Prudential Annuities: The Bad, The Bad, And The Bad

Annuities

Let’s face it: annuities are really insurance contracts masquerading as investments. So often, individuals regret buying annuities once they have. Why do they continue to be popular in the face of widespread disappointment in results? Partly because insurance companies and agents continue to push annuities on everybody, including seniors in Marin County and beyond. Many annuity carriers, such as Prudential Life Insurance Company, certainly do not offer as many positive benefits as they claim.

The Downsides

We at Evans Law Firm see repeated cases where annuities really only benefit the seller and its agent or broker, not the buyer. As a general rule, companies and agents often sell annuities that are completely unsuitable to the client. Commissions, surrender penalties, fees, liquidation charges, and market adjustments decrease and may in fact wipe out your return. And in the case of Prudential you may simply be paying too much upfront. Not to mention, companies such as Prudential have been recently cutting the benefits given to their buyers. With high prices and declining benefits, you can see why policyholders are upset.

Prudential, like most other annuity carriers, locks policyholders into contracts with hefty surrender charges. These charges penalize the policyholder from taking any money from the account until a certain number of years have passed. If the money is taken out, then the individual is mandated to pay a fee. Look out for these clauses in the contracts, as they are often buried in confusing language and dense text, and can be detrimental.

The Bottom Line

We know that annuities can be complicated and, frankly, that insurance companies and agents often attempt to sell very unsuitable products to trusting individuals. Our advice to you is to get a second opinion before buying any annuity product, and consider long and hard whether it even makes sense to purchase an annuity in your situation. Informed decisions are the best decisions.

Some of the major annuity and life insurance providers in California are:

• Aviva/Athene/Accordia Life Insurance Company
• Transamerica Life Insurance Company
• John Hancock Life Insurance Company
• Bankers Life Insurance and Casualty company
• Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company
• Midland Life Insurance Company
• North American Company for Life and Health Insurance
• Pacific Life Insurance Company
• Prudential Life Insurance Company
• Genworth Life Insurance Company
• ING USA Annuity and Life Insurance Company
• Lincoln Benefit Life Company
• Metlife/Metropolitan Life Insurance Company
• Unum Life Insurance Company of America
• Voya/Reliastar Life Insurance Company

Contact Us

Evans Law Firm, Inc. handles annuity fraud and insurance fraud cases and lawsuits in Marin County, CA and in all other counties in California as well. If you have purchased an annuity policy, have a contract with Prudential, or are considering purchasing an annuity, and would like to know whether it is a suitable investment for you, contact Evans Law Firm, Inc. at 415-441-8669 or via email at info@evanslaw.com.