As I understand it the endowment mortgage is a product that does not exist here in the US. The idea was that one would have an amount of cash coming back to you at the point the mortgage was actually paid (hence - endowment.....). My sister in the UK was similarly advised by her bank manager - they paid their mortgage off and received no lump sum but were pretty happy not to owe money.......

I like good old fixed rate mortgages with lovely regular principle reductions -- much safer. Be wary of ARMs masquerading as good deals...