diff --git a/src/utils/FileRecordTools/FileReaders/SingleLineDelimTextFileReader.cpp b/src/utils/FileRecordTools/FileReaders/SingleLineDelimTextFileReader.cpp
index 054f86f3b..e4e645dfc 100644
--- a/src/utils/FileRecordTools/FileReaders/SingleLineDelimTextFileReader.cpp
+++ b/src/utils/FileRecordTools/FileReaders/SingleLineDelimTextFileReader.cpp
@@ -187,5 +187,5 @@ CHRPOS SingleLineDelimTextFileReader::getVcfSVlen() {
 		}
     }
     // not found
-    return INT_MIN;
+	return 1;
 }
diff --git a/src/utils/FileRecordTools/Records/VcfRecord.cpp b/src/utils/FileRecordTools/Records/VcfRecord.cpp
index 54bf2ae27..c95128a44 100644
--- a/src/utils/FileRecordTools/Records/VcfRecord.cpp
+++ b/src/utils/FileRecordTools/Records/VcfRecord.cpp
@@ -23,7 +23,9 @@ bool VcfRecord::initFromFile(SingleLineDelimTextFileReader *fileReader)
 	if (_varAlt[0] == '<') {
 		// this is a structural variant. Need to parse the tags to find the endpos,
 		// UNLESS it's an insertion.
-		if (!(_varAlt[1] == 'I' && _varAlt[2] == 'N' && _varAlt[3] == 'S')) {
+		if (memcmp(_varAlt.c_str(), "<*>", 3) == 0) {
+			_endPos = _startPos + 1;
+		} else if (memcmp(_varAlt.c_str(), "<INS>", 5) != 0) {
 			_endPos = _startPos + fileReader->getVcfSVlen();
 		} else {
 			//for insertions, treat as zero-length records