Prudential is not a rock - Prudential - Life
21 August 2008My husband and I decided to secure life insurance for my husband. I was due to have our son within 4 months and we wanted to make sure we were taken care of.
My husband is a CPA so keep this in mind as you read this review. Why does this matter?. Many insurance brokers are also CFP (Certified Financial Planners). We were not pressured into a policy based on the salesman having this information.
Tags: insurance brokerLife insurance is never fun, but customer service helps! - SecureLife.com
19 August 2008Applying for life insurance coverage is never a fun process, but using an equally difficult system to do so will greatly increase your frustration.
I originally ran across SecureLife on a major search engine several months ago and since I was in the market decided to try their instant quote engine. At first I thought it was a pretty neat system, but after I submitted a request for application I never received one. When I repeatedly attempted to contact someone for help via email and their 800 number my pleas for assistance went unanswered. I finally gave up on SecureLife and used another, more dependable, online life insurance broker (which I will also write a review for). The instant quote feature is nice, but is offered by many of the more competent brokers as well. I would not recommend this service to anyone after my experience with them. Cheer up though, there are several online life insurance brokers that do seem to know what they are doing!
Tags: insurance brokerDefinitely Worth Comparison Shopping - Farm Bureau Mutual
17 August 2008Several months ago I was forced to shop around for cheaper rates. I had a teenager who started driving and my insurance rates went through the roof. In the past I routinely shopped for better rates with an "A" rated company and could not find rates with enough of a saving to make a switch. When my daughter got her license, my coverage went up $300 a month even after shopping around and changing companies!
Tags: insurance brokerLincoln Benefit Life Insurance Stole My Money!!!! - Lincoln Benefit Life - Life
10 July 2008I signed up for a term life policy 4 years ago that was supposed to be switched to a “whole life” policy after the first year. The way it was explained to me (because I didn’t even want to sign up for the term because it was too expensive - $1200) was that after the first year I could switch to the whole life policy which cost $5000 and get a credit for the $1200 for the first year which is what I did. The insurance broker faxed me over the pages on a rush basis after the first year to switch the policy and I faxed them back to her the same day. What I believe was the terms and conditions page had been recopied so many times that you can’t even read it. A few weeks later the policy book was delivered to me by the agent. The way she had described the policy was that my money would only grow so according to what she told me I should have $15000 plus interest. What I have now is nothing. I in theory have $12000 because they deduct “costs” and “expenses” - none of which she told me when she was selling me the policy. She told me the reason is because when she was explaining the policy to me her laptop computer wouldn’t allow her to show me the costs and expenses. Another feature she failed to tell me about is that I have to be in the policy for 20 years! If I pull out in advance I forfeit $14300. When I received my last statement I didn’t understand the costs and expenses and called up Lincoln Benefit to find out what was going on and I found out then for the first time that Lincoln Benefit (my insurance company) no longer sells whole life policies and I had been signed up for an “adjustable flexible” policy. I explained that I had never even heard my insurance broker utter those words and that she had only referred to the policy as a whole life policy. My agent had never told me about costs and expenses and never explained the $14300 default fee if I pulled out before 20 years. She did a bait and switch on me. Lincon’s complaint department did an investigation and have said everything is on the up and up and I have no recourse. I was totally lied to and relied on everything she told me about this policy. I was never informed AT ALL about the $14,300 default fee or about the costs and expenses - she simply described my money growing each and every year so by now I would have the $150000 I’ve put in plus around 5% interest. Lincoln agreed to give me back $5000 if I terminated my policy. However, they kept my remaining $10,000. DON’T DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY IF YOU WISH TO KEEP YOUR MONEY - THEY ARE THIEVES AND LIARS. I’ve tried everything I can do to get my money back but it appears I would have to sue them and I just don’t know what my chances would be. I work with a law firm and even the lawyers here told me they’re unable to understand my policy in full. I depended on Lincoln to explain to me what I was buying and by leaving out vital details I was in fact lied to. A partner at my firm (a very intelligent attorney) told me that even he had been the victim of a similar policy so it can’t be just me. I honestly don’t know how they can get away with this but it appears they can. I work 13 hours a day as a secretary to support my family and the $10,000 they ended up keeping was two years of my bonuses. This was money I thought I could use in the event of an emergency and now it is all gone.
Tags: insurance broker, Insurance CompanyAlmost Lowest Price Insurance - Wawanesa - Auto
6 July 2008My short experience with Wawanesa is I got a quote from them. I called a couple of times to ask questions about my quote and they were helpful.
I would rate Wawanesa and Mercury as the two lowest publically available insurance companies in California. I prefer Wawanesa’s customer service over Mercury but my quote was over $100 more. With Wawanesa, everything else was cheaper in terms of liability, uninsured motorist, medical, etc. but collision was 1.5 of mercury so I couldn’t switch.
The con’s of Wawanesa coverage is uninsured motorist is limited to 30K/60K and no loan/lease gap coverage is offered.
Tags: insurance broker, insurance companies, Insurance CompanyTo best use State Farm - State Farm Group - Auto
3 July 2008State Farm Insurance has carried all my insurance for my entire life. I have found that it can be a very good company with which to insure, or mediocre–depending on how you deal with them.
The two biggest advantages State Farm has are its size and its agents. Because of its size, it is very unlikely to be bankrupted by even a major natural disaster affecting a great many policyholders. I have known people whose insurance companies have gone out of business. Several have lost a lot of money because the company went bankrupt before the insured suffered a loss. The loss occurred before the customer could find new insurance.
Tags: insurance broker, insurance brokerage, insurance companiesDirty, rotten, scoundrels is too nice a term for them! - SAFECO - Auto
14 June 2008My husband and I used to use an insurance broker who’s job it was to shop around for the best price auto insurance whenever ours went up. We had the wretched misfortune to be signed up with Safeco. Our 17 year old son had his first fender-bender around June of 2005. It was minor and Safeco paid about $1,200. for damages. On or around August 30, 2006 I had a minor accident with a parked car in a lot. I caused $1,400. damage to the other persons car and was considering paying out of pocket (I really wish we had!). When I called in the claim, the friendly Safeco rep told me “No problem, you won’t have to deal with any of this yourself, you’re fully insured, here’s your claim number”. A week later, our son had his second accident (this time more serious, about $8,000.) When we called to report the accident a day or 2 later, (we think the other party called first and reported the accident) we were told “we’re sorry, you were cancelled as of August 26th for failure of payment.” My husband called billing later that day and was told “we see here you’ve made all your payments to date”. I later called my Safeco rep about MY accident, gave him the claim# I had been given, and was told that it was an invalid claim#. We have since been to court with Safeco and had to pay more double what it would have been had we just paid cash. Our new Allstate agent says some insurance companies will try to cancel if you have too many accidents. I can understand canceling us after the third wreck in 4 months but I WAS covered on the second one and it should have been paid for. We were totally bamboozled by Safeco but you don’t have to be. I think they left a letter off the name. It is really SafecoN! Run away! Run far, far away!!!
Tags: insurance broker, insurance companiesInsurance for good drivers only - 21st Century - Auto
11 June 2008Its difficult for me to give a complete epinion on the quality of service of 21st century auto insurance because I have never made a claim. However, I believe that’s probably common for most drivers who use this insurance plan. 21st century openly markets their advertisements towards drivers with excellent records. Therefore, it is difficult to be accepted by 21st century. If you have any marks on your record, expect to be rejected. However, if you are a good driver, its a great insurance company because they can afford to offer lower rates. Less risk equals lower bills.
Tags: first insurance, insurance broker, insurance companies, Insurance CompanyMy experience obtaining individual health insurance online - eHealthInsurance.com
9 June 2008I recently became self employed, and as my husband is also, we had to find individual health insurance. My former employer offered me continuation of coverage under the COBRA regulations, but the cost was $750/month for a family of three.
Right about the time I had to decide, I started hearing ehealthinsurance.com ads on the radio. Going to the site, I was pleased to get instant quotes on a variety of plans from different insurance companies. You can also search provider directories for the plans offered, so that you can see which doctors and hospitals in your area belong. I was beginning to feel better already–there were options comparable to my company’s plan for under $500 a month.
Tags: insurance broker, insurance companies, Insurance Company, insurance onlineCompared and Stayed - Farmers Insurance - Auto
9 June 2008My father has had Farmers Insurance for 50 years and I followed. I tried Prudential for a few years and found it to have good service but when I price-compared, Farmers was lower. I’ve been with Farmers again for three years and continue to price check others, especially those advertised on the radio, such as Geico, and brokers that carry many brands. They claim to be able to search and get you lower rates.
Tags: car insurance, insurance broker