Choosing Insurance Agents
September 6, 2008 – 2:54 pmIf you're new here, you may want to learn what this site is about. Please subscribe to my RSS feed to get latest updates on this blog. Thanks for visiting!
It’s hard to think of anything more important than protecting yourself and the people you love. That’s why buying insurance is so important and why you need to have trustworthy insurance agents. The preceding topic told your how to shop for life, health, disability, auto, and homeowners insurance policies. There are two types of agents: independent agents, who sell policies for a variety of companies; and exclusive agents or captive agents, who work for just one insurer. Theoretically, an independent agent should be better for you, since he or she can search among different companies for the least expensive policies with the broadest coverage from the safest insurers. Real life doesn’t always work that way, however. An independent might be tempted to sell you the policy paying him or her the highest commission. Also, a captive agent’s policy might be better than any policy sold by an independent. So don’t rule out any agent because he or she works for too many or too few insurers. Instead, when interviewing agents, talk with both independents and exclusives. Some specifics for particular types of policies:
Life insurance. In recent years the new about the honesty of life insurance agents has been less than comforting. Metropolitan Life, the second biggest life insurer in the country, was hit with $20 million in fines for possibly deceiving thousands of customers into buying life insurance policies disguised as retirement plans and investments. The New York State Department of Insurance levied a $500,000 fine against National Benefit Life, a Travelers subsidiary, after customers complained about potentially misleading sales materials. Indeed, regulators in a handful of big states have been investigating life insurers for deceptive sales practices. While most life insurance agents are honest, the rash of problems with policy salesmen suggests that you need to be extremely cautious before choosing an agent.
On next post, I will discuss five tips in finding a scrupulous agent.
If you like this post, please subscribe to my RSS feed to get latest updates on this blog. Thanks for visiting!
| 3.5 |
