Lost Endownment from 20 years ago

richieandfay

Hi everyone,

About 20 years ago I started to pay into an endownment policy. As I was young at the time I stopped making payments into it and I was wondering if I can the money back that I paid into it.

The problem is I can't remember which company I was paying. Am I able to find out some how?

Thanks in advance

silvercar

There is a chance that the policy was made "paid up" when you stopped paying in to it ie you stop making payments and the money paid in so far remains invested. In which case somewhere there will be a pot waiting for you when the endowment reaches term.

There is also every chance that the pot of paid in money was used to continue to provide life cover until a point when there was nothing left.

The FOS has produced guidance on what should happen to your mortgage shortfall in cases like this.

You could try the unclaimed asset register if you want to search for a policy that may or may not exist.

richieandfay

Thanks Slivercar,

I have tried the unclaimed asset register, and after paying £25 nothing turned up.

Is there anything else I can try?

AnotherJoe

Have you got access to old bank statements? Will your bank (of 20 years ago) produce a statement for you, even if for a fee, from 20 years ago? Then you could see the company name, assuming you were making direct debit or standing order payments to it.

silvercar

Ask your mortgage lender. The policy may have been assigned to them.

Who would have arranged the mortgage for you? If you used an advisor then they should have the details. If you went direct then some lenders were tied to one endowment provider eg Halifax used Standard Life.

richieandfay

Have you got access to old bank statements? Will your bank (of 20 years ago) produce a statement for you, even if for a fee, from 20 years ago? Then you could see the company name, assuming you were making direct debit or standing order payments to it.

I tried the bank and they don't provide statements that far back.

Who would have arranged the mortgage for you? If you used an advisor then they should have the details. If you went direct then some lenders were tied to one endowment provider eg Halifax used Standard Life.

Also, I got the policy from a broker, but can't remember who as it was that long ago.

dunstonh

Endowments provide annual statements if there is a value on them. They stop sending them if they are closed without value.

When you stopped paying, was it in the first 5 years of the plan? if so, then there probably wasnt any value as plans of that era used to take around 5 years before they started to build value.

The other thing that could happen is that when you stopped paying, the cost of the life assurance was deduced from the fund value and carried on until no value was left.

in all cases, you would have been advised in writing at the time.

anotheruser

Perhaps a lesson learned to concentrate on what you're paying out, to who...