Reply to: Endowment Policies

[Paddy]

I have worked for banks and pointed out faults in their systems. At one bank there was a bug in that some letters and statements for customers would not be printed. I still wonder today how much hardship it had caused customers in not recieving them. The Bank kept quiet about the error.

[AtW]

Some day a big bank will go bust or lose huge sums of it's customers' money due to a software fault that was reported by testers but accepted by senior management who were pushing for their bonus. Happens all the time and I've had enough of it.

This ain't got much to do with audit of the bank (insofar balance sheet is concerned). Software faults are not on agenda because banks make such tulipy investment decisions that no software can cause bigger losses than loaning lots of money to people who can't repay it.

[shaunbhoy]

I got caught out by that as well.... I was after 100k life only policy to provide for the family if anything happened to me - My financial advisor suggested a policy written in trust which would cover until age 65... I thought that meant 100k cover until 65.... missed the small print which gave them the right to review cover against premiums after every 10 years.... 100k cover is now 65k & another review in 5 years ho fookin hum

They really do see you coming don't they?

[Mich the Tester]

Even worse is that the law is tipped in favour of financial institutions and when the law protecting financial institutions is not good enough for their purposes they forge documents and bribe judges. Just one example of this is going on in the USA where lenders have been caught out forging thousands of documents to get foreclosures in circumstances that were not valid.

I have phoned various banks on numerous occasions only to find out that the computer records have been falsified. Eg: "We telephoned you on XX Dated and you agreed to something " when in fact I blatantly did not.

I have tested several bank systems and I'm convinced that any auditor prepared to sign off the accounts of those particular banks is either incompetent, corrupt or both. Some day a big bank will go bust or lose huge sums of it's customers' money due to a software fault that was reported by testers but accepted by senior management who were pushing for their bonus. Happens all the time and I've had enough of it.

[Paddy]

Especially white middle class blokes with suits. We now have a Dutch government promising to cut immigration of young brown folk, but it wasn't some black kid that nicked my pension; it was a white Dutchman. Worse still, it doesn't appear in the crime figures because swindling people is perfectly legal for banks and insurers.

Even worse is that the law is tipped in favour of financial institutions and when the law protecting financial institutions is not good enough for their purposes they forge documents and bribe judges. Just one example of this is going on in the USA where lenders have been caught out forging thousands of documents to get foreclosures in circumstances that were not valid.

I have phoned various banks on numerous occasions only to find out that the computer records have been falsified. Eg: "We telephoned you on XX Dated and you agreed to something " when in fact I blatantly did not.

[Mich the Tester]

After paying £25,000 into a Standard Life endowment policy, 15 years on; what would you expect get back? Well with my policy, in now worth £13,000, much less that what I paid in. My money would have been better invested in a shoe box or under the mattress. Standard Life have done very well out the deal making £12k in fees for their expertise in investing my cash.

Never trust anyone with your hard earned money.

Especially white middle class blokes with suits. We now have a Dutch government promising to cut immigration of young brown folk, but it wasn't some black kid that nicked my pension; it was a white Dutchman. Worse still, it doesn't appear in the crime figures because swindling people is perfectly legal for banks and insurers.

[Fred Bloggs]

My 25 year mortgage endowment matured 18 months ago and failed to repay the mortgage by about £3k. I think we just about got back what we'd paid in but we had to find £3k to clear the mortgage. I had 2 x 20 year policies as savings that I surrendered after about 10 years of paying in and made small profits on, it seems that was a good move now.

[DimPrawn]

I never trusted endowments when they were the in thing, just seemed very dodgy to me.

I never trusted a financial adviser - how could they be doing anything other than gaining commission on what they sell?

I fell for the pension lark, but parked that after a few years.

I did pay off the mortgage asap though.

Simpleton economics, not made me much but saved me a flippin fortune.

WHS. Avoid anything that involves middle men such as "financial advisers". Avoid high debt, complicated financial products and anything where it's impossible to get your money back in a reasonable timeframe.

Buy low, sell high and no.1 rule, never lose money.

HTH BIDI

[Shimano105]

I never trusted endowments when they were the in thing, just seemed very dodgy to me.

I never trusted a financial adviser - how could they be doing anything other than gaining commission on what they sell?

I fell for the pension lark, but parked that after a few years.

I did pay off the mortgage asap though.

Simpleton economics, not made me much but saved me a flippin fortune.

[DimPrawn]

I got caught out by that as well.... I was after 100k life only policy to provide for the family if anything happened to me - My financial advisor suggested a policy written in trust which would cover until age 65... I thought that meant 100k cover until 65.... missed the small print which gave them the right to review cover against premiums after every 10 years.... 100k cover is now 65k & another review in 5 years ho fookin hum

The clue is in the phrase "My financial advisor".

This is the 21st century with the Internet. You don't need a "financial advisor" any more than you need a lawnmower consultant to cut the grass, infact it's the quickest way to lose money.

[Troll]

You can buy straight forward life assurance policy for peanuts. Even £1M+ payout costs less than a Sky+ subscription.

I got caught out by that as well.... I was after 100k life only policy to provide for the family if anything happened to me - My financial advisor suggested a policy written in trust which would cover until age 65... I thought that meant 100k cover until 65.... missed the small print which gave them the right to review cover against premiums after every 10 years.... 100k cover is now 65k & another review in 5 years ho fookin hum

[mudskipper]

Did taking that mean you lost the life protection element?

Yes - basically the policy ended.

[DimPrawn]

Did taking that mean you lost the life protection element?

You can buy straight forward life assurance policy for peanuts. Even £1M+ payout costs less than a Sky+ subscription.

[Troll]

Yep - we got 'compensation' for a missold endowment - the compensation was the money back + interest at an agreed rate (not sure who agreed it) but it was around 5 - 7 % a year. About 20K more than the endowment was worth (a lot less than we'd put in).

Did taking that mean you lost the life protection element?

[Lockhouse]

Yes, easy when we're older and wiser.

The point was that we were young and naive (stupid) when we took it out, and believed what the FA told us. We'd gone along wanting a repayment mortgage - he'd told us we were crazy, we'd pay it off 8 years earlier with an endowment and shown us three projections, the lowest of which we'd still be better of than with a repayment. We'd never heard of an endowment before we met him. I genuinely believe we were mis-sold - along with many other homebuyers in the late 80s.

I too was young and naive when I took mine out 21 years ago - they are due to mature in four years time. I really didn't understand how these things worked at the time and everyone else was doing the same thing. I'll be lucky to get back what I put in but it's too late to cash them.