American General Life Insurance Reviews

I have repeatedly called American General for the last 2 months on behalf of a client of mine. We are requesting a simple illustration per the terms of the policy contract and American General refuses to provide the illustration as requested. After speaking with supervisors and employees in the illustrations department, I was told that the only way to get the illustration I was requesting was to file a formal complaint.

Well my aunt passed away in April of 1995 and my mother was the beneficiary of her policy. Both of the sisters were in the hospital. My aunt passed first then my mother passed a couple of months later. After 19 years I haven’t heard nothing more since last year when they contacted us. My brother got the letter requesting all our names and address of my mother’s living children so we did just that. Then last year in March we had to fill out a form and mail it back to them. No response, no money, nothing. Me and my sister stay in contact with each others. Nothing yet. After all these years had went by, nothing. My brother sent in all the information they asked for. I haven’t heard anything else from the insurance company as of today. This is unbelievable for an insurance company to do their clients and family. Something need to be done to speed up the process and they should be made to pay interests on all these years. So this is my complaint against this company. Thank you. Looking forward to hear from you asap.

Three years ago, I lost my wife of 30 years. She had two smaller whole life policies with this firm. Either she failed to update her beneficiaries or the local office did not process the change. So the policy had her dad (since deceased) and an old boyfriend listed. When I filed a claim, I learned about this. I filed a claim when she died and was told that I was not beneficiary. Okay. So I told them her dad had died and they sent a letter acknowledging his death in 2010. I then had a quick conversation with my lawyer who suggested contacting her ex-boyfriend and asking if he would be willing to disclaim interest in the policy.

My Father has a policy with AGLA that we have requested a Cash Surrender on. I have been awarded Legal Guardianship/Conservatorship as well as Durable POA for my 96 year old Father due to his dementia. On January 2, 2014, I emailed the local agent and sent the Guardianship/Conservatorship and POA documents to him so that he could legally speak with me about the policy. On January 6 he emailed me the Cash Surrender form. The same day, I completed the form using the information from all the correspondence received from AGLA regarding policy numbers and emailed it back to him for his review and signature. He indicated he would review them, sign them, and send them to the Corporate Office for processing and that "home office usually processes CSVs in two to three weeks".

Customer Service is the worst. My mother has 2 Life policies with AGL, which I have taken over making the payments. AGL has done everything to misinform me and to coerce me to let these polices go. One of the policies lapsed in August 2011 because the premiums were left in suspense until the policy lapsed. Now, in Feb 2014, I was informed the other policy lapsed because the premiums were used to pay the loan and not applied to premium and the policy lapsed in Nov 2013. We were never informed that the policy was lapsed or that the premiums were being applied to the loan until Feb 2014. I was making payments regularly and getting confirmation numbers for the payments. The first lapsed policy was reinstated and now this one will be reinstated; however, the premiums are much higher. I've asked for a projection of premium costs going forward which they should be able to provide, but still have no answer. I send emails and get no answer, I call and leave messages with no call back. The agent and his manager now claim they have no control of the home office people, that I will have to deal with them. I need answers that are honest and I need to get this policy reinstated.

My policy was canceled because my quarterly payment was due on 10/15/13. My personal check cleared my bank on 10/17/13. They did not update my account till 10/24/13. I am a banker and know that a paper check takes at least 2 days to clear. American General had my $$ on 10/15/123. They requested medical records which I gladly sent.and then received notification that the policy could not be reinstated because of health reasons. Both my personal insurance agent and my attorneys tell me that after a policy is in effect 2 years, the company cannot cancel due to health reasons. American General may have been able to conduct business like this in the past because other elderly customers probably did not persist. I have contacted the state insurance commission with this complaint and am posting this on every consumer watchdog blog that I can find. I will not stop until I have a reinstated policy. I will see American General in a court of law. It will cost American General more than my policy amount.

My mother Ann **has more than 10 policies with AGLA since 1974, which probably started out about .50 cents or a 1.00 or 2.00 per policy. The premiums are up to nearly 200 monthly. She was at least smart enough not to do auto withdrawals from her account with them. They have her name listed as every name but her real name. They are giving me hell to get the names on her policies corrected. Were scared to cash them in now (low to no cash value) based on her age, but then we may not get anything at all from what I have read above. They know that the elderly do not know how to get online to process/print forms or requests for claims. As her daughter I feel I too have been used and abused as well as she has been abused financially. I know that these policies have been paid for in full a long time ago. Mother has recently been ill now and we have no clue (only God knows) as to how long she will be with us. We want to be a part of any lawsuit formed against AGLA. The ball has not dropped yet with them, but based on the below complaints (we will be next crying).

I have been trying to collect on a claim (a very small claim less than 700.00) and every time I call the Life Claims phone number, I get a representative that gives me different information every time. The first time saying I need to submit more info. I was told they received on September 17th. Then to wait two weeks to check. Called again and was told I did not have Page 3 of 6 of the policy filled out and to fax it back. They received it on October 22nd. Called November 5th to ask the status. I was told that the policy is not for me and for my deceased father. So, from September 17th when they received the documents until today November 5th, it took that long for them to say it is not my policy (which it is to say the least). I will not purchase a policy from this company especially knowing now how much trouble my kids will have to go through to collect monies that is rightfully theirs. They can keep the money for all I care, all $687.00 of it!

My father passed in Sept 2012 with a $10K policy bought in the 1960s. About a 45+ year old policy. The base policy itself has been pay off for 20+ years. After almost a year of back and forth, my brother and I received a split check for the face value of the policy. No interest or payout of the other monies paid. I am still waiting on an explanation. The last one received was a joke, stating something about Texas law and IRS reporting. Things would not be that bad, if my father did have 2 other $10K policies not near that age that paid promptly with interest and invest payout totaling of over $100K. From what I can see, this company is a take the money run company. Sad, very sad.

On September 6, 2013, I became aware that a new company to my knowledge, listed as American General, had withdrawn from my personal checking the amount of $30.78 listed as 'premium'. I drove to my bank and told the manager that I had recently requested health insurance info from Humana One 3 days prior. The Humana processor asked for my checking account number and told me I would undergo a physical as part of the process for underwriting. All expected information as I am a retired nurse and aware of the physicals, etc. What I was not aware of, however, was that my personal banking info would be passed on immediately to American General and that they would debit ASAP in view of my NOT possessing a bona fide policy with Humana One nor with AGL until due process of underwriting had been accomplished.

My parked Honda Odyssey was hit by man who has AG Auto Insurance... I was prompt to call and make a claim. It has been 4 weeks now and no progress. I am still without a car and with no response from Statewide Claims Services other than that they agree that they are financially responsible and that my car is totaled. Vanessa ** at Statewide is very rude and lacks any amount of professionalism. After seeing the complaints posted about this company, I cannot for the life of me understand how they are still in business?????

I've dealt with this company since the 1980s. At first, things were fine. Then it started going downhill. My first husband passed away in 1995. As is the custom, I handed the policy to the funeral director, and he filed for the insurance; his fee was to be paid, and he in turn would write me a check for the remainder. Approximately six weeks after the funeral, he called and asked if I'd heard anything from American General, that he still didn't have anything from them. I called and was directed to a man who told me he was the one handling the claim. I asked where we were in the process, and he said, "I'm not authorized to okay anything over $75,000." Okay, so where is the claim at this moment? "I have it on my desk". So my question was, "Could you pick it up and take it to whoever DOES have the authority?" His response was, "I guess I could".

I had this insurance which was purchased by my mother in 1990. I never had any problems until my prior agent retired. After that, everything went downhill. My new agent was racist and lazy, and it took me three months to get in touch with him after our initial meeting. After that, he came out and it was discovered he messed all of my policies up. He has my daughter listed as a smoker, when she is not, and he never gave her the swab test. So for one whole year, I have been paying for a smoker who is not a smoker. In addition, when I called the manager at the Troy office, he was the rudest person ever. He insisted I be quiet and was upset that I had called the office, agent, and customer care center multiple times. He also said he would hang up on me and would not give me his name. All I want now is my information transferred to another office because before I deal with this behavior, I will cancel the policies.

I have had insurance with this company since the 1970s. They have ALWAYS been a decent company to deal with until a few years ago. I would say even in 2000, they were still a good company, but lately, they don't give a darn about their clients.

I have two policies with this company and have been paying on them for 55 years. They originated with another company and were bought out/transferred more than a generation ago. I attempted to contact American General through their e-mail page making two attempts which were ignored. I finally did contact an employee by telephone at their New York office who, after a long and convoluted process, agreed that I did have two policies with a certain surrender value. I requested and received paper forms to request the accumulated money and have followed the progress of this online and at this time. It shows the policies terminated across the board. Before it reached that state, I received daily billings for the policies and many advertisements to purchase still more insurance policies. Company has stipulated nothing in writing so all I have to go on are the original policies, 35 and 55 years old and information delivered via telephone from a person in NYC.

My father went to change the beneficiary on his policy. The company wrote back and told him how much the cash surrender value was. My father decided to cash it in instead. That is when we started to get the runaround. They called me back and told me that the policy had been terminated and my father was not due anything. Long story short, it took every bit of three (3) months and many forms in order to cash in a policy that was well under $500.00 value. I would not recommend this company for any policy or product they might have. I still have every copy, plus all names and agent numbers for reference to prove what we went through. I would like to give them a minus 5 star rating.

7 months ago we were changing ownership of policies. We were told by our local rep to fill out certain forms. Actually, he filled it out and sent it in. I come to find out the forms were filled out wrong and rejected, so he filled out the forms again and had us submit other forms needed to change ownership of policies. They were rejected again because the wrong person was named owner on the policy, so we had to do it a third time. The first time, one policy was supposed to be frozen as a paid up account. Because paperwork was not done correctly and it took three months to get it done correctly, the account was never frozen as paid, so money was taken out of the policy to pay premiums that were not even supposed to be due because it was supposed to be frozen.

I contacted American General to get information on a policy I had taken out with a former employee. I was on hold for over 10 minutes, then had great difficulty understanding the representative. I asked her location, (where I was calling); she was located in the Philippines. She transferred me to a different rep (who was also at the Philippine office but she assured me the company was based in the United States). I was told to go online to "enroll the policy" so I could get a print out of policy information. The websites mostly promote purchase of policies - it's very difficult to find information on actual policies. I did find a spot to register so I could log in - unfortunately, it said it was for agents only. Hmm, no agent; I don't work at the place so I would have to track down a rep at the former employers.

After 20 years, I had a medical re-evaluation for the purpose of re-establishing my life insurance. I contacted my agent, K. **, as to what to expect. She was very vague. I was left in the dark as to my status with present policy. After much persistence and complaining, I am suddenly notified by my agent. My present coverage is no longer available but I could apply for another one. They apparently cancelled me because of my age and my BP on the day of re-evaluation. As I had been under a great deal of stress with my 5-year-old granddaughter in the hospital, I asked them to repeat it. They refused and said I had to reapply for a larger premium. Meantime, they had taken my premium out of my bank for the present coverage but stated by letter that no insurance was in effect (make sense?).

I made a phone call on Oct. 1, 2012 to cancel my policies through my agent (Daniel **) and had to leave a voicemail. He called once and left me a voicemail to return his call - I did ... voicemail again anyway. I assumed the policies were cancelled and the monies would not be automatically deducted from my account (Wrong). It has taken three phone calls and one to the agent. The agent said he had given me a number to call to cancel which he did not. He should have cancelled and dealt with it, not me. I was told by someone in Houston, TX that I had to write the company to be reimbursed. It took 15 minutes by phone to set up these policies and over three weeks to stop them. I will not recommend this company or Matrix Direct Insurance Services to anybody.

Someone forged my name on an accidental death policy of $50,000 and made themselves the beneficiary. I called and reported the incident and was told that there was nothing that they could do as long as the payments were being made. Policy number: **, Pamela **, beneficiary is Mary **. Also, this same person had two policies on my grandson (without my daughter's permission) who died in an horrible car accident at the age of four months. She collected on the policy and did not pay a dime towards the burial. I later found out that she has several insurance policies on other people and I am not sure that they are aware of it.

I got a policy with American General Life. They gave me a price then at the day of signing and it was higher. Then they took out two payments for my husband and one for me. When I called to get the extra payment back, they refused and were mean and nasty to me on the phone. After 3 months, I just let it go. I got cancer about a year and a half later. I was told I would only lose the amount I took. Then they told me if I took $6,000 of $150,000, I would lose everything. And most of them were very nasty on the phone when I called to check on my claim. But when I filed the claim, I was lied to and told I would get at least $75,000 because I had cancer and that's the coverage I would lose.

Never trust your agent. My sister and I were told that our father's funeral was taken care of and to go ahead with the funeral. We went ahead with a full funeral, because our agent said that our father was covered. About a month later, we got a bill for $5966.00 from the funeral home. As you can see, our father was not covered! If we had known that he was not covered, we would have had him cremated and would not have had this big payment to worry about! So please do not trust anyone! Everyone must check all your insurance papers involving American General accident and life policies! I think that we all should come together and create a lawsuit against (AGLA), these lying thieves and crooks!

I’ve had a policy with AGLA for over 10 years. I found out that I’m disabled. I was advised that due to my disability, my premium should be waived, but every time I call AGLA about my waiver, I get the runaround. I’ve faxed them my papers from my doctor. I’ve sent them everything they’ve asked for, to no avail. I’m just trying to get my policy waived.

I have a POA for my brother who had four policies from AGL, and started the first policy in 1951 ($250.00, I decided to cash in the policies for his burial fund in a savings account). I too mailed the forms from the website. They were wrong. I faxed the forms AMG sent, but they never received them. I mailed another set of forms. They didn't like them either. I mailed another set of forms. Well, this started on 12/28/2011. I have received three of the checks, but the harassment I have had to go through was unbelievable. The customer service in TN and Texas was nothing but rude and they could care less. I filed a complaint with TN state ins, but they would not reply to my complaint.

My 10-year term life insurance policy was up this year. The premium for the policy was $1300.00 annually. We just received a bill for a $16,000 annual premium with no notification that the policy was terminating. I called for an explanation and was told that the policy increased because of my current age. I asked if a notification of the policy status had ever been sent and they stated that it is operational policy to send that notice two months after the new premium is due.

My mother purchased whole life policies for herself and my dad in 1985, in which they have paid the same premium for all those years. In 2009, I was contacted by letter from AG Life & Accident. It stated that my father's premium was being raised from $91 a month to $2161.09 for 16 months, and then to a reduced maximum guideline premium. This is in order to guarantee the death benefit of my father's policy or the policy would lapse. I was also given other options, which were absolutely ridiculous. I don't understand how this could have happened with a fixed premium. All I know is that we got screwed.

I have been trying to complete the paperwork for 3 weeks to cash in a life insurance policy. It took two weeks for the paperwork to arrive from TN to FL. In the meantime, I printed forms from the Company website, which are not the correct forms. No one notified me. I called Customer Service on 8/8/2011 and was told that the forms received were incorrect. I then faxed copies, but the fax number that I was given was incorrect. Another call to Customer Service produced a supervisor who gave me the correct fax number. He recommended that I also mail copies of the paperwork to Customer Service. The address he gave me was different form the self-addressed envelope that was provided.

My mother was mentally ill and I purchased an insurance from American General. It was sold to her as if she was opening a life insurance policy. However, she was sold an accidental insurance. My mother was not given an explanation of what's the difference or what type of insurance she was getting. My mother let all her other insurance close because she assumed she had the proper life insurance. When I spoke with the consumer affairs department she hurried and refunded the little money my mother put in the policy to another person's account. She did this once I told her I was going to get a lawyer.

Changed Life Insurance Company through my financial advisor. I completed forms to cancel my current and to set up a new account with a new company (better pricing). The original form was mailed from to American General Life to cancel my policy on 3/28/2011, so it's safe to say they were notified of the change by the first week of April.

I have bought 3 different insurance policies over the years and American General Life and Accident is a company I would recommend to everyone. I have had claims paid out to me with no problems and my agent is super fantastic. I find it incredible that people whining about this company are folks who have no clue how insurance works. Read your policies! If you are the beneficiary and you think you are owed money, make a copy of the policy and send it in to the corporate office. My friend sold insurance for years and told me that so many people have polices that are inadequate but they bought it because it was cheap or they had medical issues and no one else would touch them or they bought policies that increased a few years due to attained age. If you think a policy is paid up, make certain that it is indeed paid up! In addition, if you have a really great agent, a yearly review is mandatory! This is done to ensure that the policy still works for you but most folks don't want to spend a few dollars more, even though it is better in the long run. AGLA is a great company! No company is without flaws.

This is a sample of the letter that was sent to customer service. To whom this may concern; My name is Tammy *** and I am sending you this letter because I was informed by my agent, Johnnie Tang at the Pleasanton California office, that my payment for my life insurance policies were not received at your office by the due date intended. Please be aware that I have had these policies since 2004 and I have always paid on time without any interruptions in payment. I was quite surprise to hear that my payment was not received almost a month later after payment was due. I received no notice in the mail or even a phone call by my agent Mr. *** regarding this matter. I consider myself a well establish customer with your company with no history of delinquency in payments.

"My name is Tammy *** and I am sending you this letter because I was informed by my agent Johnnie *** at the Pleasanton, California office that my payment for my life insurance policies were not received at your office by the due date intended. Please be aware I have had these policies since 2004 and I have always paid on time without any interruptions in payment. I was quite surprise to hear that my payment was not received almost a month later after payment was due.

In response to Karen of Woodbridge, VA, just from the brief description you gave, your mother likely had a ten year term. A lot of term policies give you the option of keeping it on an annually renewable basis at the end of the term. The rates are very high because typically people will only keep the old policy if they don't have other insurance options. I suggest reading the contract to see what type of policy she has, and then contacting her agent or customer service. A local agent is the best person to help you determine what options are available.

My mother had an insurance policy with this company for 10 years. She paid them $90 a month. In 2009, she turned 80. Six months later, this insurance company raised her monthly rate to $906.94! What options do we have to pursue this? She paid out a lot of money only to be charged a monthly amount that was more then the money she gets a month. She had to let the policy drop.

In 1988 a week after my husband and I gave birth to our oldest son, we started a life insurance policy for each of us. We never missed a payment. In 2000 when we're divorced, I kept payments on my policy but, my ex-husband dropped his (that should not have any effect on mine). As of this date (late October 2010), my sons are grown and I wanted to cash in my policy. I figured I've been paying on this policy for over 20 years. There should be a nice sum in there. Wrong! I'm being told I only have $1,500. I am going to receive back! I've paid in more than 10 times that much over the years! I've complained to my agent but, he didn't seem to care at all, as he chewed his lunch, smacking his lips loudly in my ear. All he said was, "oh well, that's what 'they' tell me is in there." I've struggled as a single mom to make these payments every month. I thought I was doing the right thing to proved for my family!

I was listed as the beneficiary on some life insurance policies, but have been defrauded out of the money on both of them. For years, the company denied that I was even the beneficiary. Now in the last few years, they have used the court issues an excuse in not settling them up with me, knowing darn good and well that I have been continued to be denied the due process of law. Also, knowing darn well that they have never provided the actual policies to the courts or anyone else that has requested them.

My mother, who is now deceased, had insurance with this company for years, so when she died, I had to cash the policies in to pay for her funeral. The company did not pay all the monies that was owed. They said three of the policies had been without value 10 or more years. So I was going through some of her papers and found that she was still paying on the three policies. That was no good. So, how can that be? I would love for them to pay up, can you help me and the receipts are from 2000, 2004, 2008, 2003, 2007, money order receipts from 2007,2006 so please help me to get what belong to her. Thank you.

I bought an air purifier unit from Country Aire, with 3 months no interest. The contract I signed stated that I owe no interest until February 23, 2010. March came, and I received no bill in the mail, so I called Country Aire, which informed me that they financed my loan out to American General Finances. I obtained their number and called them, and I was told that they sent the bill to the wrong address and that they will fix it.

Well I took out a rider accident insurance for myself and my son and I found out just recently I have been paying for his for seven years that he hasn't been covered, no one contacted me. I haven't seen an agent until just recently and that was only because I called the Warren, PA office. I think they should have been in touch with me so I figured I have paid over $400 for something that wasn't even valid.

I have had a life insurance policy with American General Life and Accident since 1977. Recently I found out that someone took out a loan on my policy, who was not authorized to do so. I contacted American General to get copies of the documents and spoke with a Beth **. I have yet to receive copies of the loan documents to prove that I did not take out this loan and it is fraudulent. I continue to contact Ms. ** and get an answer of they are waiting on customer service to retrieve the documents. It has been well over a month at this point. How long does it take to retrieve copies of these documents? I want this rectified immediately. I want to know who took the loan out and why they allowed this to happen without my consent. This has caused interest to eat into my life insurance policy which decreases the value. Whoever took the loan out has not paid on the loan.

Jewel ** was questioned about diagnosis with breast cancer. She informed me and said I will not be able to because I didn't tell her about the diagnoses before, so I couldn't collect. I also told Chris ** my situation. How are you supposed to know that you are going to have cancer years later? She did not try to work with me or reason with me about another policy. I am legally blind and I feel as if that made a difference. Cancer is not an easy thing. I have told Ms. ** about the cancer. This is not a matter, this is very serious. I now have breast cancer and no policy to cover it. I have been with the company for over 10 years and I'm still not able for the prepaid burial.

On 3/7/09, the agent representing Independent Life Insurance Company came to my mother's funeral for my brother, my children and myself to sign off on cash out claims for policies my mother had and paid for years; those type of policies that can be cashed or turned over into child's name once he/she reaches age of majority. The individual was not very professional and left before we all got there, telling my bereaved brother it would be approximately two months before we could do anything or hear from him.

I have life insurance policies with AIG. I wanted to cash out one of the policies. So one day, coincidentally, before I could call AIG, they called me and told me that I had a policy that I had lapsed and it was a whole life policy so money was owed to me. I told the agent I knew it and wanted to cash it out. He came, brought the forms and convinced me to take out more life policies. I signed the cash out forms and waited three weeks; no money or check was sent. Then the agent came back and said that I must have signed the form wrong. Still, there was no check; he came back and said his boss would have to call me before the form could be sent. The boss never called.

For two years, our cancer policy has increased without any notification to us; it just drafted without our being aware of it or budgeting/planning for it ($100 a month; a 33% increase). Both years, we have been told that a letter was generated. Two questions: Was this amount allowed by the commission and 2nd, why the same story for two years in a row? We had no opportunity to accept or decline the increase.

My mother Virginia Branford who is 80 has a policy with this company which my dad,who is now deceased, purchased in 1988. Since I now handle my mother's affairs I checked on her policy. To date she has paid $7714.41 on a $5,000 policy. And the company says I must pay for another 10 years or surrender the policy for $2,388.12

Purchased a life insurance policy in 1959 for son the policy was for $400.00. The company was formerly National Life and Accident Insurance Co. AIG has been collecting on this policy and has failed to give me a receipt for payment of June 3rd, 2003. The payment was $20.76.

My mother isnt really good on computers so she asked me to e-mail you and tell you what happened to her. Apparently there was a class action lawsuit filed against American General life and Accident Insurance Company which she has numerous life policies through. She recieved a classaction notice in the mail and assumed she would get a settlement. She asked her agent (Ann Southern) if she needed to send the paper back in. The agent told my mother that she didnt need to send the paper back in. American General LifeShe was kind of agitated and was ready to leave when my mother asked her that. Now, one of my mothers friends is recieving periodic settlement checks, this lady did send her form in, and my mother feels cheated by this company once again. My mother is in belief that this agent lied to her. What can she do?

I am writing on behalf of my father who elderly and a poor historian. He has been paying a premium as given on quarterly statements since 1985 have never missed a payment.Now effective 2001 the amount that they have been paying for the last 15 years was not the cost of the insurance. American General LifeThey raised the premium 3 times the original premium amount only after they said that what they was paying was not the cost of the policy and that the cash value of the policy have been used up. Walter Whetstone the agent sold them this insurance . I believe that something deceptive and fraudulant has happen. What has happen to all the money that was paid over the years. And now that he is elderly they have raised the cost to make it almost impossible for them to keep the insurance that they have been faithfully paying on time. Could some one investigate this?