The Endowment con

letsbehonest

10 years ago a I took out a £50 a month endowment with Sun Life of Canada, within the time period allowed I wrote and canceled, not liking the system were the first few hundred quid went in fees which had not been explained to me at point of sale. I was phoned back by the salesperson who sold me the package asking why I had canceled, after giving my explanation she told me that thats how she gets her wages and I would be foolish to cancel because I could expect to get £12,500 ish back after 10 years. Now I am (was ) a complete novice with the understanding of these savings plans trusting in those who know. I have now received a letter informing me that my policy has now matured and I will be getting £6,058, meaning a grand total of money earned over 10 years of £58 or £5.80p a year, for £6000 paid in.
The lady who sold me the policy is (was) a friend, to say I am angry with her is probably wrong, but I am very disappointed in the way I was misled.

kenwalker

As you have stated that you no nothing about life policies it would be helpful if you posted complete details of the benefits as laid out in the policy. I say this as it may not be a simple endowment policy but may have had additional cover built into it for which you would receive no additional bonus. The position with your friend's commission is standard practice although nowadays they have to tell you about it up front. Unfortunately, the last 10 years has been the worst period for some time for the stock market and this will be reflected in the bonuses. The return stated however seems exceptionally low - if it is based on a simple endowment.

letsbehonest

kenwalker.
Thanks for your reply. My endowment plan was for myself and my wife and had an amount of life cover built into it, that's about it.
Never again!

kenwalker

It could be worth approaching Sun Life about this to see if they will offer something more as the return on the policy is remarkably low.

If the policy was in connection with a mortgage see here - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/endowments-miss-sold

Good luck.

letsbehonest

Kenwalker, thanks again. and yes I have already emailed my comments to Sun life, their reply was the complaints procedure will be posted to me. A fruitless exercise I think but I will give it a go and make a lot of noise.
regards

Debt_Free_Chick

letsbehonest wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. My endowment plan was for myself and my wife and had an amount of life cover built into it, that's about it.

Although it might not account for much, you need to factor in the cost of providing that life cover over the past 10 years. Not all of the money you paid was for the "savings" part - some of it was for the life cover part.

Having said that, endowments have generally performed pretty poorly and certainly not in line with the projections made 10 years ago.