's a general rule of "minor celebrity advertises financial product on TV = said financial product is crap".

But I agree with the other posters; the only thing you can do is call the product provider and ask your questions of them. It's hard to work out exactly what sort of plan you've got, and even if we did know only the provider could give you the surrender value.

dunstonh

If you are on benefits, then the endowment policy is not included in any means test. If you surrender the endowment, the value of it at that point can be included in the means test and could reduce any benefits. It makes no difference to non means tested benefits.