Life insurance is used in connection with house purchase but endowment mortgages are no longer popular. The homeowner bought a policy (sum insured equal to mortgage debt) to run parallel with the mortgage, paying interest and premiums until, on death or maturity, the policy proceeds repaid the loan. The ‘low cost endowment’ used an endowment with profit policy with a sum insured below the mortgage amount in the expectation that bonuses would accrue sufficiently to produce a full repayment. Any shortfall due to premature death was covered under a decreasing term policy. The underperformance of many endowments are leaving housebuyers with a debt at the end of the term, leading to accusations of mis-selling.