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96 Insurance Companies Recently Downgraded!

By Roccy M. DeFrancesco, JD, CWPP™, CAPP™ - Email Editor

Date : April 2, 2009

Dear Valued Reader,

Trustmakers ran a newsletter on Tuesday that elicited quite a few responses from readers. As a follow up, we thought we would do a newsletter listing the downgrade list/watch list and see if you are due for an insurance checkup.

The Downgrade or Watch List

AGL Life Assur	Hartford Life & Acc	Pruco Life Ins Co
AIG Annuity Ins Co	Hartford Life & Ann	Pruco Life of NJ
AIG Life Ins Co	Independence Life & Ann	Prudential Ann Life Assr
AIG SunAmerica Life	Integrity Life	Prudential Ins Co of Amer
American Comm Mutual Ins	John Hancock Life	Prudential Retire Ins & Ann
American General Life	John Hancock Life & Heath Ins	Reassure America Life
American Genl Life & Acc	John Hancock New York	Reliable Life
American Intl Assur	John Hancock U.S.A.	Resource Life Ins Co
American Life Ins	John Hancock Variable	Scottish Re (US) Inc
Americo Financial Life & Ann	Lincoln Life & Ann of NY	Scottish Re Life Corp
Bankers Conseco Life	Lincoln National Life Ins Co	Security Benefit
Bankers Life & Cas	Merrill Lynch	Security Mutual  Of NY
Banner Life	MetLife Ins Co of CT	Shenandoah Life Ins Co
Celtic Ins Co	MetLife Invest USA	Slovene National Ben
Colonial Penn Life Ins Co	MetLife Investors	Stonebridge Life Ins Co
Columbus Life Ins	Metropolitan Life Ins Co	Sun Life & Annuity
Conseco Health Ins	Midland National	Sun Life & Health Ins US
Conseco Ins Co	ML Life on NY	Sun Life Assur (US)
Conseco Life	Monumental Life	Sun Life Assurance
Continental Life Brentwood	National Integrity	SunAmerica Life Ins
EquiTrust Life Ins	National States Ins Co	Swiss Re L&H Amer
Farm Bureau Life	New England Life Ins Co	Transamerica Financial Life
First MetLife Investors	North American Co L&H	Transamerica Life Ins
First Penn-Pacific	Orkney Re Inc	Union National
First Security Benefit L&A NY	Pacific Life	United Family Life
First Sunamerica	Pacific Life & Ann	United Ins of America
General American	PHL Variable Ins Co	United States Life
Genworth Life & Annuity	Phoenix Life	Variable Annuity
Genworth Life Insurance Co	Principle Life	West Coast Life Ins Co
Genworth Life Insurance NY	Professional Ins Co	Western & Southern
Hartford Intl Life Re	Protective Life & Ann	Western Reserve
Hartford Life	Protective Life Ins Co	Western-Southern

Do you have an insurance policy issued by one of the companies on this list?

Are the companies listed above going to go bankrupt?

I doubt that many or even any of them will go bankrupt. Remember, these are tough financial times and many companies are hurting. A downgrade or being put on the watch list is not a death nail. It happens quite often, but because so many have been downgraded or put on the watch list in such a short period of time, it's making press.

The goal of this newsletter is not to “freak out” readers who have policies issued by the above mentioned companies. It's meant to make you aware that it might be a good time to do a financial check up on your policy and the company that issued it.

An insurance policy checkup!

Are you due for an insurance policy checkup?

After reading the above, I think the question is more of a rhetorical one at this point in time.

Should you get rid of a life insurance policy if it is with a company that's been downgraded or put on the watch list? Not necessarily. Just because the company who issued your insurance policy may not be doing as well financially, it doesn't mean you should switch companies.

The biggest impediment to changing from one insurance company to another is:

1) You have to go back into underwriting (so if your health has changed the costs of your new policy will be more expensive).

2) Surrender charges (for cash value policies not term). Depending on the policy you purchased, you may have a 7-15 year surrender charge.

Who's going to review your life insurance policy?

This may be the toughest question of all. Keeping in mind that I educate insurance advisors as a primary part of my business, I can tell you that most of them are not qualified to review the policy they sold you in the first place. This may shock you but most insurance agents know very little about the vast pool of products available to their clients.

Unfortunately, most insurance agents sell policies from 1-2-3 companies and that's what they know. Such agents, which make up the majority, can't possibly do a good job of reviewing your policy.

I know Trustmakers works with a team of advisors on a national basis who are qualified to help you review your policy if you have an interest (no charge).

Summary

It is vitally important to work with a company that you can trust. Ironically, in this industry, it's very difficult to find a company that is trustworthy. I personally do not get caught up in the “ratings” of a company. Instead I try to find out about the people running the company (if possible) and try to determine for myself if the company is run in a “conservative” manner.

If you have questions about your current life insurance company or policy, please feel free to contact info@trustmakers.com

Until next time,

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