just a rant

ukcarper

CLAPTON wrote: »

because life insurance is dirt cheap and the additional cost of endowment wasn't cheap


MIRAS tax benefit meant you paid massively more interest over the life of your mortgage and got a bit of tax back : letting the tax tail wag the dog.

If you have a history of medical problems in your family endowment policies were not loaded as much as life insurance.

If the endowment had covered mortgage the tax relief would have been worth having.

CLAPTON

ukcarper wrote: »

If you have a history of medical problems in your family endowment policies were not loaded as much as life insurance.

If the endowment had covered mortgage the tax relief would have been worth having.

were you an endowment policy salesperson?

ukcarper

CLAPTON wrote: »

were you an endowment policy salesperson?

No just someone who took on out.

CLAPTON

ukcarper wrote: »

No just someone who took on out.

did it work for you?

ukcarper

CLAPTON wrote: »

did it work for you?

No a few grand short a bit annoyed when statements started to turn red but just put it down to one of those things.

Mind you the extra tax relief did reduce shortfall a bit.

onlyroz

lisyloo wrote: »

Just out of interest, if you think he may have been mis-sold then why have you not investigated that avenue?
I'm not saying file a claim automatically, I'm asking why you wouldn't at least look into that possibility as you seem to think it's possible.

But good on you for not ignoring the letters and doing something about it.

I don't have enough info to know if he was miss sold or not - the policy was bought years before we met. My understanding is that miss selling is where the salesman made all sorts of promises about the potential returns - husband doesn't really remember much about how he ended up with the policy. In any case I thibk that we have missed the boat for making any claims. I'm not too put out because we've massively benefitted from low interest rates in recent years (base +0.5% )

Thrugelmir

Generali wrote: »

Of course the massive cut in interest rates has freed up thousands to put away on the mortgage

BOE has not detected any such trend from lenders in it's quarterly credit conditions reports. (Surprised me too).

Guess that many are now addicted to credit, and a spend now pay later culture.

Generali

Thrugelmir wrote: »

BOE has not detected any such trend from lenders in it's quarterly credit conditions reports. (Surprised me too).

Guess that many are now addicted to credit, and a spend now pay later culture.

True. In a slightly more charitable light, perhaps what has happened is that interest rate cuts combined with falling real wages has allowed those with mortgages to maintain their living standards.

Jonbvn

Thrugelmir wrote: »

BOE has not detected any such trend from lenders in it's quarterly credit conditions reports. (Surprised me too).

Guess that many are now addicted to credit, and a spend now pay later culture.

Or perhaps (like us) many people have realised it is better to save/invest elsewhere than overpay a low interest rate debt?

Loughton_Monkey

Jonbvn wrote: »

Or perhaps (like us) many people have realised it is better to save/invest elsewhere than overpay a low interest rate debt?

You say "many". Maybe, but I expect still only a minority. Financial acumen amongst the UK public is very low I think. Reading some of these forums indicates a huge propensity for people to fall for scams [such as 'unlocking' their pension or all those public sector workers who want to 'get back at' the government who has made them pay a bit more for a slightly worsened pension by leaving the scheme and setting up their own pot].

I think we all know someone who simply doesn't 'get it'. These are the people who.....

(a) .... Set up a self employed pension in 1984 paying in £50 a month when they were earning £500 a month. Now, 30 years later, they have noticed that the potential annuity size is peanuts and not enough to retire in luxury. They either want advise on how to claim for mis-selling or they blame the bankers for raping their pension...

(b) .... Don't shop around at all for their utilities, mortgage, or insurance thus paying well over the top.

(c) .... Learn that reviewing their pensions is a 'good thing' and so scrat around to find three old pension pots to which they are no longer contributing. I would love to know the psychology of why they all tend passionately to want to combine them all in one pot, thereby (probably) throwing away high guaranteed annuity rates, or extremely low charges, all in the name of a bit of 'tidiness'.

It's a sort of financial masochism where some people are hell bent on self-imposed poverty.