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Original poster

Cashing in an Endowment policy?

25 replies

geordieminx · 06/04/2010 08:35

I have an old endowment policy, that has about 12 years left to run (taken out 13 years ago), its currently worth £7k, but when working the sums out, as I am paying £70 a month, I reckon that its unlikely to be worth carrying on with it.

Its with Canada Sun Life - if I want to sell it, do I just surrender it to them, or can I sell it privately - is it even worth trying to sell it privately?

TIA

OP posts:
castlesintheair · 06/04/2010 08:40

Just ring them up and say you want to cash it in. That's what I did with mine.

Original poster
geordieminx · 06/04/2010 08:51

Thanks - I wasnt sure whether it was better to try and sell it to a broker rather than surrendering it to the company.

OP posts:
Original poster
geordieminx · 06/04/2010 10:41

bump

OP posts:
Original poster
geordieminx · 06/04/2010 20:57

anyone else?

OP posts:
Original poster
geordieminx · 07/04/2010 22:57

final bump.

OP posts:
Monty100 · 07/04/2010 23:32

Sell it privately! Just google something, I did this once and got really good offers, and shop around on line for the best offer. Albeit in the end I signed it over to exh in divorce settlement, citing to the judge how much I had been offered for it.

Lulumaam · 07/04/2010 23:34

i looked into this a while ago, the private option would have got me approx £200 more , so i surrendered it

MissAnneElk · 07/04/2010 23:39

Google selling endowment policy or check on martinsmoneysavingexpert for companies who will buy them. I did this a few years ago when I realised mine wasn't going to come close to paying off my mortgage. Unfortunatley, no one at the time wanted to buy it and so I cashed it in. I did receive an offer after about 8 months for about £5000 more than I got for it - c'est la vie..

Hawk around for a while before you make a decision.

Monty100 · 07/04/2010 23:44

When I made enquiries the difference between cashing in and selling to a broker was £5k! I don't know which way the market is at the minute but deffo worth a look.

MissAnne - grr for you.

Original poster
geordieminx · 08/04/2010 08:16

Thank you ladies

Luckily its from an old mortgage that dh had, we are repayment now. It just galls me paying it out every month, then getting the statement every year seeing how much it isnt worth

It isnt worth a huge amount, but enough to do some house improvements

OP posts:
traumaqueen · 08/04/2010 08:32

It's more complicated than that. Long term endowment policies are designed to pay out in the long term. Cashing it in in the middle is one of the worst things you can do - that's why people are prepared to pay more than the face value of it now, because they know the value of it is going to rise much more in the future than it has so far.

What is it estimated to be worth in 12 years' time fully paid up? Phone them and ask them to send you an estimate if you haven't already. You have just over £10,000 left to put in. Is it worth investing this £10,000? And also consider, if you cash it in will you have to pay tax? and does in include some life insurance that you might want to replace as well?

I was in this situation a few years back when the whole endowment thing blew up. Did all the sums and realised that even with their worst expectations it was worth hanging on until the bitter end rather than selling on and letting someone else benefit from my spadework. As it turned out the value has increased much more than their estimates at the time so I will be quids in at the end.

PositiveAttitude · 08/04/2010 08:56

Second what traumaqueen says.

We looked into cashing ours in about 6 years ago when we transferred our mortgage to a repayment, but we stuck with it. We are now 2 years off the end. We pay in £50 a month and each month we phone and see how much it has gone up. Most months we have been increasing the £50 by between £25 - £50, so well worth it to keep going, especially as we get the bonus for sticking with it for the duration. (and rubbish interest rates anywhere else!)
If you can afford the payment each month its worth doing.

Original poster
geordieminx · 08/04/2010 09:21

Surrender value is just under £7k

Have another 14 years @ £65 a month to pay.

Was supposed to be worth £37k at term

OP posts:
BigGitDad · 09/04/2010 23:56

I would speak to an IFA or someone who knows about surrendering endowments. Canada Sun Life do not have a very good name in the endowment market. (You can just phone a few IFA's for a chat and see what they say)
Is it a Unit linked endowment (Unitised) or a With Profits endowment. It may make a difference between the two.
Off the top of my head as an IFA I would cut and run, I do not think they will pay that well at maturity. But as I say speak to some IFA's first.

cat64 · 10/04/2010 00:51

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Original poster
geordieminx · 10/04/2010 08:04

Thanks for that BGD... Have paid in £9k, will have to pay another £12k, with a £37k payout supposedly...Its not guarenteed though is it? And I suppose £37k will be worth even less in 12 years time.

Cat Re the life insurance - yes we would need to get proper life insurance sorted as we dont really have anything in place just now , tbh the death payout on this policy wouldnt pay off a quarter of our mortgage, to get proper life insurance for us both would be approx £50 a month? We are guarenteed £7k at the moment, no projected final figure - they have never given us one - just the £37k policy value on completion?

Thanks so much for your help guys....

OP posts:
BigGitDad · 10/04/2010 10:00

This is where you need advice because is the £37k guaranteed? If it is With profits endowment then it can be. If it is a unitised endowment then there are usually no guarantees and the value can go up or down like stocks and shares. Therefore you might just get whatever the value is at maturity.

Original poster
geordieminx · 10/04/2010 15:11

i think it is guaranteed.

If it was would you keep it or sell it...

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Original poster
geordieminx · 12/04/2010 20:51

Bumping to try and lure back BigGitDad

OP posts:
BigGitDad · 15/04/2010 19:54

Sorry Geordie, went awol from MN for a short while.
If you have paid in £9k, will pay in another £12k and will get £37k at the end it is not a bad deal. If you surrendered it, got £5k and invested £12k over the same remaining term would you get more? Difficult to say. If you are not prepared to take the risk then stay as you are.
But I still have an issue with Sun Life of Canada. You need to check they are still issuing bonuses on a yearly basis and that final bonuses are being paid at maturity.
For what it is worth I have an endowment with another company and am keeping that going.

Original poster
geordieminx · 15/04/2010 21:43

Thanks. You have certainly given me some food for thought. Will check out dh's our policy and see what the crack is.

OP posts:
BigGitDad · 16/04/2010 10:46

You mean I should have been talking this over with dh after all this!! {grin]

BigGitDad · 16/04/2010 10:47

shit!

curvey · 19/04/2010 15:15

I too went from endowment to repayment but decided to keep 2 x endowments running I pay £27 per month into each - suppose to payout £38k but now running at aorund £14/5k...however Im being optomistic and thinking hey things may change I think we have around 7 years left. Also I just think in 7 years time that's quite a nice little lump sum for us that we havent really missed putting away. Im all for sticking it out also Im not disaplined enough to keep putting the £50 away each month it would just get gobbled up on take aways or ... shoes

Caravanoflove · 30/08/2016 10:42

Shameless apologies for restarting an old thread but I am in similar position to OP. Are you still around OP, what did you decide on the end?
Has anyone else been in a similar position? I know I should get an IFA but in all honesty that would be another bill I can't afford to pay, hence looking into selling the endowment!

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