Endowment mortgage maturing

[knm]

My 20 year mortgage concludes in April of this year. It is an endowment "With Profits" policy with INBS. The insurance policy is with Standard Life. The original loan was for 27,000 punts.
Up to Feb 2008, the insurance policy had earned enough to pay off the original loan or come close to it. The value was listed as E30,000 odd. However my most recent statement from Standard Life shows a current value of E23,800 odd. So have I lost E6,200 in 1 year?
When I first took this mortgage out, I was assured many times that "an endowment was the best way to go", "at the end of 20 years, you will have enough to pay your loan AND have a lump sum left over". Of course I have not got this in writing. When the whole fiasco of endowment shortfalls came to light some years ago, I emailed Standard life and was assured that "My policy was on target to pay off the original loan. Unfortunately I have since lost that email.
The mortgage is due to mature in April this year. Can anyone offer me any advice?
Thanks.

 

[secman]

Re: INBS Endowment Advise.

Ring Standard Life and enquire as to the present value of the policy, you are entitled to know the present valuation, as you bought it and it is almost matured and you need to know how you will be fixed. But I suspect there will be a shortfall, unfortunately.


Secman

 

[GSheehy]

Have a look at page 4 of this document [broken link removed] and you will see what €60pm over 20 years is currently maturing at. You may be able to calculate an indicative maturity value on your own policy based on your level of contribution, although the cost of life cover will probably have been higher on your policy.

 

[knm]

I rang Standard Life today. Because the policy is assigned, I cannot cash it in now. So as it stands, I could be 10 to 12 grand short.

There is a "Final Bonus" but this has decreased from 10 grand last year to 2.5 grand now. I suspect this could decrease even further in the next two months. He couldn't tell me if it would or not.
Standard life said there was a "possibility" of a Terminal Bonus despite the fact that a Terminal Bonus has been listed in my annual statement for the last 19 years. They were unable/unwilling to say that there would be one or indeed how much it could be worth. Either I have got a Terminal Bonus or I haven't, irrespective of how much it would be worth. I can only find out this info on the day the policy matures.

I was very disappointed with the feedback from Standard Life. I felt that the guy on the end of the phone was fobbing me off with an pre-agreed set of default answers to my inquiries. I really felt he knew more about my mortgage than I did.

When the global financial system finally gets back on it's feet, I for one will be a lot more picky about who I do business with. Bankers would be wise to bear this in mind.