Scottish Amicable Endowment - Payment Of Further Bonus

cjph

Finally got my maturity letter today. £9K shortfall on a projected £57K policy, and from all the information I have seen there is no further possible action. I am surprised by the lack of any detail in the letter - an assured sum, regular bonus total and final bonus total plus a paragraph saying it was tough in 2008 but with smoothing they have 'protected' me from the worse of it. Oh, and a form to discharge them of any further liability.

I have asked for a final 'statement of account' or similar, which seemed alien to the person the phone. Is it normal to simply receive and accept a trio of numbers as an account of 25 years of investment ? I get rafts of data in my personal and professional life but Prudential don't seem to know if they keep records once the annual statements are sent out.

cj

makensie

Can anyone advise how long in advance of maturity date will Pru write to me and advise what my plan will pay out? My maturity date is end of May 2013. Thanks.

Froggitt

about a month. dont expect good news.

makensie

I have just spoken to an adviser at Prudential about my two policies that mature at the end of May this year. Between them they have told me I will receive approx £31K against target value of £38K. This figure, they tell me, includes all bonuses including terminal bonus plus special bonus due to Pru take over from SCAm. They even gave me specific figures for the special bonus when I asked for them. They did say they would write to me 4 week before maturity date with guaranteed figures, te figures they have just given me over the phone are not guaranteed.

In anyone elses experience how accurate have any figures given over the phone a few months before maturity actually been? Has the reality been a bit better or a bit worse?

Eric101

bennyboy3 wrote: »

I currently have two with profits endowments with Scottish Amicable which were taken out in the mid to late 80's and they are due to mature in July and August of this year.

In October 1997 Scottish Amicable was taken over by Prudential and as part of the take over certain promises were made to Scottish Amicable policy holders at that time. These promises were as follows

1- a cash payment was made to qualifying members
2- special bonuses were added to qualifying policies in October 1997
3- a further bonus would be added to qualifying with profits policies when they matured.

Both my policies are qualifying policies and i have been paid the cash sum and my policies enhanced as detailed in 1+2 above.

I recently received maturity value details relating to the policy which matured
in July. However the letter I received from them confirming the maturity value of this policy only details the basic sum assured , the reversionary bonuses and the amount of terminal bonus. No mention is made in the letter of the further bonus which was promised back in 1997.


I contacted Prudential regarding this and they have confirmed that the further bonus is due and is included in the maturity value. According to them the special bonus awarded in 1997 has been increased by the annual bonus percentage since 1997 and the terminal bonus when applied to that final figure (ie special bonus+ enhancements) gives me a greater terminal bonus, than if no special bonus had been awarded in 1997.

I understand what there saying but i dont agree with it. I have looked in detail at the policy circular issued prior to the take over and as far as i'm concerned the further bonus should be a seperate payment and there is no indication from the policy document that it is linked directly to the amount of terminal bonus applied to the special bonus. I told Scottish Amicable this and they have admitted verbally that the wording of the policy circular was clumsy regarding the payment of the further bonus.

I'm now at the point that where i feel have to make a formal complaint as I feel i was mislead at the time of the takeover - because i assumed i would receive a further bonus when my policies were paid out, and as far as i'm concerned I'm not getting it.

Before i do this i was wondering if anyone else has had a similar problem with Scottish Amicable and how they resolved it, or if there are any other Scottish Amicable members who are under the same impression as me.

Thanks

In the last 10 years Prudential claim to have made a 111.1% return on with profit investments. My Pension Pot has only increased by 9.8% in the last 10 years. would appreciate some help

Froggitt

Maybe the returns have gone into the fund rather than distributed to policyholders.

dunstonh

In the last 10 years Prudential claim to have made a 111.1% return on with profit investments. My Pension Pot has only increased by 9.8% in the last 10 years. would appreciate some help

There is usually a lag on smoothing. Plus, Scot Am fund doesnt perform as well as Pru main policies. Plans with guarantees get a lower bonus rate as well.

Eric101

dunstonh wrote: »

There is usually a lag on smoothing. Plus, Scot Am fund doesnt perform as well as Pru main policies. Plans with guarantees get a lower bonus rate as well.

When I challenge Martin Walker Chief Executive’s Office Prudential UK & Europe regarding the actual returns on my Pension Pot (9.5%) and Prudential’s Claimed investment returns (105.5%) they claim it’s to smooth the returns hence over 10 years Prudential smoothed off 96% off my pension pot.

Eric101

cjph wrote: »

Finally got my maturity letter today. £9K shortfall on a projected £57K policy, and from all the information I have seen there is no further possible action. I am surprised by the lack of any detail in the letter - an assured sum, regular bonus total and final bonus total plus a paragraph saying it was tough in 2008 but with smoothing they have 'protected' me from the worse of it. Oh, and a form to discharge them of any further liability.

I have asked for a final 'statement of account' or similar, which seemed alien to the person the phone. Is it normal to simply receive and accept a trio of numbers as an account of 25 years of investment ? I get rafts of data in my personal and professional life but Prudential don't seem to know if they keep records once the annual statements are sent out.

cj

My Pension Pot Should be £133723.00p it's actually £31482.00p.
£102241 difference They actually missed the target by £100K

Froggitt

I transferred out all my with profits pension policies ten+ years ago. Would rather make my own choices and do my own smoothing, than let a totally unaccountable with profits manager do it for me.

My Scot Am endowment I ran to conclusion last year, eventually coming in for a grand or so shortfall (on a £65k target) once the endowment compo has been taken into account.