Endowment - surrender or sell?

tabbycat2k

Are there any endowment whizz kids out there who know if sellling a with-profits endowment policy (under-performing of course!) is better than surrendering. We have calculated that surrendering is cost-effective but I'd like any advice on whether selling is better and, if so, where's is a good place to get a quote. Loads of sites on the net that offer the service but are they safe, reputable, good idea etc. Thanks.

Thrugelmir

Third option is to make policy paid up.

opinions4u

I doubt you'd find any buyers.

If there is some sort of mortgage promise linked to the policy it may be worth keeping.

Make sure you find out before making a poor decision.

tabbycat2k

What does making the policy paid up mean, and what is a mortgage promise?

kingstreet

You make a policy paid-up by agreeing a reduced sum assured with the insurer and no further premiums will be due. Bonuses continue to accrue, but based on that reduced sum assured, of course.

o4u is referring to the guarantee or promise some insurers made to pay more at the maturity of the policy. Standard Life and Aviva are two of the firms which come easily to mind.

brewerdave

kingstreet wrote: »

o4u is referring to the guarantee or promise some insurers made to pay more at the maturity of the policy. Standard Life and Aviva are two of the firms which come easily to mind.

As an example of this, under their mortgage guarantee Norwich(Aviva) paid us £4400 on top of the endowment policy final value when it matured last September - not enough to meet the original mortgage amount ...but better than a kick in the teeth!!:)

tabbycat2k

Okay, thanks. It is Aviva but we don't think there was any guarantee or promise. There is 16 years to run with 21 years paid in. My understanding was that the life section of Aviva was was doing well and then Aviva basically raped the funds to shore up other parts, with agreement of some sort of "policyholder representative". This means that even paying in for another 16 years the projected pay out is less than a fifth of the amount assured. The question is whether to cut and run and if yes, which route to take. Thanks for all the replies so far.

brewerdave

If you have been paying in for 21 years policy was taken out in 1991? I'm no expert but Norwich Union(Aviva) started to send out shortfall letters ~ 2001 and these are where they started to detail this "guarantee" which had a ceiling value. Are you sure that there wasn't a "promise"??