ReAssure Policy

IanTyler

Hi - I've been helping my elderly Mum understand some of the various investments she has. Most are fairly straight forward however she has one with ReAssure which I can't really get my head around. 
It's some kind of investment in Unit Trusts, it doesn't seem from what I can see to have premiums being paid in or income being paid out however their projection of value is that if underlying fund's increase by 1% over next 10 years the fund value will decrease from today's value, roughly £55k to £45k. The only thing I can put that down to is their fees and by my reckoning these must be £1300 pa. 
Suffice to say, as per various other threads on here, their customer service is tragic - won't speak to me on the phone without PoA (which I have) but havent sent the forms I need to complete in order to invoke PoA on Mum's account, sigh.....
Any pointers helpful, seems to me like some horrible 1990s endowment policy throwback that my dear departed father was talked into by some self serving Financial Adviser.
Thanks in advance.
Ian

kingstreet

It sounds like a unit linked bond, endowment or whole life plan. If it's a bond, the life cover is usually 101% of the value of the units, or thereabouts.

If premiums aren't being paid on an endowment or WL, units are encashed to maintain the life cover. If the investment return isn't high enough to meet the unit encashment, the value will drop over time. The cover is usually reviewable, but that may have stopped if premiums have stopped.

Once you have details of what exactly this plan is, you'll be able to get a better idea of what to do with it on the Insurance & Life Assurance forum.

Flugelhorn

I think we had an endowment that started as barclays and ended up as ReAssure (though it might have been another company) - we didn't pay in for years as we no longer needed it for the mortgage but kept it as life insurance then cashed it in later 

get the forms sent in for PoA and then you'll get some more info 

dunstonh

 however their projection of value is that if underlying fund's increase by 1% over next 10 years the fund value will decrease from today's value, roughly £55k to £45k. The only thing I can put that down to is their fees and by my reckoning these must be £1300 pa. 

The projections are gross returns before charges and insurance costs and factor in withdrawals.   There will also be a deduction for inflation at either 2% or 2.5%.  

So a 1% projection will show a declining value and your reckoning is not correct as it is not taking into account the assumptions used.

Suffice to say, as per various other threads on here, their customer service is tragic - won't speak to me on the phone without PoA (which I have) but havent sent the forms I need to complete in order to invoke PoA on Mum's account, sigh.....

That is not bad service. Their stance is correct.

IanTyler

Thanks all - makes sense. It would appear that the surrender value is the current value so as long as there are no penalties or hidden taxes my inclination is to cash out and get it into a 5% savings account to give my Mum some income. In terms of my comment re their customer service being tragic just to clarify I understand I need to go through a process to get PoA assigned the challenge I have with their service is I asked them to send the relevant forms out (along with some details on what this policy is) two weeks back and have received nothing since.