PMA USA/Washington National Insurance Company Not who you think they are. Fargo, North Dakota

I had a very brief time with Washington National Insurance Company. 3 Months to be exact. It was great, i was starting to learn the lingo, and the script. Everything was scripted, all the way down to the compliments that are given, and the way that we were to greet people. I was starting to sell little policies here and there, and even started to see my income out-weigh my expenses. We were spending nights out at the bar, and even eating at really nice restaurants without worrying about money. Then, i started to hit it big. My little $500 - 1000 policies turned into $2500 - 5000 policies. I was raking in the dough. 

Sounds like the good life eh? just keep reading, the back story makes it all the better. . . .

I was having a bad week, and had one more appointment before i went home Thursday night. On that appointment, i had made the best sell yet, $8000 in premium in one home. I was on cloud 9. with the amount of commission o got off of that sell, it was going to set me up for a large payoff. It usually took a couple of days to process applications, so i checked to see the status. I noticed that there were double the amount of applications submitted than what i had sent in. I called PMA (who processed our applications) and asked what the deal was. They said it may look like double, but it will most likely disappear once they are approved. However, they did not disappear, and when i got my check, i was very surpised to see double the amount of commission i should have gotten. I called again, and i was told that it is right and that i was paid for what was submitted, so i thought maybe i hit some sort of threshold that got me more commission. That's when the hell started....

I got a call from the customer, who said that they were charged double from their account. (Washington National pushes agents to get auto-draft forms filled out so they don't have to deal with paper checks, smart for scamming). I assured my client that i only submitted the forms once, and that i would look into it. Then, he called back the next day stating that he got his policy in the mail, along with another bill. This time, for the amount that is for one of the policies that just started. He was furious and started swearing at me and calling me names, which i would only expect when over $15,000 is taken out of your account. I called PMA and they said everything was as it was sent in, but i had the proof that it was not the case. I had proof that i only sent in one of each application, not double of each. 

By this time, my client had called the Department of Insurance for North Dakota (DOIND) and reported myself and Washington National for scamming him. Now i was dealing with phone calls from the customer stating that i owed him money, and from DOI stating that i may lose my license for wronful practice. That was when PMA USA actually started telling the truth, and that one of their agents messed up in the call center and submitted my applications twice, which in turn made me get paid twice. Now, i was told to pay back the money that i was given (which i used for expenses since i was not working as much from dealing with this situation) and that i needed to work it out with the client to get his money back for the overcharge. At this point, my client had already sent in cancellation letters for his policies, which meant that i was now being forced to pay back all of the commission i gained from that sale. 

As you can imagine, i was furious. Not only was i having to deal with this situation (with no help from PMA or Washington National i might add), but now i was being told i need to give back my money? which i was using for expenses to try and make more, which wasn't going well i might add. I tried talking to my regional manager, state manager, even the area manager, and they all said it has happened to them and that i needed to essentially be a man and move on. That the more i work, the more money i will make, and that it might be a good idea to work an extra day out of the week to make up for what i will be losing. I couldn't put my family on hold to pay the company more money, so i left. I was told that they would keep me on the books for the rest of the year so it would help pay off the debt of the cancellation from my client, which i shouldn't be responsible for in the first place since it was the company's fault to begin with. After only a couple of months, i was sent a termination letter, stating that i would no longer be receiving any commission benefits from the company, and that i was officially off the books. This made me bad, but i had moved on already and had a good job. 

Today, a couple of months after being taken off the books, when i came home from work and checked the mail, there was another letter in my mailbox. This time, even worse than being taken off the books. This one was a letter stating that i owe Washington National Insurance Company $3,176.38 per section VII(3) of my agent contract. Basically stating that from my terminaction, any indebtedness will be immediately due and payable. Not only that, they want it paid back in 10 days. The best part of all this, if they would keep me on the books for the rest of the year, the money i would have gotten from the monthly premium would actually add up to pay off the debt. But instead, they remove me from the books (which is understandable, since i quit) and request that i pay them back the commission while they are still raking in the money from what i sold, since i can check the statements to see that they are still showing up on monthly statements. 

Either way, i hope they know that they aren't getting a dime from me without a fight, and from the sound of it, the only thing it is going to hurt is my credit. Which quite honestly, is terrible anyways, so fighting against someone who has nothing to lose is never a good idea. As far as i am concerned, i am glad that i got out when i did, and i do not recommend anyone working for PMA/WN, or buying from them in the future. Ever.