The most common reasons for selling an endowment policy are:

Repaying a mortgage or refinancing
Fear that the endowment policy will not cover future mortgage repayments
Moving House
Divorce
Raising capital early rather than waiting for maturity
Substantial debts or possible insolvency
Redundancy
Unable to maintain premium payments
Raising finance for specific items or projects
Life cover and savings superfluous to present requirements

Generally only with-profit and Whole of Life endowment policies are tradeable. Unit linked or "unitised" policies are based on units which are invested in stocks and shares. As the value of units can change daily, it is impossible for a long-term value to be attached to this type of policy.

Other criteria which determine the suitability of a policy, include the life Company, length of time that a policy has been in force and the surrender value.

As a guideline, a with-profits endowment policy that has been in force for at least 7 years, with a surrender value of £1,500 or more will be of interest and you could receive more by selling through aap than by surrendering it back to the Life Company. To see if your policy is suitable click here.

You will need to provide the following information, which can be obtained from your Life Company. Before contacting your Life Company click here to ensure your policy is suitable for sale.

Name of Insurance Company/Life Company
Type of policy (with-profits/unit-linked)
Policy Number
Start and Maturity dates
Basic Sum Assured
Total bonuses declared
Date to which bonuses are declared
Current Surrender Value
Gross premium payable and premium frequency (i.e. monthly etc)
Name and address of life (lives) assured

If you have all of the information above, you can get an instant indicative valuation of your policy by clicking here. Alternatively, If you do not have the information available, we can obtain it for you at no charge and without obligation by clicking here.

aap was established in 1968 and is the largest company specialising in the buying and selling of Traded Endowment Policies (TEPs)

aap can offer up to 35% more for an endowment policy than the issuing life company, however, the price offered will be affected by the length of time the policy has been in force and the choice of life company and may not always be as much as 35%.

No- if the value of the policy is greater then the outstanding loan, or if the loan is being repaid or you are restructuring your finances, this would not prevent you from offering your policy for sale. We will liaise with your lender to arrange the sale.

Most of the policies sold through aap are bought by large institutional investors such as Barclays Global Investors who will generally hold the policies until they mature. Once sold, you have no further obligation to pay any further premiums.

Approximately 21 working days. However, this greatly depends on how quickly we receive all the relevant paperwork from you and your life office so that we can make all the appropriate checks and transfer title of the policy.

Normally you will be responsible for paying premiums up to the next month after the agreement date, but all this will be laid down in the offer letter we send to you.

An offer letter is issued, which must be signed by you in order that the transfer procedure can begin. We will then ask you to complete a simple transfer form and supply us with some simple additional information and documentation. There are no costs or charges to you and the transaction should be completed in approximately the same time as it would take to surrender the policy.