ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Unsuitable Sales, Improper Exchanges, High Fees, Tying Up Your Money
Seniors Beware
Unscrupulous advisors and insurance agents, hungry for commissions, push annuities on seniors worried about income levels for their later years. The sales pitches rev up as markets turn volatile and promises of guaranteed rates sound good. The Alameda County annuity and financial elder abuse attorneys at Evans Law Firm, Inc. urge you to resist the hype. We represent seniors who have lost money on variable and fixed annuities through high commissions and fees, withdrawal charges and tax bills as a result of the sales and exchanges of unsuitable or inappropriate annuities and other fraud. If you or someone you know is over 60 and lives in California and is a victim of annuity fraud in Alameda County or elsewhere in California, call us today at 415-441-8669.
Annuities are expensive, risky insurance hybrids. Claims of returns that beat the market really are too good to be true once these complex contracts start. Upfront commissions, annual maintenance fees, charges for extra coverages (known as “riders”) and penalties on surrenders and withdrawals wipe out promised returns. Perhaps worst of all, your money is tied up for years and subject to these penalties if you need a withdrawal. Agents gloss over the details in their race to sell. Never agree to a sale until you’ve had a chance to review the proposal with a professional with nothing to gain from your purchase and always consult your tax advisor before any purchase or exchange of an existing annuity for a new one.
Exchanges and replacements of any kind of annuity can result in serious financial harm to consumers. Typically, the exchange is a commission-driven recommendation by an agent or advisor that results in surrender penalties, tax bills, and new charges for the defrauded consumer – but a new sales commission for the agent. When the consumer is a senior the agent’s conduct may constitute financial elder abuse. Our attorneys pursue all remedies available to senior victims of this kind of financial elder abuse. California law provides restitution (getting your money back), extra damages (to punish the fraudulent conduct) and awards of attorneys’ fees and costs to the senior forced to bring an action against the wrongdoers.
Contact Us
If you or a loved one been the victim of annuity fraud in Alameda County, or in any California county, contact Ingrid M. Evans and the other Evans Law Firm annuity fraud attorneys at (415) 441-8669, or by email at <a href=”mailto:info@evanslaw.com”>info@evanslaw.com</a>. Our attorneys have experience with complex financial contracts and large insurance companies. We can help guide your case through a jury trial or toward an equitable settlement. We handle cases involving physical and financial elder abuse, qui tam and whistleblower law, nursing home abuse, whole life insurance and universal life insurance, and indexed, variable, and fixed annuities.
Annuities and life insurance produce large sales commissions for brokers but are often inappropriate products for consumers, especially seniors. Leading providers and distributors of life insurance and fixed, variable and fixed indexed deferred annuities in California are listed below. We are not in any way suggesting that any of these carriers or distributors has done anything wrong. Rather, the list is provided solely as a reference for our readers.
AIG/American General Life Insurance Company
Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America
American Equity Investment Life Insurance Company
American General Life Insurance Company/AIG
American National Life Insurance Company
Ameriprise Financial/RiverSource Life Insurance Company
Ameriprise Financial/Securities America, Inc.
Athene Annuity & life Assurance Company
Athene Annuity and Life Company
Athene USA
Aviva Annuity and Life Insurance Company
AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company/AXA US
Bankers Life Insurance and Casualty Company
Brighthouse Financial, Inc./MetLife
Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.
Crump Life Insurance Services, Inc.
CUNA Mutual Group/CMFG Life Insurance Company
EquiTrust Life Insurance Company
Fidelity & Guaranty Life Insurance Company
Forethought Life Insurance Company/Global Atlantic Financial Group
Genworth Financial, Inc.
Genworth Life and Annuity Insurance Company
Genworth Life Insurance Company
Global Atlantic Financial Group/Forethought Life Insurance Company
Guardian Life Insurance Company
Guggenheim Partners/Security Benefit Life Insurance Company
ING USA Annuity and Life Insurance Company
Jackson National Life Insurance Company
John Hancock Life Insurance Company
Lincoln Benefit Life Company
Lincoln Financial Group
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company
Merrill Lynch Life Agency Inc.
Metlife/Metropolitan Life Insurance Company/Brighthouse Financial, Inc.
Minnesota Life Insurance Company/Securian Financial
National Western Life Insurance Company
Nationwide Life Insurance Company
New York Life Insurance Company
North American Company for Life and Health Insurance
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company
Oxford Life Insurance Company
Pacific Life Insurance Company
Principal Financial Group
Prudential Life Insurance Company
Raymond James Insurance Group
RiverSource Life Insurance Company/Ameriprise Financial
Securian Financial/Minnesota Life Insurance Company
Securities America, Inc./Ameriprise Financial
Security Benefit Life Insurance Company/Guggenheim Partners
Symetra Life Insurance Company
Transamerica Life Insurance Company
Unum Life Insurance Company of America
Voya/Reliastar Life Insurance Company
Wells Fargo Advisors
World Financial Group Insurance Agency, Inc.
