| |
Click Here to sell your Sun Life of Canada Endowment Policy .
The
£137bn trap
MONEY MAIL today launches a campaign demanding justice for millions of savers trapped in funds that insurance companies have abandoned. Savers who for years have poured their hard-earned cash into endowments, pensions and bonds now find their money trapped and earning derisory returns. And there is nothing they can do about it. Many won't even realise they have a problem until it is too late and they discover their pensions and endowments are worth thousands of pounds less than they had expected. We have carried out a comprehensive survey of insurance companies for details of their closed funds. Our research reveals that at least £137 billion is trapped in more than 40 closed funds.
________________________________ • MICK and Linda Probert from Bracknell, Berkshire are stuck with two badly-performing Abbey Life endowments. Abbey Life closed to new business in 2000, and is run by Scottish Widows, which in turn is part of Lloyds TSB. Personal assistant Mrs Probert, 40, took out a 25-year, £50-a-month endowment when she was single in 1989, and took out a further 23-year endowment for £3,800 two years later costing £8 a month. Growing at 4% a year, the 25-year plan has a £12,254 shortfall on its £30,000 target, and the 23-year plan has a £2,084 shortfall. As it is a unit-linked endowment, they can't sell it. The cash-in values are very poor, and they will forfeit a special 6% bonus that is added to plans that manage to make it through to maturity. If they stop paying in, the cost of the life insurance will continue to be taken out of the value of the plan. A Scottish Widows spokesman admits that this can 'exhaust' a fund - in other words, use up all the money in it. Engineer Mr Probert, 49, says: 'There is the hope that over the next 11 years the stock market will bounce back and the policies will make money. But given Abbey Life's performance so far, that seems unlikely. I think we should be able to get out without penalty.' ________________________________ We say 'at least' because some, including Friends Provident, Lincoln Financial Group and Scottish Provident, refused to provide figures. Those that responded admitted to having more than 12 million policies made up of 6.8 million pensions, 4 million endowments and 1.2 million bonds. They include many household names which people trusted with their savings, such as London & Manchester, Pearl, Royal & SunAlliance and Guardian
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Your home may be repossessed if
you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage
Mortgage Arrangers, Equity House, 225 Hatherley Road, Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL51 6HF
Tel/Fax: 01452 741459 Email
