Has anyone seen anything like this?

I don't know. I just recently purchased health insurance for myself and am insurance poor right now, but I do feel fine.
American General? Seems like I have a business liability policy or something with that name on it?

Well he told me that there was an American General Finance Group & American General Life & Accident he was a part of the latter

I believe all life insurance policies (or at least in Alabama) have this feature. If you have an illness where chance of survival are nil, then the policy will pay a certain percentage amount.

You might PM Blues. I think he could tell you.

Some companies have what they call an accelerated payment included in their policies, whereas if you have a life threating illness and have less than 12 months to live, you can get a certain amount of your life insurance, before you die. These figures varies from company to company and some insurance companies might not have it. Always read you policy very carefully. Also if you die within a two year period of the policy, there is a contestable clause in most policies or just about all of them, where the insurance companies are not required to pay the policy and may just refund the preiums paid into it.

Well he called me this afternoon regarding a quote and he said most policies contain a terminal illness acceleration benefit which is what you guys mentioned but his includes having a heart attack, stroke, cancer and not dying or becoming short or long term disabled you can accelerate some or about 90% (depends on the condition your in) to help you with your mortgage, car payment, medical bills, etc.

He said no other company's life insurance offers that. I think I may sign us up next week sounds pretty good...

I am considering changing my home,life,auto insurance. Shopping around you know....what is your opinion on the insurance companies? I currently have State Farm and would like to know if anyone has any info or experience with Kemper Insurance. The yearly premium is lower with Kemper but I don't know if I would be better off to stay with what I have had for 8 years or go with a lower payment. If you have either of these please let me know what you think....in general of course. BTW..I have never had any claims and have good credit, so am I safe to go with the lower payment or if there is a downside to switching companies I need to know that too. Thanks for any info.

Jarrod, excuse me please...I'm not trying to hijack your thread. Just thinking about insurance policies. All the FINE PRINT and what to do.

Be smart and buy 20 or 30 year level term, take the difference that it would cost you for a whole life or universal life and invest in your IRA's. If you need income replacement buy a disablity policy. Investing your max into your IRA over a 20 or 30 years and you might not need life insurance as much after the end of the 20 or 30 year period, you will have built your own nest egg up.

quote:

Always read you policy very carefully. Also if you die within a two year period of the policy, there is a contestable clause in most policies or just about all of them, where the insurance companies are not required to pay the policy and may just refund the preiums paid into it.

Generally this applies to suicide or death from a disease (or disability) that you did not disclose when you first bought the policy. Some companies include diseases that you actually HAD but had not been diagnosed. For instance, if you had cancer that was not diagnosed when you bought the policy (therefore you answered truthfully when asked the underwriting questions at the time of purchase) but was far enough advanced when diagnosed later that it is obvious the cancer was present when the policy was bought. Stay away from that. But I think most companies have the acceleration clause now. Most of them are legitimate. All this acceleration of benefits stuff was actually started years ago when AIDS first became epidemic in some areas. People had life insurance policies but were sick and not able to pay rent, medications, etc. so these clauses were added. I think Prudential was one of the first to start this.

American General's been around for a long, long time. It used to be a debit company but they've branched out. If you are ever in doubt about a company check their standings. Or call the state insurance commissioner's office.

And blues is right. Depending on your age term is best. How many of us have bought and dropped whole life policies over our insurance buying lifetime? When you pay twice or three times as much for a whole life policy and pay it for 2-3 years and drop it you've actually just paid 2-3 times the cost of term insurance for what has basically just become term insurance.

American General is a subsidiary of AIG. Considering the case the government keeps bailing them out and they like to throw big parties with our money I would want to make sure I understand the fine print. My Dad bought a burial policy when I was a child and paid it in full. It was then reduced to pay only $1,000 because they won a case in court saying the value of a funeral way exceeded the value of the insurance. But that isn't what the policy said. You can't go without insurance, but AIG has reaffirmed the fact that insurance is legalized gambling for many of the big companies and they don't like to lose. I would also be wary if this guy keeps pushing it on you (if that is the case) and not letting you think it through.

In any case I wish you the best of life, good health and a long life. They may make a little money, but you'll be blessed. Good luck my friend.

American General is a subsidiary in which in this case the "rights to" are owned by but not wholly a part of the parent company. The fact that American General is an AIG subsidiary has no effect on its own financial obligations, nor does AIG's financial trouble stem from anything but faulty mortgage security backing for those who bought too much house with too little income.

This was explained to me as follows by a financial advisor when I asked about the AIG/American General relationship..... Disney World and ESPN are subsidiaries of ABC broadcasting. If ABC, for some crazy reason, goes a nose dive then Disney World and ESPN are not really going to be effected. You're not going to see Mickey Mouse flipping burgers and your not going to miss Bama Football or Hank singing about his roudy friends on Monday Nights.

An AIG employee cannot market an American General product (look it up).

Jarrod, If you really want to know about how an insurance company stands check out their ratings with Standard and Poors or another such company who does this for a living. If a company has A's beside them, then I would listen because they know what they are talking about. I suggest laying off the CNN and tabloid media and do your homework. I would also check out what the insurance commissioner has to say about any company.

In re: Has anyone seen anything like this?
by jarrodn82
Posted 22 November 2008 09:39 AM
Link

Posted 09 December 2008
02:33 AM CST

Link

Don't get me started!

EEeeeeyooowwww!

I verily detest insurance companies!

They are, IMO, vermin, a scourge upon the Earth! They are liars, swindlers, cheats, thieves, crooks, chiselers, snake oil peddlers, charmers, soothsayers, hoodwinks, insidiously intrigant deceivers, predaceous extortionists, Bacchanalian bamboozling cabals, pseudonymous financiers, rapacious masquerading monetizers, bankers' bastard brethren, all whom are lower par than pond scum, with a stench rivaling the putrid effluvia of rotting flesh.

I'm not sure I was vehement enough.

Denizens of diabolism, all!

They make their money by not paying claims!

Preying upon the hapless, the helpless, the masses, once those conniving, wanton, misery mongers, those pugnacious prognosticators with their fear-inducing lies have impregnated your brain with their seducing siren songs, they then, like a pit of Medusan mongrels, slither their slimy claws into your pockets, embedding themselves into your very lifeblood, insatiable for your hard-earned money, and stopping at nothing to steal -if not by stealth, then force of law warranted with Hell's hordes, armies of attorneys, litigious lawyers, willful wranglers wresting paltry pennies, averring them theirs- your very breath.

They are cancers upon maggot infested cancers, the purulent infected drainage of which adheres like a resinous, gelatinous ooze, teeming and crawling with virulence, to your once-innocent mind.

Yes, I have auto insurance. By law, I am required to do so.

Still... I wonder - was I too soft on them in my description?

************************************************
Minor changes needed - just a little "fine tuning."

quote:

Still... I wonder - was I too soft on them in my description?

sounds about right to me...lol

quote:

Originally posted by Shoals Lover:
In re: Has anyone seen anything like this?
by jarrodn82
Posted 22 November 2008 09:39 AM
Link

Posted 09 December 2008
02:33 AM CST

Link

Don't get me started!

EEeeeeyooowwww!

I verily detest insurance companies!

They are, IMO, vermin, a scourge upon the Earth! They are liars, swindlers, cheats, thieves, crooks, chiselers, snake oil peddlers, charmers, soothsayers, hoodwinks, insidiously intrigant deceivers, predaceous extortionists, Bacchanalian bamboozling cabals, pseudonymous financiers, rapacious masquerading monetizers, bankers' bastard brethren, all whom are lower par than pond scum, with a stench rivaling the putrid effluvia of rotting flesh.

I'm not sure I was vehement enough.

Denizens of diabolism, all!

They make their money by not paying claims!

Preying upon the hapless, the helpless, the masses, once those conniving, wanton, misery mongers, those pugnacious prognosticators with their fear-inducing lies have impregnated your brain with their seducing siren songs, they then, like a pit of Medusan mongrels, slither their slimy claws into your pockets, embedding themselves into your very lifeblood, insatiable for your hard-earned money, and stopping at nothing to steal -if not by stealth, then force of law warranted with Hell's hordes, armies of attorneys, litigious lawyers, willful wranglers wresting paltry pennies, averring them theirs- your very breath.

They are cancers upon maggot infested cancers, the purulent infected drainage of which adheres like a resinous, gelatinous ooze, teeming and crawling with virulence, to your once-innocent mind.

Yes, I have auto insurance. By law, I am required to do so.

Still... I wonder - was I too soft on them in my description?

Have Allstate, do you?