Have received compensation - what to do with endowment ?

BarmyCow

Here's hoping someone can clear the fog for me, I know other people have asked for advice but none of the other posts seem to have the same situation.

Endowment plan with Winterthur Life taken out in July 1995 , target amount £29,625. Monthly premium of £54.14
Mortgage paid off in 2003 but I kept endowment as I didn't really know what else to do with it.
Recently received compensation for mis-sold policy. (Don't know if that's relevant)
Mixed funds policy, selling price £27.147, value of units in fund £6486.78

I think my question is, should I keep this policy as a kind of savings account as there is nothing specific I need the money for at the moment. Or should I sell this, or cash it in and get a "proper" savings account instead.

New to this and very confused....:o
Thanks for any help anyone can give me.

EdInvestor

Not that new, if you've had the endowment siunce 1995.;)

Some questions:

Do you want to save money (ie earn interest but take no risks with the capital)?

Or do you want to invest it, ie to take a (calculated) risk with it, so as to earn (hopefully) higher returns?

Have you used up either of your ISA allowances (cash or investment) for this year?

What is the surrender value of the endowment policy?

Vickicb

Barmy,

I took out a Winterthur endowment also in 1995 and have just put mis-selling claim in. How did they deal with your complaint? I'd be interested to know what's coming up for me....

BarmyCow

Vicki

To be honest, Winterthur were really good. I filled out all the paperwork as per Martin's recommendations and they sent me a form to complete and return and came back with their offer within about 4 weeks, all broken down and figures explained etc. I accepted and received a cheque within 2 weeks. Compared to others who I know have had nightmares with their endowment providers, it was easy.

Good luck:beer:

BarmyCow

Hi Ed

Sorry, I meant new to the money saving side rather than the endowment side, but I know what you mean.;)

I think I would rather play it safe and have a guaranteed return on the money and I still have some ISA allowance left, so I guess that would be an option.
I haven't got a current surrender value for the policy and can't get one now until Monday but I will definitely call then and find out what they can offer. Is there any negotiation on surrender values or do you either accept or decline their offer ?

so many questions...

Many thanks for your help:beer:

Pobby

I read in the newspaper this week that Winterthur are one of the top performing companies for endowments.Mind you it was in the finance section in Wednesdays Daily Mail----lol.

EdInvestor

BarmyCow wrote:

Is there any negotiation on surrender values or do you either accept or decline their offer ?

No, it's worth what they say it's worth.

BarmyCow

Have spoken to endowment people again today and they advise the surrender value is £7058.16.

They also said that as both life cover and critical illness cover were included, it may be more expensive to get these if I surrender the policy - life cover is currently £2.08 per month.
The other options given were that I could freeze the policy, reduce the month premium, switch the funds free of charge (whatever that means), surrender the policy or sell it but that as this is a unit linked policy, it may be more difficult to find a company who will buy.

I thought they seemed really helpful but I'm not sure if I'm just being naive and I now have more questions than answers ! Can I trust this company to offer me objective advice or do they just really want to keep my premiums coming in ?

Any help greatly appreciated
M

dunstonh

Can I trust this company to offer me objective advice or do they just really want to keep my premiums coming in ?

AFAIA, Winterthur do not operate any tied advisers and do not carry a licence to give financial advice. Therefore you shouldnt interpret options available as advice. It appears they have just listed the options, as would be expected. All of which are valid options to consider. Depending on the data that goes with those options (i.e. figures, what funds are available, ongoing charges, penalty free exit points etc) it should be able to tell which options can be ruled out and if there is a obvious choice.

m.r.davies

did winterhur give you an option after your first letter og how they will work it out?
1 based on halifax standard rate, other looked at on individual basis?
if so which one did you choose?

BarmyCow

m.r.davies wrote:

did winterhur give you an option after your first letter og how they will work it out?
1 based on halifax standard rate, other looked at on individual basis?
if so which one did you choose?

They did give me both options and I went with the standard rate, as my mortgage had been with the Halifax and I didn't feel that the individual review would have been of more benefit. If I remember rightly, a lot of information was requested for the individual review and I don't believe that I could have laid my hands on most of this.

Good luck with your claim:beer: