Life insurance bills wanting whole year up front

wog

Joined
Nov 19, 2006
Messages
243
Location
massachusetts
Wife and i got life insurance bills from seperate copanies billing for full year up front. We have been paying quarterly for over 15 years,what is this a new covid related thing? Anyone else getting these type of insurance bills. My calls were not answered,got a recording saying leave contact info ,will call back,no call ,not what i planned to use it for. Car repairs,food, and mortgage were already taking alot of it unfortunately.
 
Depends how much do you need this insurance. Is it term or whole life? Might want to think more about your retirement if your family is raised. May be time to get into a ROTH IRA.
 
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This is something we will see for pretty much all insurance related stuff. My neighbors auto insurance also needed to be paid all up front, no excuses.

I have not seen it with mine yet, but I get the feeling it is coming....
 
I think the Policy Period & Billing for Life Insurance would be different than Auto Ins.

OP has a 12 Month Policy (Life) that he pays every 3 Months.
May be alittle cheaper paying for ALL 12 Months at one time.
But still sneaky for Ins Co.

My Auto Policy has always been for six Month periods.
 
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Term life isn't that expensive for most people. And processing lots of small checks is an expense to the insurer, which raises your rates. If your kids are grown and debts are low/minimal and our don't have asset valued at > $10 million you don't need life insurance. Disability insurance is a lot more important.

I prefer to pay auto insurance annually, but my current insurer only bills every 6 mo. It just gives them a chance to raise their rates more often. Not great when you live in the most expensive market in the nation.
 
Originally Posted by NO2
Term life isn't that expensive for most people. And processing lots of small checks is an expense to the insurer, which raises your rates..

I don't know which insurance company still accepts checks but all insurance companies (4 at the moment) I am dealing with directly take out from the account. Any other option and extra fees, any other schedule than annual, extra fees. So TBH, it costs them extra to process this and that argument doesn't really fit here. They make sure to cover all their bases when it comes to money.
 
Originally Posted by Sierra048
I just can't see this going well for any companies considering this method. Unless their goal is to lose customers.



+1

Especially in a time like this.
 
My Jackson National whole life policy payment has been a monthly ACH withdrawal for almost as long as I've had it, comes out of checking on the same date every month, just need to make sure the $ is there. Maybe the OP's company thinks he might not last the whole year? Seems a little shady...
 
Personally, my insurers(both life or house/auto) in the past 5 years have been paid monthly (no extra charge against /6 months or /1 year), /6 months or yearly.
I used them in IL and GA. But usually they have been US-wide based/available companies.

Usually the monthly payments are figured out in the business plan and cost more than one lump sum over 6 months/1 year/2 years.

I would call again and google all possible phone numbers: some insurers outsourced IT department did not really worked out the right phone tree with most of personnel working from home.
OP, please don't despair and call and insist. It is your money. Unfortunately you can expect waits of at least 90 minutes with current ________ situation.
It could also be a mess from new people in the payment department.
 
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Originally Posted by JohnnyJohnson
Depends how much do you need this insurance. Is it term or whole life? Might want to think more about your retirement if your family is raised. May be time to get into a ROTH IRA.

Exactly. Never saw any use in using life insurance as an investment. Probably carried $750,000 or so of term when kids were young, but I have none now. Always bristled at the quote from whole life salesmen that 90% of term insurance isn't in force when you die. That's like saying 90% of the cars you've owned or homes snd apartments you've owned or rented aren't in force when you die.

If the insurance is term, use this as an excuse to price the market. Usually they give you a discount for paying a year at a time, that's the same as charging you extra if you pay quarterly. Sounds like a sneaky way to raise the rates on you without disclosing.
 
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Originally Posted by csandste
Originally Posted by JohnnyJohnson
Depends how much do you need this insurance. Is it term or whole life? Might want to think more about your retirement if your family is raised. May be time to get into a ROTH IRA.

Exactly. Never saw any use in using life insurance as an investment. Probably carried $750,000 or so of term when kids were young, but I have none now. Always bristled at the quote from whole life salesmen that 90% of term insurance isn't in force when you die. That's like saying 90% of the cars you've owned or homes snd apartments you've owned or rented aren't in force when you die.

If the insurance is term, use this as an excuse to price the market. Usually they give you a discount for paying a year at a time, that's the same as charging you extra if you pay quarterly. Sounds like a sneaky way to raise the rates on you without disclosing.


I like the casinos and go quite often. With life insurance it's a gamble just like the casino. You're betting you're going to die and the insurance company is betting you're going to live. My terms expire when I hit 70. My wife won't need the money by then and I hope the insurance company wins the bets.
 
Here they are genworth life and annuity,lynchburg va.for me and new england life insurance johnstown pa, this is not yearly. My misstake ,this is the quarterly, from $149 to 600. Wifes from $134 to $581. Guess they are getting there covid rates . Time to check around,for new term insurance.
 
Originally Posted by wog
Here they are genworth life and annuity,lynchburg va.for me and new england life insurance johnstown pa, this is not yearly. My misstake ,this is the quarterly, from $149 to 600. Wifes from $134 to $581. Guess they are getting there covid rates . Time to check around,for new term insurance.


how much is your policy and how old are you and how old will you be when the term expires and how long have you had the policy? if you've had the policy for a while a new one is going to cost more. rates don't go up with term life so dont know what you mean by getting their covid rates. they are just billing you in 4 month intervals instead of 1 month intervals.
 
Are you saying the quarterly rate goes up 4x? I've only ever seen that at the end of the term where you can keep paying an increased premium, often for diminishing coverage. Are you older and/or at the end of the policy term?
 
Odd change.

People who pay one payment should get a discount while the quarterly ones charged fees and miss the discount. My wife and I pay auto insurance lump sum yearly to get a $225 discount on a $1100 policy.
 
Rates are per quarter according to the invoice,i thought it was for year which woul be about same as a quarterly rate. Term insurance for 20 years ,they have no other wording as to expiration or renewal. Just pay by due date or get cancelled. I am 62 ,wife is 58, we bought at same time frame. Wouldn t they send explaination for the changes? Time to move on it seems!
These policys were for 250k, they are term policys.
 
Covid rates was just refering to the increase in my rate , insurance companies will not sit idle if their is a crisis that may cause losses.
 
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