ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Annuity Fraud Targeted At Seniors
Dangers Of Tying Up Your Money
Remedies For Financial Elder Abuse
Annuity fraud takes place when seniors are persuaded to purchase annuity products they do not want or need. Insurance agents push these products on unwitting seniors to earn commissions. Insurance carriers issue these products to earn a profit. But seniors who are duped into purchase needless insurance suffer because it deprives them of hard-earned retirement money. These kinds of sales of unsuitable insurance products constitute financial elder abuse in California when the premiums (including sales commissions) paid for an unsuitable insurance policy is a “wrongful” taking of the senior’s property (money). See Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code § 15610.30 (definition of financial elder abuse). If you or someone you know is over 60 and lives in Alameda County or elsewhere in California and has a deferred annuity call us today at 415-441-8669, and we can review your contract for free. Our toll free number is 1-888-50EVANS.
Dangers Of Tying Up Money In Annuities
Senior annuity fraud is especially treacherous because seniors need their retirement savings to support themselves, and to prepare for medical emergencies. Once that retirement money has been placed into an annuity, it cannot be accessed. It has been taken by the insurance company, which pays it back in the future on a schedule of fixed monthly payments. When an agent sells annuities to older consumers the contract’s payment obligation may not even begin until well after a senior has exceeded his or her life expectancy. For example, if an annuity with a 10-year accumulation period is sold to an 80-year-old, the payments will not begin until the policyholder turns 90!
Annuity Fraud Examples
Reported examples[1] of annuity fraud include:
- A 90-year-old widow living in an assisted living facility was convinced by an insurance salesman to transfer her entire IRA portfolio into a nine-year annuity. The annuity locked up the money for nine years and provided an interest of .6 percent. The income payments would not begin until she was 99. The agent allegedly told the widow he was a representative of the VA, and that he could help her qualify for a veteran pension. According to the authorities who later investigated the case, the agent never told the 90-year-old woman he was really an insurance agent, or that he stood to earn significant commission.
- A 73-year-old man was allegedly persuaded by an insurance salesman to pay $43,000 for an annuity under which the payments would not start until his 115th birthday.
Recourse Against Annuity Fraud
Selling a senior an inappropriate or unsuitable annuity is against the law and constitutes financial elder abuse. Evans Law Firm, Inc. pursues 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. Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code § 15657.5.
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 at (415) 441-8669, or by email at <a href=”mailto:info@evanslaw.com”>info@evanslaw.com</a>. Our toll free number is 1-888-50EVANS.
Some issuers and distributors of 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. 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 International Group, Inc. (AIG)
American National Life Insurance Company
Athene Annuity & Life Assurance Company
Athene Annuity and Life Company
Athene USA
Aviva Life Insurance Company
AXA Equitable Financial Services, LLC
AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company/AXA US
AXA Advisors, LLC
Brighthouse Financial, Inc./MetLife
EquiTrust Life Insurance Company
Fidelity & Guaranty Life Insurance Company
Genworth Financial, Inc.
Genworth Life and Annuity Insurance Company
Genworth Life Insurance Company
Guggenheim Partners, LLC
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
Metlife/Metropolitan Life Insurance Company/Brighthouse Financial, Inc.
Minnesota Life Insurance Company
Nationwide Investor Services Corporation (NISC)
Nationwide Life and Annuity Insurance Company
Nationwide Life Insurance Company
New York Life Insurance Company
Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company
Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company
Pacific Life & Annuity Company
Pacific Life Insurance Company
PacLife
Security Benefit Corporation
Security Benefit Group, Inc.
Security Benefit Life Insurance Company/Guggenheim Partners
Security Investors, LLC
Security of Denver Life Insurance Company/Voya
Transamerica Life Insurance Company
Voya Financial Advisors
Voya/Reliastar Life Insurance Company
World Financial Group Insurance Agency, Inc.
[1] Evans Law Firm, Inc. was not involved in either of the reported cases.
