Where has my money gone?

Q I have an endowment mortgage for which the monthly payment is made directly from a bank account. Since I'm working abroad, I have not adjusted this payment, even though I have been informed that is has been reduced by the building society. But I noticed, on receiving a statement from the building society, that the amount owed on the endowment mortgage is still the same. Where has the extra money paid in gone? IS

A An endowment mortgage is an interest-only arrangement in which, each month, you pay your lender only the interest owed on the loan. You don't make any repayment of the loan itself until the end of the term - that's what the endowment is for, to clear the capital after the loan term ends.

If your mortgage has a discount, tracker or standard variable rate, the amount owed in interest may change whenever your lender changes its lending rate - which it may well have done recently following the Bank of England's base rate cut. In this case, the amount paid out by your bank should have changed to reflect the new, lower payment, and you should contact both your bank and your lender about why it has not.

But none of this would affect the amount of money you actually owe on your mortgage - that will remain constant until your loan term ends and you pay it off with the proceeds of your endowment.