Primerica ripoff, Dangerous Territory to tread in, Beware Kaukauna Wisconsin

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*UPDATE: Primerica recognized by Rip-off Report a business opportunity well worth considering - it's not for everyone but many representatives make solid commission incomes. Primerica takes appropriate action against representatives conducting themselves improperly, pledges 100% commitment to customer service.

I have been in the insurance industry and I sell both term, and universal life. Being totally objective, Primerica is correct in their approach in an ideal scenario.



It does not matter how you put it, if you manage your capital replacement needs with term and invest the difference you will have more money in the long run.



If nothing happens in your life that changes your scenario. The main problem with this philosophy is that when covering this needs, one size does NOT fits all.



UL gives you so much more than life insurance protection. Ask yourselves this, Were there any circumstances that happened in the past five years, that were not expected 5 years ago?



Of course! Unless you are a fortune teller of some sort, it is very difficult to know when the next tire is going to blow out, or when you may loose a job, or have an accident or being sued, etc..the list could be endless.



UL gives you the ability to protect your family, save money, protect those assets against lawsuits, take a premium vacation, etc.



Premium vacation? What if you need to stop paying for one or more years because of special circumstances?



Do you want to start your financial plan all over again? or Do you want to have the peace of mind that you family protection will still be there even if you loose your job and your income stops and you need to cut back your monthly expenses?



Not only that, but there are UL plan that can have monthly minimun premiums almost as low as certain term insurance policies, like the ones from Primerica that to be honest are not the cheapest ones in the market.



But still, term those have its uses, when protection and budget are at a conflict, or for younger people, naive enough that they think they are shielded from unexpected "surprises"in life.



As for the opportunity, it is legit, I have good honest friends who are making good money, and are helping a lot of people. and the company is a strong and serious company.



For me, it is the one size fits all model that does not fit me. Eventhough it may fit most, I need to be responsible with all.



To all the parties involved, be objective, always, instead of defensive relating to you own points.



Alberto



From Puerto Rico

Good points-All of them. Of course you dont get and "savings" for the first few years cause you are paying the premium for the policy. With the plan that i elect for. My premium cannot change or get higher. The amount that i choose to contribute to my, and i am going to say this carefully, "annuity" or "savings" part of the insurance plan is litmited by law. In the state of WI you can only contribute up to 75.00 per month including the premium. Otherwise i would be funneling cash into it non-stop. The average over the last 5 yrs on the "annuity" or "savings" part has made approx 12-13% annually.



Just think-And this is simplifying it



If you invest $30 month x 12 months=360 annualy



Year 1

360 x 12% return=43.20



Year 2

403.20 + 360.00 x 12%=854.12



Year 3

854.78 + 360.00 x12%=1360.55



So in 3 years You have a total of 1360.55

Principal is-1080.00

Interest-280.55

So you make 280.55



Ok you ask, what about me



my premium is approx 50 per month

40%-to annuity/savings

60%-to premium



Now think about it this way-When i sign the paper at my insurance agents office, I have 100,000 dollars of life insurance. PERIOD. Once the plan comes vested. Aproxx. between 15-30 years later, which during that time you have acess to you money no matter what, then, it starts taking off. Simple math and compound interest. Thats all there is to it. Both get taxed on the interst. One is good from the get go, and one you might have to wait a few years to build it up, but it is a plan, not one written in stone, like mine.



With mine, no matter what, they will pay the premium + by law, they cannot keep any money that is accumated by interest or after the account is vested. Now if you pass away before the vesting point, then all that will be there is the interest on the money you have been paying in, but you will still get the 100,000 dollar premium. No matter what + an interest check.



It is up to the consumer to know what they are getting themselves into and read the fine print.



Granted you have a good point about being financially independet when the insurance is over, but heres the thing. What about your Family?? I know that you like to push the compound interest thing, cause it does work, but sadly, middle class americans with the way that the economy is changing, end up tapping into these and not reaching their goal. I would rather pay for the rest of my life, have an annuity attached & have a mutual fund.



Now tell me??? Who would want to pass up an opportunity to get a 100,000 life insurnace policy + saving, and basically have a backup emergency account for anything?? All for right arount 80.00 a month.



The only exception, pending the persons dosent touch the second acct, secenario 2 comes out ahead, just by using compount interest as a rule!!!!



Invest youself and get a good insurance policy. And if you want to contribute more to your mutual funds. Which these have a limit to start. Better idea, buy ETF's. the returns on these are usually double digit and all the major online brokers, Ex. sharebuilder & Scottrade all have access to them.



Do you think you will make it to 100,000 by the time you retire by "investing the difference"??



As far as primerica and their "independent agents" That is just a way to lay blame on someone else. Yeah i understand that any job takes hard work, but seducing people by offering them the chance to make 100,000 a year. Do you make 100,000 a year??? What happens when your downline dries up??? Or you have trouble recruting people. There was a office in my town and that agent was run out of town becuase of the way he conducted business. I have yet to meet a primerica agent that dosent lie to you over the phone or try and seduce you into coming or bothering you all the time. I finally got this office off of my back. Tell me, and you might not be able to release this info, what is your percent of saturation?? IN other words how much do you take in a year vs pay out?? Or do you measeure it as pay out vs take home vs policy expiration and no threat of paying out??

Almost correct



Brian,



It sucks you had a bad experience with that Primerica office. Each office is independently owned and operated, so not all of them are held the the best standards when it comes to recruiting. The reason you pay 199 is that, like you stated, it is not a salaried job. Life Agents are individual contractors for Primerica, and once they become RVP, they can open up their own office (become a business owner). The opportunity really is a genuine one, and if you're willing to put in the work, it can pay off handsomely.



Now in regards to your comments about VUL vs Term...



Depending on the type of policy, its is very likely that if you pass away your savings won't even go to your family. There are usually two options in cash value programs...one is to be issued the face value of the policy ONLY or the face value plus accumulated savings. HOWEVER, what you fail to realize...



"buy term and invest the difference" is an awesome concept. How much interest do you make on your VUL?? I'd be willing to bet you could get a better rate of return if you invested your money apart from your insurance program. Check your policy, it says it all in there. my father has a VUL, for the first 6 years, no savings was accumulated, and after that ror was 1%, then the next year 3%...all the way to a max guaranteed of 10%. now if he could have paid much less in insurance and invested the difference over the same period of time, his savings would have been a lot higher. But really, some people would rather keep a cash value policy...



The whole idea is banked on, when the insurance runs out (term is over) the client will be financially independent, or have enough savings accumulated so that they won't need insurance. who wants to pay insurance until they are 80??



also...the cost of insurance does go up as you get older, that is 100% true, but not always your premium. Let me ask you this, or better yet, ask your insurance agent...



say your minimum premium is 100 bucks. if you got the policy when you were young, your cost of insurance was say 20 bucks a month. now that you are older, your cost of insurance goes up. so 20 years later your cost of insurance is 150 bucks a month - but you're still payin 100/month. Where does the company make up that 50 dollars?? EATS UP YOUR SAVINGS.



you both have vaild points. Here is the bottom line. Primerica INSURANCE is a legitimate service. The term insurance they sell is great, very competitive, not the cheapest but they pay 100% of the time (unless on a fradulant claim).



The opportunity with the company is what most of the time gets portrayed in a not so honest way. You can make a lot of money with Primerica, but it takes a lot of work. That is the detriment of having each office independentally operated. its like McDonalds. Each one is independant of the other, unless of course they have the same owner. However, I'm sure you've been to one that was cleaner than the other, where you felt better at being there, all while provding the same food as the dirty one.



I am in no way attackign you, it just gets me going how people make accusations when they aren't being 100% honest.

In response to bill,



Maybe you didnt read my entire post. As you get older your premium increases. if you have a 10 year policy, at the end of that policy, you will be re-evaluated, and then a new premium will be issued. It is very simple. As you get older, the likelyhood that you will pass away becomes greater. Hence the higher premium.



Now, in regards to you comment about my agent telling me that universal.variable is better. I know that he makes money off of me. Guess what, every time i walk into walmart, they make money off of me. Same difference, but both are controllable. The differnce between the "buy term and invest the difference" and a regular life insurance policy is the care that you want to leave behind after you pass on. I am not going to be selfish and "invest the differnce" just to spend it later on. I want to make sure my family & children are taken care of. With term insurance, if you quit paying, it is gone. Period. with my kind, it is "insured" and if a "hardship" comes along, it will be protected.



That is the differnce between a "term" plan and a universal/variable plan. YOu can do all the research you want, but it wont matter. That is the differnce and that is why primerica makes so much money off of you, cause you pay them for a product that if you dont pass away, they wont give you a dime back. I can use mine whenever i need it as it is an investment & insurance. Not just insurance.



You need to do some quoting and find out what is out there before making acusations!!!!



Brian H

In response to this report, granted that agent did not sound like he was a very upfront person. I have been a client of Primerica for 15 yrs and all of my experiences have been positive. No I didn't want to sell life insurance but their idea's made a lot of sense. I have mutual funds and life insurance with them and my agent is a total professional.



As for Term insurence, of course your agent has a vested interest in you keeping whatever form of whole life you have. He makes more money than if you owned term. To get the facts on insurance, I suggest you either buy or go to the library and check out "What's Wrong With Your Life Insurance by Norman Dacey." I did and I found after further research that what he says can be backed up. I switched to term. If you don't get it through Primerica, at least check it out with other companies. Good luck to you.