What these consumers seem to be overlooking is that it is an agent, not usually employed by Allianz that sells these annuity policies. Most of the complaints are steered instead toward Allianz, which is a good company and has some very nice annuities. It's like blaming the gun that kills someone, instead of the shooter.
Consumer Complaints & Reviews
I put in $3,000.00 for life insurance and retirement. I was not given the full information about what I was getting myself into. Come to find out that Allianz stole half of my money and says it went to fees. This information was not disclosed upfront. Now, I tried to take out the rest of my money and they say I can't. It's like I just took $3,000.00 and waded it up and threw it in the garbage. What a scam! I feel bad for anyone who does business with this company whether working for them or investing with them. Terrible experience! I will definitely tell friends or anyone I can not to work with this company.
This message is to require assistance with a problem I have with your office here in Egypt. I have bought a life insurance (policy number 150990) in 2006. I have paid for the 4 years LE 25,860, and on the 5th year, I have not paid my premium, and the company paid them as a loan to me. The loan amount was LE 7293.
This last November, 2011, I decided to terminate the policy and cash it. I was given a check amounting to LE11798.37, and a letter with the breakdown.
It stated that my money became LE22,883, and 5% will be deducted, so it will be LE21,729 (LE 9,940 for loan expenses). The expenses of LE 7,293 is LE 9,940. Kindly explain how, because as an MBA in Finance, I couldn't understand it. Plus, they didn't give me the LE7,293. I am writing to you to request assistance in resolving this matter. I feel I was given wrong information when I purchased this policy, and now, I am shortchanged when I want to cash it.
Rating of 0. Terrible experience. I have called several times because there is a bad problem with my accounts not showing where all of my money went with this company and the investor. It looks like they owe us over $60,000 that was unaccounted for back in 2003 and 2004, etc. The experience has been the lowest. Overall rating 1.
Peter **, sold 2 MasterDex 5 Annuity policies to my aunt and uncle. At the time of the sale, they were at age 86 and 90.3 months after the sale they were both declared incompetent and my brother and me had to take guardianship of them both. He fleeced them into breaking up 3 triple tax free bond funds to contribute to this Allianz annuity. They had no idea what they were purchasing, they were incompetent, besides the fact of their age, and they thought this was a bond fund, it was not.
Peter took out a loan against the policy to give my uncle what he thought was a dividend. It was then when we took guardianship that our attorney could not believe that anyone would write 2 policies for people of their age. They have both since passed, and we had to take cash surrender values of these policies, or collect the death benefit over a 5 year term.
Totally unacceptable we lost $94,000.00 between my brother and me for two policies that should have never been written. This guy Peter took advantage of their age and mental status. When we were told of these policies Peter assured us that there was no waiting period for the death benefit versus the cash surrender. My attorneys beg to differ they told us again that these policies should have never been written for these elderly people. Had they been of sound mind they would have never bought these annuities. They are not for people of their age.
I have a recently diagnosed ear canal problem (Exostosis of the ear canal). I have provided documentation of this condition from both my GP and the ENT surgeon to whom he referred me stating I have this condition and that it requires surgery, which is not done in Sri lanka. The condition is covered by my elite policy however Allianz first of all stated it was an injury sustained as a professional sportsman competing in a professional event.
I have never been a professional sportsman and have never competed in a professional sport of any kind. I am an exercise physiologist owning a health management center. My policy seller is now pursuing the claim on my behalf only to be told that I am a professional swim coach/teacher which is also not true. I taught swimming 20 years ago as a part of my physical education teachers role! It seems the company is grasping at straws to find an excuse not to honor the claim.
I'm an Australian living in Sri Lanka with excellent health, have held this policy for 3-4 years and have never made a claim. I have approx 30% hearing in my left ear and 50% in my right. I am constantly having ear irritations and infections, particularly when I pursue my recreational sports involving water immersion. Ear plugs no longer work. My work performance is severely compromised and my equilibrium is also severely compromised causing irritability and discomfort.
My sister and I have full power-of-attorney for our Father. He has two annuities with Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America. We faxed a written request do a cash surrender on May 2, 2010. We were told that there would be a ten day turn around for the monies to be transferred to his bank account. Okay, so we expected the monies to arrive on the 17th or 18th of May. When the monies did not arrive by the close of business on the 18th., I called them on the 19th. I called them again on the 25th and the 26th and then I finally got my point across that the money better be wired or I was going to seek legal council.
As of today we've been told that the request had been made and hopefully we should have the money in his bank account by the close of business tomorrow. I asked to speak to a supervisor this morning and he said that there had been a break down some where along the line. Hello! In the computerized world that we live in how could this be. It was pure negilence and certainly a breach of contract. I'm really interested in knowing what can be done from a legal point of view. I have filed a complaint with the Insurance Commissioner of PA as that is where the Client Services operations is located. Any insight as to how far I should take this would be greatly appreciated.
I have had two Allianz insurance policies, a traditional IRA and Roth IRA since 2004. At that time a crooked accountant who works as a representative for Allianz got me into these annuities without detailed explanation of what I was getting myself into. He basically was looking out for his own self-interests as he sits in his log cabin in the mountains of North Carolina. There wasn't any mention of penalties, fees, early withdrawal problems, etc. I did not have a clear understanding about these products, nor did I sign a statement of understanding claim.
I was completely misled about the product I got into. I've been trying to liquidate my money for quite some time and finally they liquidated it after continuous efforts and communications. Although I got some of my money, some of it still remains with Allianz because they are refusing to liquidate the remainder to me. I have not gained one penny of interest since inception. They refuse to give me the remainder of my money. This is money I first contributed five years ago. I've been constantly emailing back and forth with several employees, first Becky ** who did absolutely nothing and would never respond to my emails or phone calls.
Next, I requested to speak with her supervisor who was Barbara **, another useless figure who demanded documents from me and also did not return phone calls or emails. I had to continually contact her and she would give me the excuse that she was too busy to get back with me because she was helping other customers. I requested her supervisor and finally spoke with Marty ** today. He had nothing to say other than "I'm sorry you feel that way and we've come to our decision, case closed." I'm not going to rest until I get my money from these crooks. They made promises of these bonuses; however, I come to find out that was false. There was never any mention of surrender charges or fees for early withdrawal until I wanted to withdraw my funds.
There were, in fact, several documents that were forged with my signature. An internal investigation by their firm was done and they found nothing wrong. These are serious allegations and yet it was completely shrugged off like nothing ever transpired. I'm angry and beside myself about how crooked this company is and how they operate. There were and are many class action law suits against them if you just google Allianz class action law suits. I'm appalled that they could get away with this corruption. Something needs to be done so that another sucker isn't taken down. I understand they have targeted the elderly people, but what about the single, female women who are not that educated on this kind of stuff and was clearly taken advantage of. Please help me during these difficult times.
I was driving home from work when another driver didn't check his blind spot and merged into me. We were both Allianz customers so both of our claims were processed through them. I took my car to Allianz's preferred dealer. It is still there after 7 months in the workshop. All that needs fixing is the side mirror and rear quarter panel. After calling Allianz for the 3rd time in 7 months, they now are telling me it's my responsibility to take the car somewhere else and it's between me and the repairer, like every other company wipe their hands of the blame and put it on the consumer. They won't reimburse my car for being off the road for 7 months as now it's my fault.
Having to catch the train for 7 months, and renewal of registration is coming up. What's the point of getting it? It could be another 7 months, no replacement car, and everything has been at my cost.
ALERT: Allianz Life Insurance is ripping off people! We purchased a Fidelity Union College Master life insurance package in 1969. Fidelity Union (Texas) was purchased by Allianz several years ago. Allianz has been draining the cash value and increasing the "management fee" such that the premium increases by 1000%! They just notified us that the policy has been cancelled -- If you owned a Fidelity Union Life Insurance policy that was taken over by Allianz, they have, in effect, flipped the original policy to a term life insurance policy that is worthless! I have just turned 62, and magically, they have simply and consistently stolen and robbed the policy of any value. BUYER BEWARE!!!
Sold us an annuity without discloing to us the fact that it was two-tiered,could not be taken back in a lump sum and would have to be annuitized.There would be a large penalty for not annuitizing it and taking the lump sum
The above group sold my father two very expensive annuities and tied his money completely up. They were over $300,000. My mother just passed away at 81 years old. My father will be 85 in Sept. And is in very bad health. My father cannot access his money. If he was able to withdraw it there would be a LARGE penalty. They told him if he needed long term care which he is in, then he could draw the money out to cover the cost. They did not explain the penalty.
And they wrote the policy that he would have to live to be 94 years old for it to be any benefit. He and my mother were already in poor health at the time they wrote the policy. Now he has to live as a pauper when he has $300,00 he cannot gain access to without possibly loosing $100,00. This has added more stress and worry to him. Feeling like he was taken in his old age.
In November 1990, my husband and I took out a Flexible Premium Adjustable Life Policy from LifeUSA Insurance Company. Our policy shows our Planned Periodic Premium at $94.00 per month.
On July 1, 2002 LifeUSA Insurance Company completed a merger with Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America.
Until October 2008 our $94.00 premium has been paid on a monthly basis, via an automatic withdrawal from our checking account. After I realized that the December 2008 payment had not been deducted from our account as well as the November 2008 payment, I contacted Allianz by phone and was told something to the affect "there were not enough funds to cover the monthly cost of the premium". I asked what she ment, and she told me that the monthly cost of the policy was not the $94.00 as our policy stated, but was considerably more because of the cost of the riders.Nowhere in our originally policy does it state that there will be a cost for riders nor did we receive anything from Allianz stating that the cost of the policy was changing from our originally contract. During this phone conversation, I was informed that in order to reinstate this coverage, I would need to pay over $2,000. I pulled out my policy and reviewed it completely looking for the "riders" that I need to pay for. Again, the contract states that the monthly premium is $94.00 and does not state a cost for riders.
As with our car and home owners insurance, we receive a specific letter stating there is a change with our annual or monthly premium.
Allianz did send out an Annual Report showing the Planned Premium as still being $94.00.
In February 2009 I wrote a letter to Allianz expressing my concerns about our policy being cancelled without my being notified. In April I received a letter back from Allianz stating that the monthly mortality cost charges change each year based on the insured's age and that each month the cost of insurance and expenses charge is deducted from the accumulated value.The letter also stated, "Since I did not receive a grace notice, the grace period is being extended at this time. And in order to reinstate this coverage without underwriting, I need to remit premium due of $2,290.61 by May 10, 2009. This is the amount due based on the current cost of insurance of $293.00 per month, plus the negative cash value at the time of lapse in November 2008. If I elect to reinstate, $293.00 per month would be the annual renewable term planned premium until the next anniversary in November 2009.
Why, over the course of the last 19 years did I not receive a letter from Allianz stating that I need to be paying more to cover the cost of the policy? Why did the original contract not identify the cost of the riders and the projected increase in cost?
When we took out this policy in 1990, we understood that the premium - the cost of the policy for my husband and myself- would be $94.00 per month.
1) took a flight Aug1st 2007 austin to Chicago. Booked through United. Flight was excessively cold in the middle of the plane. Most of the people in the middle complained about the cold. The Flight A. stated it was an on going problem with this type of plane they had never been able to regulate it. My 5year old was shaking F. A brought hime a blanket fromm first class and stated they forgot to put blankets on today. I continued to freeze and asked several time for something to keep me warm as I only had t.shirts and shorts as they had taken our luggage at the doorway. I eventually became numb in my hands and feet.
Once we landed I struggled to walk down the steps into the terminal, once inside I collapsed, woke up in the Er I had suffered a concusion that led to a siezure and had several other injures, swelling and sever bruising and possible fracture to my r arm. My older son and the hockey team were looking for us, they had no idea how we diassappeard In the second incident I had tickets issued by UA fying from Washington to austin Jan 10th 2009. The plane was freexing the captain kept apologising along with the flight attendant. I asked a a card it is marked United but once again it was operated by Mesa.
Even though the captain stated the gauge was showing 80degrees it was obviously mechanical failure. Once again I was sent to N. Brogan at Allianz, she told me there were no complaints and no paperwork showing mechanical failur. I can for forward the card I was given Allianz and Ms. Brogan have mede this as difficult as possible I asked MS. Brogan if they were responsible for the second flight she told me to get an attorney and find out. I think she hopes I will run out of time as I need to get the subpeonas and start a claim prior to August 1st 2007. I am exhausted with being run through United, US airways, America West, Mesa and now Allianz. I am dissapointed that they will lie. As this is clear. I am willing to take an oath that this did happen. I have kept all the correspondance with them from the begining. I was trying to be nice about this. I see that they prey on people like me. I now really need help.
Loss of memory due to concussion. Loss of driving ability for 6 months, on going issues due to the concussion. Body disfigurement due to the severity of the fall,R. thigh and R arm. Younger child will not fly alone and is very nervous if I stumble, he saw me passout then start to roll my head and eyes and then blood poured out my mouth, He was then told he may have to go to a foster home until they could find someone for me. He is now very nervous. It has had a long lasting effect on my family. We were going to Chicago to watch my older son play in the junior olympics in Hockey, he had won the speed skating contest the week previously in Michigan, at the last minute I bought two tickets at $800 a piece. He was so upset he only played a little. It was a disastrous episode.
On the second flight we had coats gloves scaarfs, I had been to see a doctor in another country to help me. I had severe back pain initiated by the cold I called my MD once off the plane it is charted. Yesterday I received another 5k in bills realted to the Chicago incident. It is depleting me of my savings and my ability to work haas diminished significantly.
Both myself (age 67 years in 2003) and my wife (age 56 years in 2003)approached Grant Perry for worry-free investment of my post retirement 401(K)funds and some amount in our banks. We explained our needs and the time frames when we needed the money which included moving to India, building a house, buying a car, spending on our daughter's wedding etc. We were promised lumpsum returns at the end of 5 years, no lower than 3% but no higher than 10%. When we received the documents we realized that the policies were for annuities over 10 years and so, we protested.
Grant told us that Annuity was only the name of the scheme and that we will get paid lumpsum after 5 years. After 5 years in 2008, when we started getting distribution in annuities, he tells us that annuity is good for us; we can still get lumpsum payment if we want but at surrender value (which is lower than annuitized value and comes out lower than the invested amount - obviously a loss). We had no recourse except to accept it.
We were looking forward for a nice kitty by 2008 so that we could comfortably spend the money on house, car, wedding etc. But with this annuity, we had to drastically change our plans. Also, we are suffering losses due to lumpsum withdrawals. Sitting in India, we cannot even fight in the courts.
Mr. Minkewicz deliberately mislead us regarding an Investment Product with Allianz. We have an email from him stating we can take the full value as a lump sum without penalty after ten years. After insisting that he show us that in the contract he finally admitted that was not the case. We looked on the internet and discovered similar charges against Allianz in Minnesota.
We were not hurt because we did not trust what we could not be shown. I am certain there are many of Mr. Minkewicz's clients that will not discover their misfortune until the 10 year period has elapsed. We hope you have a means to contact his clients to be certain they have not been misled.
I have money invested with Allianz. On Dec 2, 2008 I requested my funds. I was told it takes 48-72 hours to process my request. I call every day and get one excuse after another as to why they have not transfered my funds to my account. I am concerned they do not have the money and will be the next financial company to fall. I want my money and they are refusing to give it to me. I have a legal right to my money, they are violating State and Federal Law.
Financial damages.
I have money invested with Allianz. On Dec 2, 2008 I requested my funds. I was told it takes 48-72 hours to process my request. I call every day and get one excuse after another as to why they have not transfered my funds to my account. I am concerned they do not have the money and will be the next financial company to fall. I want my money and they are refusing to give it to me. I have a legal right to my money, they are violating State and Federal Law.
Financial damages.
I was told that these 2 annuities would mature in 5 years. My first one was opened in l989. I can not get money when I need it. the second one will let me take a set amount in April 2009. I think this should be illegal, but who would I ontact?
they will not let you get your money for 15 years without lossing up to 15%. i would like all my money now. i am 72 i will probly die before i get my money. thank you
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.
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.
Was sold an equity indexed annuity--Allianz Master Dex 10. Was not explained that money could be tied up for as long as 15 years. I was 76 when I took it out. It will be three years in August since the purchase. Can I get out with just the money I put in the program?
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.
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.
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.
In december 04 My wife and I replied to a mail ad from a person we both knew and trusted. We were Sold a bill of goods. We were told that investing with Allianz we were guaranted a least a 10% return per year. We were never told of any muturity date in words that you would understand. In late 2006 our health issueschanged and we needed part of the investment, It was at that time we were informed of a heavy penalty for withdrawal and of the maturity date. This was the biggest and costly mistake that we ever made. By the way, our 10% per year return--equated to a whole .38% since 2004, I'd make more money in the folds of my couch.
what we worked for all the years, is gone and our hopes and dreams of a secure retirement is just that, hopes and dreams that will never come true. I hope that this does not happen to any one else...
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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 591/2 year requirement.
I am at a loss for words, and am not sure how to handle this delema.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!
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
We were contacted by Mr. T about an annuity. He claimed to be an officer at our local bank (I still have the business card) but he was not. He had all our bank info and knew we had several cd's that were maturing. He came to our home and sold us both annuities - one IRA (which we have gotten out of) and the other a single premioum deferred annuity for both my wife and I. I was 70 at the time and my wife 64. He assurred us this was a very good investment as he had just got his mother involved in the same thing!!
We have lost interest and income from this annuity. I am 81 years old and now I can take it out after much wrangling with them and it will take 10 years to get the money!
Mike R, Agent for Allianz, and now in prison, in San Jose, CA sold us the Allianz policy and stated that we would be able to take our money out in FIVE years. I am 75 and my husband is 79. Hopefully, we will live long enough to get our money out of these policies. They were both of our 401K money.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
