Sally Wylie, a retiree living on an island in Maine, was stunned when her long-term care (LTC) policy premium almost doubled. According to the Wall Street Journal article that recounted her dilemma, the one-time learning specialist took on part-time work to help with the finances, and she and her husband cut back on expenses to afford the premium for the policy that was purchased to [...]
Over the last several years, we have posted several entries dealing with the cost of insurance (COI) increases we have seen in Current Assumption Universal life (CAUL) policies. Starting back in 2015, we were among the first to bring notice on this issue. This week, our Iowa office received yet another COI notice from a carrier joining the ranks – Midland National Life Insurance [...]
At ITM TwentyFirst, it is our goal to keep our clients informed of industry wide news that may affect how life insurance assets are managed. This week we became aware of cost of insurance (COI) rate increases for blocks of policies for Minnesota Life Insurance Company. The increases will affect all policies that have the word “adjustable” in the product name including Variable Adjustable [...]
This week our New York City office received letters alerting us of a cost of insurance (COI) increase for Genworth Life and Annuity Insurance Company “Genworth”. Over the last year, Genworth has only produced illustrations based on guaranteed rates and guaranteed cost of insurance rates for certain products, citing insurance regulations. This follows a similar pattern of other carriers including John Hancock Life Insurance [...]
In October of last year, we reported on a settlement in the case against Transamerica for a cost of insurance (COI) increase, which raised the carrying costs on a group of universal life policies by 200% or more. In one example, we reported the cost to maturity on one policy in our portfolio jumped from $36,400 to $81,595, after the policy got hit with a [...]
Twenty-one years ago, Charles Hunter Montgomery set up a life insurance trust naming his daughter, Kimberly, as trustee. He was guided on the purchase by his longtime advisors at a major wirehouse firm in his hometown, who also agreed “to administer the investment account to maintain that life insurance policy .” (1) The policy, a $2M survivorship life policy on Charles and his wife, was [...]
First, we want to thank all ITM TwentyFirst clients for another remarkable year of growth. Without the support of our partners at banks, trust companies, family offices, and law firms across the country, we could not sustain the growth that has made us the largest manager of in-force life insurance in the country. So, thank you for that. One reason for our growth over the [...]
On October 30th 2018, Voya Financial, a company we wrote about because of a lawsuit filed against it for cost of insurance increases that occurred on universal life policies sold in the past under the Security Life of Denver banner, announced in its third-quarter earnings call it would be ceasing all life insurance sales as of the end of the year. The company, which was [...]
A class-action lawsuit against Security Life of Denver, initially filed in July of 2018, is moving ahead in Colorado. The lawsuit alleges policyholders have paid “unlawful and excessive” cost of insurance charges on Strategic Accumulator Universal Life and Life Design Guarantee Universal Life policies subject to increases announced in September of 2015. The suit contends that there is “no possible justification” for the increase since [...]
In 2015 we reported on a Transamerica cost of insurance (COI) increase on a block of universal life policies and illustrated the 40% increase in COI on one policy affected raised the annual carrying costs to maturity for that policy from $36,400 to $81,595. That cost increase led to three separate class action lawsuits that were consolidated into one claim in November of 2016. Preliminary [...]
