I want to surrender my whole life policy, advice?

Hello,

A bit over 6 years ago when I was 24, an advisor sold me a WL policy.

The coverage is as follows:

Equimax Estate Builder Whole life $118,768

Enhanced Death benefit $154,636

Includes: paid up insurance $5,854

One year term insurance $148,782

Gross Death Benefit $273,404

​

I have been paying $200 per month since then.

I just began accumulating cash value since last year. Currently my total cash value is sitting at $1,399.28 according to my statement.

At 24, at the time, it seemed like a good investment for the long term. I did not see any material downsides to stashing my money here (quite naïve, now that I look back).

Fast forward to today, never did I expect to see my financial situation flip upside down. I am now struggling to pay the monthly premiums. I do not expect my situation to improve in the near term, so I am exploring the idea to surrender the policy to alleviate some weight off my shoulders.

But I am looking at the numbers. I paid over $15k in premiums since 2016. And I only get back $1.4k? (or even less if I have surrender fees, which I am unsure atm). Could have been a dumb decision on my part back then to jump onto this bandwagon without carefully considering my alternatives, but right now I honestly feel like I got scammed…

How should I feel about this? Any advice on my next steps? Thanks

submitted by /u/Prestigious_Plate268
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