Life Insurance Companies - Does Yours Make the Grade?

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Life Insurance Companies - Does Yours Make the
Grade?
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• Life insurance companies perform extensive checks
  into your personal history when you are applying
  for a policy. That is certainly no secret, the
  companies want to know about your family, your
  job, your health, your hobbies, the list goes on
  and on. Since insurance companies do this, why
  don't consumers do this to their insurance
  companies? Knowing a lot about the company you do
  business with or, if you're searching for a
  company to become insured with, the company that
  you're considering doing business with, is very
  important. You have to look beyond the details of
  the policy and beyond the information that you
  read directly from the company itself.

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• Do your own research!
• A life insurance policy is very important to you
  and your family, so it's a good idea to look up
  other customer experiences, past lawsuits or
  problems the company has faced, etc. Judging only
  by the website or company brochure is not the
  most effective route to take. The company is not
  going to list anything negative whatsoever on any
  of their public information, simply because they
  are trying to draw you, the customer, in to doing
  business with them. A simple online search can
  provide a wealth of information to your
  fingertips. You will most likely find news
  articles, customer complaints, and rants on a
  blog or forum. While you can't make your judgment
  call solely on this information, it may help
  influence your decision. Chances are there is
  another person in your exact situation that went
  to the company you're interested in for a life
  insurance policy, and you can gauge their
  experience and determine if you feel yours might
  result in a similar situation.

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• Check with your state!
• One thing you will definitely want to know is if
  the prospective company is legally licensed to
  provide insurance coverage in the state in which
  you reside. A lot of states will take company
  complaint information throughout the year and
  create a report that lists the insurance
  companies offered in the states and the number of
  complaints filed against them during that time
  period. Now, these complaints may be different
  from what you read about in an online search. The
  complaints you read about through the state can
  be anything from an insurance agent being rude,
  all the way to a major problem with a claim.
  While sifting through this information, keep in
  mind that you will need to differentiate an
  unhappy customer and a bad decision or mistake by
  the insurance company.

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• Insurance companies are rated on their financial
  strength and how stable they are as a company.
• These ratings will help you determine if the Life
  Insurance Companies you are with or the company
  you might be opening a policy with is doing well
  in terms of assets and how much money they are
  operating with. In total, there are five
  companies that provide this particular type of
  ratings based on financial strength. They are
  Moody's Investors Service, Standard Poor's,
  A.M. Best, Fitch Ratings, and TheStreet.com
  Ratings, which used to be known as Weiss Ratings.
  The ratings these firms provide give the consumer
  (and the industry itself) insight into the
  possible future performances of the insurance
  companies. If the rating is high, the company has
  plenty of assets and money to continue doing
  strong business, and on the flip side, if the
  rating is low, the company may be closing or be
  sold in the future. A low rating may also mean
  the company has trouble paying claims, which is
  something I think everyone would want to stray
  away from. The ratings change throughout time and
  can sometimes fluctuate with bad decisions
  financially or news of company mergers or
  potential mergers, and also loss of money, for
  example if quarterly profits are significantly
  down.

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• Does your company have the industry "seal of
  approval?"
• It is very important for your Life Insurance
  Companies to have the Insurance Marketplace
  Standards Association, or IMSA, designation. An
  insurance company that has this accreditation has
  proven itself by passing a critical review of the
  company ethics and business procedures. The IMSA
  review has a primary focus on customer service,
  sales, and marketing tactics. Companies have to
  apply for, or renew, their IMSA membership every
  three years in order to actually have the seal of
  approval. However, don't look for this
  designation only during your search for a
  company if you see this on your company
  information and stop looking right then and
  there, you may miss out on important information
  that you would probably like to know about before
  putting your trust in their hands.
• Article Source http//EzineArticles.com/1396559

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