Endowment selling is the practice in the United Kingdom of selling an endowment policy to a third party. This is often an attempt to gain more money than the value given when surrendering the policy to the original life assurance company.
Background
With-profits endowment policies were aggressively sold for many years, including during the 1980s, by insurance companies. The policies were marketed as an almost guaranteed way to pay off a mortgage and leave the policy holder with a lump sum once it had matured.
The with profits endowment policy was sold alongside an interest only mortgage. By only paying interest, mortgage repayments were kept low. The endowment policy also had monthly premiums to pay which ran for the term of the mortgage. The policy would rise in value as premiums were paid and through profits from investments, paying off the mortgage when the policy matured.
However, many policies did not increase to the level that was required.
When it became apparent that many policies would not cover the cost of the mortgage loan, policy holders sought alternative methods to repay their mortgage and dispose of their endowment policies. Whilst initially, the only method was to surrender (cancel) the policy with the life assurance company themselves, obtaining the surrender value calculated by them, a second hand market slowly developed, providing policyholders with much added value over their surrender values.
Now, many companies offer to buy the with profits endowment policy from the holder for more than the surrender value. This practice has created a thriving industry of endowment policy buyers. Members of the public can either contact these companies directly or they can use the services of a Traded Endowment Specialist.
Traded Endowment Specialists are companies that deal exclusively with Second Hand Endowment Policies and obtain offers from the entire market. They can also provide offers from some buyers that do not purchase directly from the public and will only offer through these Traded Endowment Specialists.
Not all purchase offers are the same as some buyers will purchase on a 'guaranteed-offer' basis whilst others will make initial offers that are subject to sale. These offers are not guaranteed as there is no definite purchaser in place. Yet other companies retain the right to revalue or cancel their offer at their discretion throughout the sale. A Traded Endowment Specialist can assist you in understanding the nature of the different offers you receive - making sure you don't end up with an offer that is not suitable for your circumstances.
Traded endowment policies (TEPs) or second hand endowment policies (SHEPs) are traditional with-profits endowments that have been sold to a new owner part way through their term. The TEP market enables buyers (investors) to buy unwanted endowment policies for more than the surrender value offered by the insurance company. Investors will pay more than the surrender value because the policy has greater value if it is kept in force than if it is terminated early.
When a policy is sold, all beneficial rights on the policy are transferred to the new owner. The new owner takes on responsibility for future premium payments and collects the maturity value when the policy matures or the death benefit when the original life assured dies. Policyholders who sell their policies, no longer benefit from the life cover and should consider whether to take out alternative cover.
The TEP market deals exclusively with Traditional With Profits policies. The easiest way of determining whether an endowment policy is in this category is to check to see whether your policy document mentions units, indicating it is a Unitised With Profits or Unit Linked policy, if bonuses are in sterling and there is no mention of units then it is probably a traditional With Profits. The other types of policies - “Unit Linked” and “Unitised With Profits” have a performance factor which is dependent directly on current investment market conditions. These are not tradable as the guarantees on the policy are much lower and there is no gap between the surrender value and the market value.
Modified endowments (U.S.)
Modified endowments were created in the Technical Corrections Act of 1988 (H.R 4333, S. 2238) in response to single-premium life (endowments) being used as tax shelters. They are contracts with fewer than 7-level annual premiums, and are subject to more stringent tax regulations (tax code 7702, 7702A). They are also subject to IRA-like annuity rules (such as penalties for pre-death proceeds before age 59½). If a life insurance policy is changed and then fits the seven-pay rules, it may then be redefined as a modified endowment.
Source: From Wikipedia, The free encyclopedia