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Michael of Midwest City OK (09/23/08)
Sold my wife and I to roll over our 401Ks into an annuity, that we could not lose our principal and we would get a 10% bonus for signing up and after 10 years would be able to with draw and/or annuitize. Facts pointed out just recently show that we can not pull out before 13 years with out considerable penalty and then we would only get our original money plus 1.5% per year.
If I pull out now and try to recover, I will lose approx $24K. I am too old to lose this much but want to retire and use this money before the thirteen years.
Kim of Virginia Beach VA (08/14/08)
I purchased a whole life policy from Fidelity Union (now Allianz Life) about 42 years ago. I was told at the time of purchase that the policy would become paid-up life insurance after premiums were paid for five or six years. I made the required payments and received no more bills from the insurer. Now the insurer is saying that additional payments are necessary to keep the insurance in force.
I am now retired and will lose $60,000 in life insurance if payments are not continued.
Krzysztof of Bloomington IL (08/11/08)
This concerns three claims under travel insurance sold with tickets we purchased online from Northwest Airlines. The policy provides coverage for illness of immediate family member, and death of immediate family member, paying the cost of tickets and any prepaid accommodations. We purchased the tickets and policies on March 18, 2008, for my wife, and my minor children. Subsequently, my wife's father, was admitted to hospital, and the physician diagnosis, provided to the insurance company, stated that the patient was admitted with end-of-life issues.
My wife called the insurance company, and was told this was a covered loss. She cancelled the travel and went to spend his last days with her father. He died. We submitted the claims to the insurance company, and they rejected the claim because of pre-existing condition, stating that my wife's father had the illness he died from before (he died of complications from cancer, specifically from lungs failure). But he never had end of life issues before (i.e., he never died before), so this condition of end of life never existed before.
Furthermore, death of an immediate family member is a covered loss, and even though we provided a death certificate, and documented the death with a physician's statement, the insurance company does not even respond to our inquiry as to why they are not paying on death of immediate family member. I am a qualified actuary, and have worked for a long time with the insurance industry. Fraudulent operations such as this one, pretending to be legitimate insurance companies, should not be allowed to exist.
Loss of $7200.
Greta of Alexandria VA (06/18/08)
In April I booked a flight to Kentucky to see my mother who is in an Alzheimer's facility. I decided to take the Access America Travelers Insurance which US Airways advertises on their website. I had to cancel the trip because my mother had to be moved from an Alzheimers facility in Kentucky to a nursing home in Tennessee. Access America is refusing to pay my claim. Their advertisement states: Find peace of mind before and during your trip. US Airways offers travel insurance products through Access America, a member of the Allianz group. Then the insurance services are listed as follows: Trip Cancellation, trip interruption, travel delay, emergency medical transportation, and do on.
The advertising on US Airways makes it appear that this service is very flexible for a traveler. In fact, it is valueless. I asked US Airways to get involved and they refused. Access America actually sent me a letter that refused my claim because Your insuring agreement provides coverage if Your Family or friends (outside the United States) cant accommodate you as planned because someone in the household has (died) or (been diagnosed with a serious illness or injury?. What a ridiculous statement. I booked this trip to Kentucky on US Airways, why would my family or friends outside of the US need to accommodate me?
I am out $342.50.
Nancy of Tomball TX (05/28/08)
Want to comment on the article just read about not knowing about inability to access money in annuity. My husband passed away suddenly in April 2006. He had no life insurance. I had to withdraw $15000 from my annuity to pay final expenses. Not only did I have to pay a steep penalty for withdrawing this money, I also had to pay a penalty on $2500 that I had withdrawn in Nov. 2005 penalty free. The actual amount the was taken from the account was $22000. It cost me $7000 to access this money. This was not explained to me clearly when I converted my 401K to this annuity.
The damage will be in the future when I need the money from this annuity for living expenses. There will be considerably less to draw upon.
Brooke of Evansville IN (05/24/08)
Allianz sold my Mother & Stepfather an annuity in their early 80's that is not worth full value for 10-years. My stepfather recently passed and my Mother needs the money for income and is forced to pay a 15% penalty if whe withdrawls it in the next 10-years. They were also paid a transfer bonus of 10% which isn't payable for 15-years. This was deceptive, fraudulent and taking advantage of the elderly.
My Mother may be forced to lose 15% of her principal investment in a little over 1-year because she now needs the money to live on with the loss of my Stepfather's pension income.
Kathleen of Pacifica CA (04/27/08)
I just read your report regarding the State of Minnesota suing Allianz Insurance Company for selling deferred annuities to seniors on January 22, 2007.
The charges the State of Minnesota filed against Allianz Life apply to me: 1. I was led to believe that my annuity funds were tied up for only 5 years, and that after 5 years, I could withdraw them without penalty. 2. However, in speaking with Patrick Thomas, my agent at the time of purchase, and with customer service at Allianz,this month, April 2008, I find out I am paying hefty penalties to withdraw more than 5% of my original deposit in a lump sum.
The alternatives are monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual payments of: 1. Interest only 2. Principal and interest 3. another plan I don't recall the name of. THESE ARE FOR A MINIMUM PERIOD OF 10 YEARS, AND ONCE I MAKE A CHOICE, I AM LOCKED IN FOR THE WHOLE 10 YEARS AND CANNOT CHANGE THE PLAN FOR WITHDRAWAL, MEANING MY FUNDS WILL HAVE BEEN TIED UP FOR 15 YEARS, AND IF I WANT TO TAKE OUT MY MONEY, IT COSTS ME BIG TIME.
Cris of Redding CA (03/18/08)
My mother was sold an annuity from Alliance Life. She was told it was a good investment because of this bonus they would pay for the first 5 years of the annuity. She was withdrawing money from another annuity into this annuity to gain the bonus. The agent would come over and fill out the paperwork for the transfer. Problem is he didn't fill out the right paperwork to keep my mother from paying taxes. The correct paperwork would have asked annuity A to send money directly to annuity B and the transfer would have been tax exempt under the IRS exchange code 1035. Instead he was having the money sent to my mom which immediately made it taxable. I called the company to complain and there is no direct line or some one that well even talk to me. Instead they asked that I write a letter of complaint. I feel like I have no recourse because they can throw my letter away when they get it.
My mother put this money in these annuities so that some day the kids would get some sort of inheritance. All I see is the IRS getting a good portion of this in the way of taxes. The annuities are based on the stock exchange and well I do not see how this has been a good investment for my mom and the kids. It seems that the annuity companies and the agents are the one's who are getting the most benefits.
Frances of Homer Glen IL (02/13/08)
We purchased an Allianz High Five Annuity for $45,000 in Feb. 2007. It has continued to dissipate, and the surrender value is down to $37,100 in just one year. I can only withdraw a small portion per year without penalty.
We are emotionally stressed that our savings is just going down, as we were told this is a wonderful plan that will beef up our retirement savings.
Jeannette of Liberty, Mo MO (01/04/08)
They sold us a product (an Annuity) that was not what we had duscussed regarding that product. When I called them in 2005 they told us that the product would not mature until Dec 2007. Then we got a statement never mentioning the 10% bonus DEX for putting our money with their company.
If we surrender this policy, as we thought we could after our fifth year as fully vested, with thier terms we stand to lose $7,000. It translates to them using our money for five years and we made only $1,300, not near what they said we would make if we purchased this product from them!
Charles & Della of No. Richland Hills TX (11/28/07)
I sold two Allianz annuities that were supposed to have matured in ten years. Upon maturity tried to cash in annuity value only to find we have to keep them another five years or take monthly payments for five years to get the value, or take about 25% less for cash in. We are 77 years old, in bad health and would like to do other things with our money. This has caused mental anguish. We understand there is a class action suit pending on these policies.
Janice of Castle Rock CO (11/18/07)
I think my agent, Mr. Snyder, wasn't fully knowledgeable about this paticular policy he sold me. However, it is his job to fully inform policy buyers all the details and make sure they understand. I completely trusted him to supply me with a vehicle that would prove to assiste me. I did not understand all the insurance garble and did not realize the company would hold my funds for 15 years and that it's payout is like nothing. I have been a single parent since I was 35 and I will be 65 Jan. 2007. I worked very hard to try to be in a position to take care of myself when the time arose. My mother died May of 2000 and I quit my full time job with benefits to care for my father. What savings I had at that time is now gone. I lost my father Jan. 2006 and the only sibling I have decided the estate should be in litigation. I now have attorney bills to pay to protect and defend myself against her alligations. I wore all the hats, POA of health and finances, Executor etc. This mess has been going on for almost 2 years and I'm not getting any richer as it goes along. The estate is not that valuable to spend all it's money on attorneys. I need money to support myself on and keep me going and now I have this policy I can't really get to. I am sending the company a letter to see what they may or may not do prior to contacting Colorado Div. of Ins. or the State Ins. Commissioner. I need help retrieving my money.
Patricia of Belle Vernon PA (11/05/07)
Our 95 yr.old father gave my brother and I his entire life savings to keep in our names. My brother divided it into two annuities with Allianz Life Insurance Co. and my father now needs it for nursing home care for my mother who is 91 and has alzheimers. Each annuity was 115,000 put in five yrs. ago and I cannot get it back at full value. They said it would be ten more yrs. and if I cash it in now for my Dad, I would get only 109,000. My brother since died and he made his wife his beneficiary and she will not give back my Dad's money. What am I to do? This 230,000 was to safekeep for my parents. I desperately need help.
My father was 90 yrs old at the time and now is 95. He worked all his life to save in a coal mine at age 14 for 20cents an hour and he is so upset over this, that I am afraid for his health and he is caring for my Mom with alzheimers.
Daniel of Richmond CA (10/09/07)
I purchased a deferred annuity for $100,000 10/02/2000. I was under the impression that if I left it untouched until I was 591/2 yrs old, I could receive its full annuitization value ( which is presently $167,340.34 ). I will be 59 1/2 May 12,of 2008, at which time I planned on taking a FULL withdrawal to pay off my home. I recently found out that I will have to pay early surrender penalties, if I do this. The beginning surrender value at this point in time is $110,216.98, and the ending cash surrender value is $113,970.85.
Had I know the consequences of this transaction, I would have not bought into this annuity. I also have 3 others that equal about $100,000, with Allianz, and I cannot touch (full withdrawal) them for several years or more without paying heafty penalties.I thought I fully understood the financial advisor's explanation, but apparently I do not recall understanding that my money would literally be locked up well beyond my 59 1/2 year requirement. I am at a loss for words, and am not sure how to handle this dilemma.I have refinanced my home for a 5 year interest only loan, with the intent of paying it off before the loan was due ( 2 years to go). I am on S.S.D.I.,and it would probably be next to impossible to refinance, because of my limited income. I will have no choice but to bite the bullet and take the surrender value, as I am at a point of no return!
Margery of Alexandria MN (09/30/07)
We were lured by the fact that our annuity would be tied to the market and we thought it would appreciate att a better rate than a fixed income vehicle. The problem is that there is a surrender period of 12 years. I am 74 and my husband is 77 and we failed to catch that and were not verbally informed
S of Largo FL (04/07/07)
An agent sold us the Allianz Alterity Variable Annuity product in March of 2006. Due to complications with transferral of funds from our other investments, we did not get the actual contract for quite some time. However, the investment had been made and the money had already been transferred prior to the receipt of the contract. This product is extremely complex, and the agent clearly did not understand the product when he presented it.
Shortly after we received the actual contract, on June 1, 2006, we contacted the regional VP for Allianz. His description of the product did not match the agent's, but we thought we understood more about our investment after speaking with him. Several months ago, we began to realize that we STILL didn't understand the product. We started calling the Allianz Service Center. We spoke to several different reps and one or two managers. Each person told us something different.
Finally, out of frustration, I contacted the President of Allianz and asked him to clarify the product and give us his personal guarantee as well as that of one of his attorneys, that we would be able to depend upon his responses. Instead of responding directly, he had one of his administrative people in charge of variable annuities, respond. Her attempt at responding was mediocre at best, and she still did not clarify all of the points we needed to know. We are senior citizens with a fairly good knowledge of investments, yet, even WE are unable to understand this product.
What appears to be happening here is that Allianz is purposely putting out a confusing and complicated product while not informing the recipients that the only way to access their guaranteed amounts is to take a long term payout or to annuitize at a very low rate. In other words, they make it look good going in, but give you no fair way to exit the product. This may be legal, but we feel it is very unethical.
We are locked into this product for at least 6 more years and still are not sure about how to exit the product at the end of that time without losing money or being forced to pay their outrageous fees for the next 26 years. The products within the annuity are not the best we've seen, which limits our choices substantially. They leave no way to shelter our money, so if equities decline significantly, we could lose a great deal of money. We understood going in that there would be penalties in the first 7 years for early withdrawal, but we were told there would be no fees and at the end of 7 years we would receive a guaranteed return of 7%. They make it very difficult to get that amount because they are charging 3% for fees. We could have done better with a CD and would like to exit this product but do not feel we will be able to do so.
For now, we are removing 10% annually to lessen the blow...if there is some other remedy available to us, we'd sure like to know about it. Also, we think the public should know Allianz is selling this product and we think the government should prohibit them from doing so.
Kent of Farmingtton MI (04/03/07)
I was deceived by Mr Barry Keeley. At age 65 I was informed through his radio promotion that I could realize a gain of 10% if I bought his product Allianz Bonus Dex Annuity. I did buy three annuities and was informed that when I turn 70 1/2, (5 years from the sign up date) I could take my money out and begin spending my life savings...$133,000.00. A month or so later I called the Allianz Life Ins Co in St Paul, MN asking about the Bonus Dex product. The customer service person told me that I should never have been sold the Bonus Dex Annuity because it matures 15 years after sign up.
Well, needless to say I was extremely upset, and called Mr Keeley wanting to get my money back. He told me that the Allianz customer service group do not know their own products. At that time I had nowhere to turn. Like many other seniors that have been taken advantage of, I'm amazed that this continues to occur. I know of the class action lawsuite being brought against Allianz, but how about all the independent representatives that are lying through their teeth. Remove their licenses and return all monies plus the interest that was promised.
I'm 69 years old this week and I have not yet been able to spend one cent of my retirement because of Mr Keeley. I want the universe to know that this continues to occur and it must be stopped.
Sharyn of Austin TX (03/19/07)
I met Larry B. on the pretense that he wanted to date me. Immediately he started to try to sell me Allianz Bonus Dex Annuities. This was in 2002 when my stocks were plummeting. The guarantee of no less than 3% on my money sounded good. I got very anxious though when it came time to notarize the papers. He became very angry with me and I felt threatened. So unfortunately I signed. I told him that I did not want to touch my equities and options. But I had signed an extra paper for another annuity. I was negligent in not getting the paper back from him. About a month later he called me from Dallas and said that I needed to get in on this great deal because the %age was going down in a couple of days. I was very ill at the time and I don't remember the whole conversation. I do know that I never gave him permission to sell the remainder of my stocks. About 2 weeks later I received information in the mail that all of my stocks had been sold, $113,000 worth at their lowest possible point. He had taken the paper, initialed it with his own initials, and dated it for the date the stocks were sold.
I almost had a nervous breakdown when I found out what he had done. My mother had died a few months earlier and the stress was almost too much for me. I filed a complaint with the SEC, and got an attorney to attempt to get my money back. Of course, they would only give me what I would have gained in that last six weeks since the stocks started to rally. I received about $11,000 for the $113,000 that I had lost. Now I am stuck with an annuity that I did not want in the first place.
My money is tied up for the next 15 years, which was not explained to me and Mr. B is still selling (stealing) to people in Austin, Tx. I just pray that some other single woman did not fall prey to what he is doing, but I am sure there has been others. I am still taking a loss every year on my income tax for the $113,000 and will be for several years. I have never been able to recover. I am looking at retirement in 7 years. That money was also from an inheritance that my father had worked for his whole life.
Jo Ann of Cody WY (02/19/07)
I was sold an Annunity to supplement my Social Security income and promised a 10% bonus I was led to believe I could annunitize any time after the first year. Now I find I cannot do that for five years. I was over 73 years old at that time. I am now past 75 and wish to stop working, but cannot annunitize for 3 more years. The method of figuring interest earned is also very disapointing. I do not think this was an appropriate investment to be sold to someone my age and I can't get my money out without a hugh financial loss. If I annunitize at age 78, I will not recoup my initial investment until I am 88 and not get back the bonus and/or any interest earned for serveral more years. I do not know what the life expectancy is for me, but I doubt it is that long. My money is tied up and I can't afford to lose the amount for cash surrender.
Barbara of Desert Hot Springs CA (02/09/07)
We were told by Alan L.Cerf that we could get better interest with him than our Bank [Wells Fargo] could give to us and we could draw out our money when we needed such. My husband is nearing 90 years of age and I am 81. We called Mr. Cerf to come by and explain the two packs of 14 pages Alliance had sent to us. He said he was very busy. Our bank had already withdrawn our entire savings. We still have not heard from Mr Cerf. I called 800-950-1962. I was told we would be able to withdraw $6,000. on the anniversary date. The person I talked to advised me to call Mr Cerf. We are in need of some money soon for Dr. and other bills that might come in to us.
Arline of The Villages FL (01/24/07)
We attended a financial seminar, like so many other seniors around here and got talked into purchasing a Elite Annuity with Allianz Life Insurance Co. It was presented to us in such a way that we thought it would bring us a nice yield and we could take the money out when we saw fit. We did not realize that our money would be tied up for years and that if we tried to take the money out we would really be penalized. My husband is 74 yrs. old and I am 68. We are very upset over this and do not know what to do about this. We did this transaction in May of 2004. Our savings are all tied up when we could be using some for extra expenses.
Shirley of Redondo Beach CA (12/03/06)
I transferred an annuity I had with Vanguard to Allianz in August 2004 as a result of a sales talk given in my home by a Mr. Elkin. He explained that there was a bonus of 12% for signing up and talked about the standing of Allianz in the field. What he did not do is explain clearly that I would have to hold the annuity for five years & that it would take ten years to fully realize the worth of the annuity.
I was 81 years old when this happened & I will be 96 years old when the annuity fully matures. My husband & I will need this money well before the maturity date for our living expenses & for college education for our 2 grandchildren. I have called Mr. Elkin 6-8 times in the last 6 months & left messages for him to return the calls & not one returned call. This makes me even more sure that I was taken advantage of due to my age.
You can't imagine how inadequate one feels when you realize that you were not alert enough to read all the small print in the contract & I guess if I had I might not have understood what it said anyway. This will cause hardship economically to my family but I hope not physical harm but one can not tell as you reach my age you realize every day that you stay alive is good.
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