Can I Sell My Endowment Policy?

If you are informed by your policy provider that you are heading for a shortfall at the end of the endowment mortgage term, you may feel the need to sell the policy.  Or you may want to sell it because you need to raise finance early, rather than waiting for the policy to mature.  There is no shortage of finance companies offering to buy your endowment policy off you.  But your policy needs to meet certain conditions to make it saleable.  

Generally, only Whole of Life and with-profit policies are tradable, not unit-linked policies as these are too variable to have a long-term value placed on them.  Other criteria determining saleability include the Life Company, length of time a policy has been in force and its surrender value.  As a guideline, a with-profits endowment policy that has been in force for at least seven years and has a surrender value of £1,500 or more will be of interest to buyers.  You could receive more by selling the policy than by surrendering it back to the Life Company.