ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Transamerica Life Insurance Company Variable Annuities
The annuity attorneys at Evans Law Firm Inc. represent clients who have suffered losses from surrenders and fees on all types of annuity contracts, including fixed, indexed, and variable deferred annuities. These contracts charge sales commissions, rider fees and other benefit charges, and penalties on full or partial surrenders. Many carriers offer variable annuities with riders and a list of leading providers in California appears below. Among the carriers, Transamerica Life Insurance Company issues variable annuities with a living benefit rider (also known as an income rider) under the tradename Transamerica Retirement Income Max.® Transamerica recently announced adjustments to this rider. The Evans Law Firm, Inc. annuity attorneys want to share some observations on surrender charges and fees under this complex product and rider. If you or a loved one is a California resident over age 60 who made a full or partial surrender of a Transamerica annuity, call the annuity lawyers today at Evans Law Firm, Inc. (415) 441-8669 for a free evaluation of your particular policy.
Surrender Charges and Results
Fees and expenses on Transamerica annuities, similar to contracts issued by other carriers, include upfront sales commissions, rider fees, separate account fees on indexed policies, death benefit fees, and subaccount fees for each of the mutual funds that are inside of variable annuities. In addition, you may be charged for any full or partial surrender or withdrawal from the policy for up to ten years. Any partial surrender will adversely lower the base on which your guaranteed income (under the rider) is based. A full surrender will eliminate the benefit of the income rider entirely. If you are over 60 and surrendered a Transamerica annuity in California, call Evans Law Firm Inc. today at 415-441-8669 for a free review of your particular policy.
Transamerica’s variable annuity contracts are complicated and fees and charges may erode returns. The charge for the Transamerica Retirement Income Max® rider alone is 1.35% annually which is a direct hit on the contract’s rate of return. Remember also that any deferred annuity is illiquid for long periods – up to ten years. Sales commissions are paid out up front, however. Fees and other charges may increase over the life of the policy so that actual returns may be less than advertised. The subaccounts you elect for your annuity investment also charge fees that will diminish your return. Annuities are not insured by the FDIC. All guarantees, including for any optional benefits, under any annuity contract are based on the claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company.
Contact Us
If you or a loved one is over 60 and made a full or partial surrender of a Transamerica annuity in California, contact San Mateo County and California annuity attorney Ingrid Evans and the other annuity attorneys at the Evans Law Firm for a free evaluation of your policy and surrender terms 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 including life insurance and annuity contracts. We can help guide any litigation through a jury trial or toward an equitable settlement. We also 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.
Other variable annuity issuers in California are listed below. We do not suggest in any way that any of these carriers, including Transamerica, has done anything wrong. Rather, the list is provided solely for our readers’ reference.
Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America
Allstate Life Insurance Company
American Equity Investment Life Holding Company
American General Life Insurance Company
American National Life Insurance Company
Ameriprise Financial/RiverSource Life Insurance Company
Athene Annuity and Life Company
AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company
Bankers Life Insurance and Casualty Company
EquiTrust Life Insurance Company
Fidelity & Guaranty Life Insurance Company
Forethought Life Insurance Company/Global Atlantic Financial Group
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
Life Insurance of the SouthWest/National Life Group
Lincoln Financial Group/The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company
MassMutual/Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company
Metlife/Metropolitan Life Insurance Company
Midland National Life Insurance Company
Mutual of Omaha/United of Omaha Life Insurance Company
National Life Group/Life Insurance of the SouthWest
New York Life Insurance Company
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company
Pacific Life Insurance Company
Principal Life Insurance Company
Pruco/Prudential Life Insurance Company
RiverSource Life Insurance Company/Ameriprise Financial
Security Benefit Life Insurance Company/Guggenheim Partners
Symetra Life Insurance Company
Transamerica Life Insurance Company
United of Omaha Life Insurance Company/Mutual of Omaha
Unum Life Insurance Company of America
Voya/ReliaStar Life Insurance Company
