Norwich Union endowment

dunstonh

Certainly, the final bonus is not guaranteed. However, we are through the worst now and NU are one of the providers that has begun to increase theirs again.

All you have to do is send a letter to the advising company saying that you believe your endowment was mis-sold because....... Short and simple. The provider will usually send a form to fill in with a bunch of questions to answer, to the best of your knowledge. Sometimes, the complaints have been upheld on the letter alone (dealt with one a few weeks ago where we sent the letter in, got the paperwork but didnt complete it and then a week or so later, got a complaint upheld letter and offer of settlement).

salsa1

dunstonh wrote:

Certainly, the final bonus is not guaranteed. However, we are through the worst now and NU are one of the providers that has begun to increase theirs again.

All you have to do is send a letter to the advising company saying that you believe your endowment was mis-sold because....... Short and simple. The provider will usually send a form to fill in with a bunch of questions to answer, to the best of your knowledge. Sometimes, the complaints have been upheld on the letter alone (dealt with one a few weeks ago where we sent the letter in, got the paperwork but didnt complete it and then a week or so later, got a complaint upheld letter and offer of settlement).

Was that with Norwich Union?

dunstonh

Was that with Norwich Union?

I have arranged a few complaints and have never done more than a handful of lines on the complaint letter. One was an NU policy but the complaints didnt go to NU, it went to a bank that was linked to NU at the time.

grahalex

Doesn't sound too daunting then dunstohn , I have asked Norwich Union to send me details of who set up the policy.
The surrender value is £9733

If the policy was to mature today the Terminal bonus would be £1400

I have requested an up to date forecast ofthe policys performance.

grahalex

Guaranteed sum assured £5680
Bonuses so far £5587.80
Surrender value £9733
Maturity date 22/10/2009
Monthly payment £20.84
Terminal bonus £1400 at todays rates.

FOSman

grahalex wrote:

As a matter of interest my brother had a Norwich Union endowment, and he made a claim for misselling with one of those companies that does all the work for you.He recieved a cheque for £3500 ,but had to pay about 20% commision.

:rotfl: Thats what he gets for being lazy.

EdInvestor

Hi grahalex

If you were to take the surrender value and put it in the bank @4% until maturity, also paying in the premiums, you should get 12,479 on maturity compared with the 12,668 (11,268 guaranteed value +1400 TB) if you kept the policy and the current TB payout did not change.

So there's very little in it.IMHO it really hinges on two things:

1.The policy contains life cover.Would you need to replace this?If so, find out how much that would cost and factor it in. Likely it would swing the balance towards keeping it, as you're that much older.

2. Do you think the TB will
a) disappear
b) remain much the same
c) grow larger

at maturity?

If a) and you don't need to replace the life cover, then surrender might be the best choice. If c) and you do need to replace the life cover, then stay.

Otherwise you could toss a coin

dunstonh

2. Do you think the TB will
a) disappear
b) remain much the same
c) grow larger

No-one can tell the answer to that but NU ones are currently growing.

If a) and you don't need to replace the life cover, then surrender might be the best choice. If c) and you do need to replace the life cover, then stay.

What about making the plan paid up? Thats an option.

Also, no mention of alternative funds available which may be more suited. Or, what the allocation rates are on the policy? Or what the ongoing charges are?

You cannot make a judgement call just based on a projection. They are not accurate enough and do not take into account all features/terms.

grahalex

I recieved an update letter today from Norwich Union, so here are new figures.

Guaranteed sum assured £5680
Bonuses so far £5615.75
Surrender value £9733
Maturity date 22/10/2009
Monthly payment £20.84
Terminal bonus £1400 at todays rates.

Predicted maturity value £13200 at 5% growth.
I do have other life insurance and this policy is no longer attached to a mortgage,but it would be nice to get as much return as possible on this policy so I can reduce my mortgage.

EdInvestor

dunstonh wrote:

What about making the plan paid up? Thats an option.

Not normally recommended, guaranteed value is reduced, charges eat away at the value etc.

Also, no mention of alternative funds available which may be more suited. Or, what the allocation rates are on the policy? Or what the ongoing charges are?

Yes, grahalex could look into all that.It depends if he wants to continue taking risks - he's not too happy about having done this in the first place and incurred a shortfall, remember.

There are usually better ways to invest in the stockmarket these days than via (very)old endowment policies with high charges.

Frankly I think it's absolutely pathetic that an endowment which has been going since 1984 can offer a TB of only 14%.This policy should have benefited from 20 years of booming stockmarkets.

Where has the money gone? :mad: